Welcoming the Stranger: A Call to Open Our Hearts to Migrants Blog Post
by Khadija Mohamud
This evening, the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life will host an event, entitled, "Refugees and Immigrants: Welcoming the Stranger in Tough Times." The following piece from Khadija Mohamud is a continuation of stories and projects affirming the statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity."
As the eldest child of two Somali immigrants, I was raised indebted to the refuge my parents found in America. Displacement and conflict have been the two underlying themes that have scattered my family members across five continents. I came to understand migration from a young age as involuntary—a means to escape a gruesome reality that presented the daunting challenge of starting anew. Who in their wildest dreams could imagine leaving behind the only home they ever knew and separating from the company of their loved ones? My parents continue to ask this question as they struggle to comprehend the rhetoric villainizing immigrants, refugees, political asylum-seekers, and undocumented persons in America.