The Hasen children came home from school a few weeks ago telling their mother that their fellow Somali classmates were threatening to leave the country because they worried that Donald Trump, who had just won the election, wanted them out. Their mother, Nasra, said she was horrified and had no idea how to respond.
She and six of her eight children only just got here. They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in May of this year as refugees who have been on the move, from Somalia through various parts of the Middle East, since 2007.
But her flight mode has yet again been activated since the man preparing to assume the highest office in the land has so vocally denigrated Muslims and refugees.
“Every place we have gone something bad has happened,” she said. “Now, we don’t know where to go.”
Hasen is one of many resettled refugees who have expressed astonishment, apprehension and confusion at this time of presidential transition in the U.S.
The Huffington Post also spoke with several Syrian refugees living in Clarkston, Georgia, about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta. None of those interviewed wished to go on the record with their names out of fear for the safety of family members still in the Middle East.