Syrian refugee family resettles in Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Another Syrian refugee family is calling Indianapolis home. President Trump’s immigration executive order initially stalled their resettlement for two weeks.
The family arrived in Indianapolis on February 8 after three years of vetting.
“We want to share our refugee story out there with everyone so that we can be representative of all refugees coming from all different parts of the world,” said Fathi through an interpreter as he sat with his wife and son. Only first names were given to protect the family’s privacy. “We just want to show the world that we’re fleeing from other countries to be here in the U.S. to live in peace and to live in safety.”
36-year-old Fahti, along with his wife Shereen and 8-year-old son Jowan fled war-torn Syria in 2013, originally going to Turkey.
That was where they decided to come to the United States.
They say they wanted to come here for the American dream.
“We didn’t think about ourselves,” said Shereen. “It’s not just about us. It’s for my son. We thought about my son. We thought about the future for my son and we didn’t think that he would get a chance to get a better life, and to get a good future for my son.”
Their resettlement was handled by Exodus Refugee Immigration.
The group resettles over 1,000 refugees every year, including over 200 Syrian refugees since the civil war broke out in that country.
“These are just young families that have lost their homes, lost their former lives, and have had to flee unspeakable terror themselves,” said Cole Varga, the executive director of Exodus. “It’s not because they wanted to come to the U.S., it’s because they had to. This is their chance at a new life.”
The Trump administration is is expected to announce revisions to his executive order next week. Two federal judges struck the order down last month. It barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days. It also barred all refugees from the U.S. for 120 days.