At a World Refugee Day Celebration, a Call For Solidarity Amid Anti-Immigration Policies

A big smile lit up Ikhlas Mohammed’s face as she doled out mahshi—a popular Sudanese dish of mixed vegetables stuffed with rice and seasoned ground beef—to a waiting customer. The 37-year-old Lithonia resident had reason to be excited: She was celebrating the launch of a new catering business she started with her mom, Nanna’s Sudanese Cuisine, at the World Refugee Day celebration on Saturday in Stone Mountain. Ikhlas first arrived as a refugee from Sudan through Egypt in 2018; though she’s been attending the celebrations nearly every year since, this was her first time as a vendor.

But Ikhlas’s smile disappeared when she talked about who wasn’t present: her husband, who is stuck in Ethiopia, bogged down by President Donald Trump’s indefinite ban on refugee resettlement.

It was a situation familiar to other vendors and participants at the gathering, held at Stone Mountain’s Eritrean American Community Center of Georgia. Though the event was otherwise joyful, complete with a children’s parade, Eritrean henna art, and an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, speakers couldn’t help but highlight what was happening not far beyond the community center’s walls. Last Saturday, DeKalb County police arrested Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara while he was reporting on a protest on Chamblee Tucker Road. Guevara, who is currently in ICE custody, arrived from El Salvador 20 years ago and was in the process of applying for permanent resident status. 

At the Refugee Day Celebration, multiple people 285 South spoke to – most of whom have legal residency status – said they’ve been feeling uneasy. Since taking office, President Trump has put a pause on refugee resettlement, increased ICE raids and deportations, and has encouraged self-deportations.

Attendees wrote postcards to their elected officials calling for more migrant-friendly policies, and many Black leaders and politicians spoke about the need for stronger alliances—like U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, whose district makes up parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett Counties, and who was one of about seven elected Democrats to join the event. “So many immigrants are living in terror, and this is an attack on all minorities who live in the U.S., including the Black community,” Johnson told 285 South. “This ‘Make America Great Again’ effort is really a Make America White Again effort, and we must resist.” 

Johnson introduced Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, who said mainstream media often depicts immigration as solely a Mexican or Latino issue. “It impacts all of us,” Bryant said. “I want to just stand before you today to pledge allegiance that the African American community stands with you 100 percent and that you are not in this battle by yourself.”  

Bryant told the crowd that four of his Black church members—immigrants from the Bahamas and Jamaica—were deported within the last six weeks.

Sporting a cowboy hat and bedazzled Juneteenth shirt, 68-year-old South Fulton resident Loretta Jones said that, as a Black woman, she has been attending the celebration for the past five years in solidarity with the immigrant and refugee community. Echoing Johnson’s comments about the MAGA movement’s efforts to “Make America White Again,” Loretta said she hopes to see more Black Americans joining protests and boycotts in solidarity with Georgia’s refugee and immigrant communities.  “A lot of times some black people forget that our ancestors were refugees. Their pockets have been padded and they’ve got a little more than the average Joe, so they tend to forget,” Loretta said. “But when things happen, it’s like ‘Ahh! I didn’t think it was going to affect me!’ Oh yeah, it’s going to affect all of us.” 

Clarkston Mayor Beverly H. Burks and State Rep. Imani Barnes were met with cheers when they called for audience members to boycott businesses that were not refugee- and immigrant-friendly. Noting that the city she leads is about 70 percent Black—both foreign- and native-born—Burks spoke about how the Civil Rights Act of 1965 paved the way for the Refugee Act of 1980, a landmark piece of legislation that established the refugee resettlement system that the U.S. still relies on. “Us coming together is the most important thing because we’re going through the same issues,” Burks said. “You don’t necessarily have to protest in the street, but you can protest with your dollar. Sometimes you have to let people know I’m willing to fight. Corporations see when they’re not making money.”  

Burks became the first Black mayor of Clarkston when she was elected in 2020, and serves on the refugee and immigrant task force of the African American Mayors Association. That morning, she said, she’d just gotten back from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Tampa, where mayors also discussed what to do if ICE came to make arrests.

“If it hits one part of DeKalb, that’s all of us,” Burks said. “We have to be mindful, vigilant, and make sure we’re taking care of our community.” 

Democratic State Rep. Jasmine Clark said people of color, including Black people who have been in the country for many generations, are sometimes pitted against new refugees and immigrants. 

“There are Black immigrants and Black refugees and there are a lot of systems in place that seek to divide us from them, but it’s important to remember that we are all on the same ship,” Clark said. 

Standing next to the letter-writing table, Aimee Zangandou fielded many questions from attendees—she’s the executive director of refugee and immigrant services at the resettlement agency Inspiritus in Atlanta. “‘Am I going to be deported?’ Even for refugees that are here and they have refugee status, they all are afraid. And we do serve asylum seekers that are applying for asylum but are not yet approved, so there’s just a lot of fear,” Aimee said. “‘Why is my family member’s case closed? Why are they not coming?’” She’s been trying to connect clients to attorneys, though her work is getting harder: Inspiritus cut half of its refugee-serving staff this year due to federal funding cuts.

“Refugees have become a political issue, but there’s an economic benefit,” said Aimee, who arrived in the U.S. as a teen refugee in 1997 following the Rwandan genocide. In 2010, she became a homeowner in Lilburn. “Refugees can work, and most of them are working within six months of arrival. More than 90 percent are self-sufficient within six months. Like myself, they are the fabric of the communities they live in.”