This Is Home

Only a fraction of the over 5 million refugees from the Syrian Civil War have been accepted in the U.S. Four families relocated to Baltimore are assisted for only eight months by the International Rescue Committee before they must become self-sufficient. As depicted in Alexandra Shiva’s documentary, the Syrian refugees’ adaptation, and the support provided by IRS social workers, can only be described as heroic. The humanity that radiates from the screen renders Donald Trump’s unavoidable hostility to refugees (and immigrants) beyond incomprehensible. The American haven is challenging to navigate, but for this sliver of the world’s dispossessed, the American Dream appears to be – tenuously – intact.