Two Syrian refugee families from Turlock and two Afghan families from Modesto took time to get family portraits in their new home. Gazing at his family posing in an almond orchard, Adnan Alnabosi from Syria said, “I’m so happy to be in a safe place.”

Ritiek (Reh - teek), her mom, and her younger sister were one of the many families forced to flee Afghanistan in 1995. Four years later, they were welcomed in Tucson, Arizona in the summer of 1999. She and her family were the first Afghan refugees to be resettled in Tucson, Arizona. 

Eight months since borders closed across the Balkan route, leaving tens of thousands stranded across Europe, refugees have no choice but to live in conditions that are not ready for winter: unheated tents, warehouses, and unfinished or abandoned buildings. These photos by an IRC partner in Serbia show young Afghans huddling together for warmth in a disused warehouse in Belgrade.

From coffee and catering to clothing and jewelry, here are nine small businesses owned by refugees.

Ahead of a Senate hearing on appropriations for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development, the IRC submitted testimony to urge Congress to increase funding for programs that provide overseas and emergency refugee assistance, basic education, malnutrition relief, services for vulnerable children, and programs to counter gender-based violence. The IRC also asked Congress to work to improve the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of humanitarian financing and to allocate 20,000 additional Special Immigrant Visas for U.S.-affiliated Afghans in FY22.