“In the news, they talk about migrants and people rushing the border, but really, these are families fleeing dangerous, violent places and seeking legal asylum here in the U.S.,” says IRC Voice Piper Perabo, who met Central American families in Arizona.

Although the battle to retake Mosul is now over, this is not the end of suffering for residents who endured three years of ISIS control. Throughout the battle more than one million people were forced to flee their homes; over 825,000 remain displaced.

The IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Read updates on the Ukraine crisis and from IRC teams around the globe.