MANKATO — A Mankato nonprofit will launch a new youth summer program for refugee, immigrant and asylee families Monday, with organizers saying they hope it reduces barriers for accessing recreational
By Dan Greenwood
dgreenwood@mankatofreepress.com May 30, 2021
8 min ago
From left, Mohamed Ibrahim, Ruth Aganya, Habiba Rashid and Ahmed âJafferâ Mohamud of Minnesota Council of Churches Mankato Refugee Services. The past year led to expanded programming and a new position in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pat Christman
MANKATO â Within the past year, refugee resettlement agencies have had to contend with anti-immigrant rhetoric during a contentious presidential election cycle, the fallout from a 2017 executive order banning refugees from countries like Somalia or Sudan â where most of Mankatoâs refugees come from â to battling misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with the pandemic on the wane, and the election of President Joe Biden, who announced on May 3 that he would raise the cap of refugees allowed into the country from 15,000 to 62,500, with the plan to double that the following year, Habiba Rash