Refugees Welcomed in New York | Explorer

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HOST: Of approximately 61,000 residents in Utica, New York, nearly 11,000 are immigrants and refugees. And 450 or more arrive here each year. Utica was a manufacturing town in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of our factories began to leave, and our population began to decline. But then later in the 1980s, in came the refugees. They began to buy houses. You drive around East Utica, you'll see many businesses are run by some of the refugees from other countries. And would you say that they have revived the economy? I think it's been a godsend.

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CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Hi, how are you?

HOST: What's your name?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Chris.

HOST: Do you run this place?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Yeah, collectively.

HOST: Chris Sunderlin helps to run the Midtown Utica Community Center. And this place is a bit of a hangout. It just seems like a bag of fun. It is also a place for anyone to come and dance, and play, and learn. They provide food assistance programs and more.

HOST: Where are you from?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Kenya. We're Somali Bantu, but we left Somalia due to war.

HOST: That must have been a very hard decision for them, when they left Kenya to come to America.

WOMAN: Did what was-- what she thought was right for her and her family.

HOST: Yeah. With the afternoon vibe of this place in full swing, Chris and I took a moment to chat. Are there people in Utica who are uncomfortable with the levels of refugees that come here?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Yes, the wonderful older woman who owned the house, she asked me one day why there were so many Asians moving onto the street. I said, I don't know, but they're cleaning up the block.

HOST: And is that true?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Oh, yeah, absolutely. If I took-- I should have taken pictures six years ago.

HOST: And this street has quite a high concentration of refugees, right?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Yes, and it's all come full circle. There's a health clinic there. There's three different grocery stores.

HOST: So this area is getting better?

CHRIS SUNDERLIN: Yeah.

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There's a lot more that the United States and the rest of the international community can do to more effectively address the global refugee crisis. We have to protect the rights of refugees to flee their country. And when they get to a neighboring country, refugees need to be able to access education. And they need to be able to work. If they can't do those things, they're not going to be able to stay there. They're not going to be able to support their families. They're going to be a constant risk of being returned back to face danger and harm. Most of us come from immigrant families. My grandmother and grandfather came from Italy in the 1890s. They were welcomed here. Who am I not to welcome refugees here?