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Head of Bowling Green International Center to Local Refugees: You Won't Be Deported

Kevin Willis

The director of the Bowling Green International Center says some in the community continue to express concern about President-elect Donald Trump’s policies towards immigrants.

Trump said during the presidential campaign that he’d round up and deport those who are in the country illegally. He’s since backed off that position and said he will focus on deporting those who have been charged with crimes.

International Center director Albert Mbanfu says that’s little comfort to many of the refugees he encounters. He says he’s telling local refugees that they can’t be rounded up and deported.

“There are so many of our refugee kids wondering if they are going to be sent back to the refugee camps. So we try as much as possible to alleviate their fears and to let them understand that they are legal, and there’s no way they will send them back to the refugee camps.”

Bowling Green is home to refugees from dozens of Central American, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries.

Those granted refugee status are in the U.S. legally and have often fled their native countries because of violence or political persecution.

Mbanfu says he’s trying to let local refugees know that they won’t be deported, and that they are free to pursue their lives in southern Kentucky.

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