Episode 4 "Waiting to Die" • TOPIC: U.S. History of Immigration & Reception of Newcomers

On this episode, meet Nisar Ahmad Momand. Nisar spent most of his life as a refugee, first in Pakistan, then as an enemy of the Taliban who worked for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, risking his life and becoming the target of Taliban attacks three times! He now lives in Houston, TX with his family and works with a resettlement agency helping newly arriving refugees. He was named a hero by Univision last summer when he and a group of 20 helped move people and belongings during Hurricane Harvey. Dr. Susan F. Martin talks to us about the history of immigration in the U.S., and explains her colonial model of immigration that is repeated over and over through today and illustrates what we can learn from this history. Dr. Martin is Emeritus Professor of International Migration and Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Previously she served as the Executive Director of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, established by legislation to advise Congress and the President on U.S. immigration and refugee policy, and the Director of Research and Programs at the Refugee Policy Group. Please enjoy this episode of In Their Own Voices. SPONSORSHIP: Funding for this podcast is provided by Southern Methodist University's Embrey Human Rights Program via their Community Outreach Fellowship. Their website is: http://smu.edu/humanrights/ MEDIA INQUIRIES: For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. HOST: This podcast is hosted by Human Rights Media at: www.hrtsmedia.com and can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn as well as on most podcast aggregators. Audio production enhancements for this episode were performed by René Coronado at Dallas Audio Post. Their website is: http://dallasaudiopost.com/ New episodes are released monthly through May 2018. Many thanks to the dedicated staff who work tirelessly to help produce this series and make it possible. And for each refugee and expert guest, thank you for your honesty and vulnerability to bring your stories and reliable data to the public. CREDITS: Tiffany Jelke, Producer & Host • SMU Community Outreach Fellow • Michelle Lara, Production Assisant Allison Plake, Audio Production Intern Kade Peacock, Sound Technician René Coronado, Dallas Audio Post (Provided technical sound enhancement) Dr. Bradley Klein, Associate Director of SMU's Embrey Human Rights Program is the mentor on this project.