Today, there are more displaced people in the world than at any other time in history. It is a humanitarian crisis on a global scale.  

But rather than seeking humane solutions to this crisis, many governments are choosing to weaponize it, creating a hostile environment for migrants and implementing laws that criminalize migration and undermine human rights.  

We have all read the headlines demonizing migrants, but we rarely hear from the people behind those headlines-their stories, their challenges, and what drove them to make a perilous journey in the hope of finding sanctuary far from home.   

In this week’s episode, host Ngofeen Mputubwele speaks to Hanaa R., a former policewoman who, fearing for her life, fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took control. We will hear about the risks she took and the sacrifices she made on her journey to become an asylum seeker in the US. But we will also hear why Trump’s new migration policies mean that this incredible story wouldn’t be possible today.  

Hanaa Rahimi: Former Afghan policewoman sharing her story under alias 

Bill Frelick: Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch