Written and published via America Magazine (Kevin Clarke)

Watching a group of 59 South Africans arrive in the United States as refugees on May 12, Francis Kham was left with mixed feelings. That the South Africans—fast-tracked into the United States because of the Trump administration’s contested claims of white genocide—were accepted as refugees is a sign of hope, he says, but it is also the source of great frustration.

“I’m glad that there are people still coming through,” Mr. Kham says, “but this process should be extended to everyone that’s really [facing] the same discrimination.”

“Just because they are white, that doesn’t mean they are the only refugees,” he says. “There are a lot of refugees around the world who are looking for international protection.”

Mr. Kham is a former refugee himself, a member of the Zomi community from Myanmar’s western Chin State. He was admitted to the United States in 2015 and settled in Portland with the assistance of Catholic Charities of Oregon. He is an active member of St. Joseph the Worker parish, a Catholic Charities board member, a social worker and a national leader in the U.S.’s Zomi community.

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