Sometimes migrant families travel to the U.S. border together, but very often children travel alone and cross the U.S. border in search of safety and reunification with a family member in the U.S. Since 2011, the International Institute of New England has helped unaccompanied minor children by providing the support and resources they need [...]
A graduate of Boston College (BA) and UMass Boston (MA), Sofie Suter works in IINE’s Boston office as the Program Officer for the Central American Unaccompanied Children's Program. Her job and department are unique because her clients are children, with whom she works for short, intensive period of time while they are first reunifying [...]
Michou was a single mother of two and pregnant with her third child in 2010 when a powerful earthquake struck her homeland of Haiti. Left homeless by the devastation, Michou and her children emigrated to the U.S. During their first few years here, Michou acted as a full-time caretaker for her sons, both of [...]
In May, 20 volunteers from Cambridge-based Biotech firm Intellia Therapeutics visited IINE offices to tackle an office-wide spring cleaning and provide behind-the-scenes support to refugees, immigrants, and unaccompanied immigrant minors. Intellia’s team started with lunch and an info-session to learn about refugee affairs and the needs of local organizations. After pizza and discussion, [...]
For many people who need help with their immigration paperwork and applications, attorney fees are often the most expensive part of the process. In order to provide affordable and reliable legal help, the International Institute recently relaunched a Legal Immigration Forms Service (LIFS), available to all, that provides high quality legal assistance at a [...]
Sophy Theam during her speech When IINE celebrated its historic 100-year anniversary in Lowell earlier this year, one of the event’s top sponsors, Enterprise Bank, decided that a donation alone wasn’t enough. The series of events that led to Enterprise Bank becoming more than a fiscal sponsor of the celebration began [...]
I am normally a good sleeper, but last week’s New York Times article chronicling the horrific saga of an immigrant child ripped from his parents at the border kept me awake in frustrated, frightened wonder. I wonder how the U.S. government can ever possibly justify an immigration “process” that would keep a 4-month old [...]
My colleagues sometimes refer to me as “Professor” Thielman because I require facts, data and a strategy debate before we adopt a policy at IINE. I take their ribbing, but I’m confident a fact-based approach to strategy is standard operating procedure for most organizations. Unfortunately, rigorous policy research isn’t the norm in the current [...]
The Thein family’s journey from Myanmar to the United States was triggered by the all-too-familiar circumstances of loss, risk, and uncertainty that plague every refugee family. Yet, from the moment they landed in Lowell in the spring of 2016, Nai Win Thein, Mi Thein Si and their three children quickly became known among [...]
More than 600 people gathered at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday, May 1 to mark the centennial of the International Institute of New England (IINE) and to recognize the enduring legacy of immigrants and refugees in the Lowell community. IINE is one of the oldest and largest refugee resettlement and immigrant services [...]
