refugees

One naturalized Kearney resident, originally from Mexico, is ready to make her voice heard in the 2024 election. Nearly 900,000 immigrants and refugees became U.S. citizens in 2023, and the rapidly growing population could impact elections.

Among the struggles involved in re-establishing life in a new country, some Afghan parents fear their children will lose the cultural and historical connections that come with speaking Dari.

Informal soccer matches every Saturday on the open fields at Shawnee Mission North High School let Afghan refugees visit with people from their home country and speak their native languages. It's also a chance to improve their English.

After the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Kansas City welcomed hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan in 2021. Two years later, many refugees are in search of stable housing as the question of their immigration status remains in the air.

Tucked in the hills of the Ozarks near Arkansas and Oklahoma, Noel is a summer tourist destination that spans just two square miles. For three decades, migrants have come to work at the Tyson poultry plant, which offered jobs that didn’t require English proficiency at higher-than-minimum-wage pay — until it closed this month.

Refugees coming to Kansas City often need to learn how to drive in order to get a job or go to school. One Congolese man is stepping up to teach his fellow compatriots. Plus: Despite the fact that child care can cost more than a mortgage in Kansas, providers say they can barely afford to stay open.

Refugees often struggle to get to jobs, school or the store without adequate transportation. But getting a driver’s license in Kansas City is hard enough without the added barriers of a new language and culture. That's where Justin Bilombele comes in.

Kansas City is home to a growing community of refugees from Afghanistan, including an ethnic minority known as the Hazara who are finding a place here and spreading awareness of what they call a genocide back home.

Qasim Rahimi came to Kansas City in June 2021 after the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took over. Rahimi is a member of the Hazara, an ethnic minority group that has faced decades of violent persecution at the hands of the Taliban, and now he’s working to warn the world about the genocide being carried out against his people.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine last February, the Ukrainian Club of Kansas City knew it had to act. The community group came together to create Stand With Ukraine KC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing aid for Ukrainians both here and abroad.

The Yeremenko family had no clue who the Kansas City Chiefs were seven months ago. They were focused on evading Russian bombs. With the help an Olathe family, they went from escaping death in their homeland to celebrating the Chiefs' Super Bowl title in Arizona.

Kansas City-area members of Afghanistan's Hazara ethnic minority — some new arrivals since the U.S. evacuation in 2021 — are creating a community and celebrating traditions here while trying to call attention to the risk of genocide back in Afghanistan.