Garang Majouk left southern Sudan during the country’s second civil war, forded the Nile River during his escape, washed dishes in Lebanon, and came to Iowa 19 year ago as a refugee.

So “good governing” is important to him, he says, explaining why he organizes new immigrants from the South Sudanese community in Iowa to exercise their right to vote.

Majouk is one of several immigrant organizers who work to ensure newly naturalized voters participate in the American political process. He arranges cultural and language accommodations for those who might have been refugees or come from countries that did not offer the democratic right to vote.

That was true for Majouk, whose country was embroiled in civil war.

“It is one of your privileges as an American to cast your vote, and see progress on an issue you are passionate about,” he said.

The moment they become citizens, immigrants are legally allowed to vote. But first, they must register. Registering new voters who are born in the U.S. -- like those who turn 18 -- is a challenge, according to youth-vote organizers. Even more difficult is registering new citizens who might find the U.S. election process confusing.

“There is a particular need for voter registration campaigns targeted toward newly naturalized citizens,” said Diego Iñiguez-López, the policy and campaigns manager at the National Partnership of New Americans, an advocacy group that partners with 37 regional refugee- and immigrant-rights organizations in 31 states.

Immigrant voters -- 23 million of them, according to the Pew Research Center -- will make up 10% of the eligible voters in the 2020 election for U.S. president. Organizers from different immigrant groups across the United States are working diligently to bring their communities out to the polls.”

The rising number of new American voters represent voting blocks that can have the power to sway the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, midterm elections, and elections for governorships and state legislatures,” Iñiguez-López said.

“These voting blocks will be especially critical in swing states like Florida, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan, where some of the largest groups of newly naturalized citizens reside,” he said.

Despite the number of eligible immigrant voters, their voter turnout rates have lagged behind native-born voters. In 2016, 62% of native-born eligible voters turned out to the polls, compared with 54% of foreign-born voters, according to Pew.

Bhim Magar, a member of Iowa’s Bhutanese community, attributed lower turnout to a lack of information.

“Most people in our community got citizenship in the past few years, but they were uninformed of both their right to vote and of the process behind voting,” he said. “They found caucusing even more difficult.”

Many immigrants, despite living in the United States for years, had never been contacted by a presidential campaign prior to 2020, Harka Thapa, one of Magar’s fellow organizers, said.

“In 2016, very few members of our community voted,” Thapa said. “For many this caucus was their first time.”

The Democratic Party has updated some of their primaries to make them more inclusive to eligible immigrant voters.

In Iowa, the state’s Democratic Party worked with the state’s different immigrant communities to establish 11 satellite caucus locations that provided language and cultural accommodations for voters whose English may have been limited.

At Hoover Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, most of the first-time voters caucused in at least nine languages.

In Nevada, caucus-goers had access to materials in three different languages, English, Spanish and Tagalog, the most commonly spoken language of the Philippines. Those who spoke other languages, however, had to seek their campaign information elsewhere.

The Bernie Sanders campaign has seized on this voter market.

According to his campaign, the 78-year-old Vermont senator has more than 250 translators across the country who translate tweets and graphics into multiple languages. During the debates, many of these translators live-tweeted Sanders’ responses in different languages, including Punjabi and Urdu.

Aung Win Maw works as an organizer of immigrants and refugees from Myanmar. After working the Iowa caucuses, he headed to Minnesota to help organize the Burmese Karen immigrant community around Super Tuesday.”

"For each immigrant group, we tried to set up a specific satellite caucus location based on geographic location, provided them with translation, and also with transportation to the location,” he said.

Most Burmese immigrants and refugees have never heard from a campaign before, he said.

“We tried to make the political process much easier for the Burmese community to access,” he said.

Magar and Thapa were stateless, and living in refugee camps in Nepal, when they moved to the U.S. in 2011. Magar gained citizenship in 2017, and Thapa in 2019. Both are adamant that with better outreach, their community will show up to vote enthusiastically.

“I think once they get citizenship for this beautiful country, everyone would want to vote. To use that right,” Thapa said.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

WASHINGTON — 

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.