While Detroit has a long history of migration and now hosts thousands of refugees and immigrants, the growing community of African asylum-seekers remains largely unnoticed. There is a great number of Africans now resettling in Detroit through Freedom House, one of the only shelters in the country providing pro-bono housing, legal, and social services to those fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the United States. The word spreads fast, and most people hear about the shelter through other Africans they meet when they first arrive in the country.
Unlike resettled refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan whose stories we often hear about in the media, asylum-seekers in the United States are not given financial support from the government when they arrive, and their legal status remains undecided for years. These photos explore the ongoing impact of the asylum-seeking process on individuals—the echoes of forced migration and trauma, a future of newness and uncertainty.
Building upon Detroit's long history of migration and hosting refugees, there is a growing community of asylum-seekers from the African continent rebuilding their lives and finding rich opportunities to stay.
*some names and faces concealed to preserve anonymity
Kenza, 5, one of Mamba Hamissi and Nadia Nijimbere’s twin daughters, plays with a doll in their apartment in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. Nadia fled Burundi in 2013 when she was violently targeted for her work with a human rights organization. Nadia chose to go to Detroit, a city she heard about because of a shelter called Freedom House which provided pro-bono housing, social, and legal services to asylum-seekers. By the time Mamba's visa was finally accepted in 2015, he had missed Nadia's pregnancy, the twins' birth, and the first two years of their lives.
Mamba looks out his car window at the Marathon Oil Refinery in southwest Detroit. After working factory jobs when he first arrived in the US, Mamba felt that his education and successes in Burundi did not translate in America. "I hate to say it," he says "but because I did not speak English and I came from Africa, they did not trust that I was capable of the job. I learned English in 6 months. I have proven I am smart, and I can learn the job in just two or three months."
The French to English dictionary in Kate* and Pamela’s* bedroom in Detroit, Michigan. Kate and Pamela are cousins from the Republic of Congo, who fled to Detroit after being targeted by the government. Back home in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville, the cousins feared a regime that imprisons and tortures anyone they view as threatening their power. Unlike resettled refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, asylum-seekers are not given financial support from the government when they arrive, and their legal status remains undecided for years.
Kate* and Pamela* laugh together outside of a shawarma restaurant on John R Street in Detroit. While they wait years for their asylum case to be processed, they rent an apartment together, work in the city, and have formed strong relationships. In September 2017, Kate and Pamela moved out of Freedom House, which helped them transition out of the shelter and into their own apartment.
Mamba and Nadia’s twin daughters, Kenza and Dieze, play games on Mamba’s phone while he sells his Burundian-grown and Detroit-roasted coffee beans to a local coffee shop owner in Hamtramck, Mich.
Pamela’s friend from the Congo who is now studying in the US hugs Pamela as she prepares to walk down the aisle at her wedding in New Baltimore, Mich. In early 2018, Pamela met her now husband, Jordan, on a blind date to the movies.
Kate passes a hair salon on her way to the Senegalese-owned Family African Market on Seven Mile.
![Kate and Pamela stock up on ripe plantains during their weekly shop at the Family African Market. "I'm here to buy stuff that I can't find in the big stores, like Walmart or Meijer. I'm used to buying my food [at Family African Market] because it re](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/538097e9e4b0fe1778d1864f/1601071187554-PA0N4H066831Z9XZ6H25/Santucci_Fulbright_Portfolio_1_7.jpg)
Kate and Pamela stock up on ripe plantains during their weekly shop at the Family African Market. "I'm here to buy stuff that I can't find in the big stores, like Walmart or Meijer. I'm used to buying my food [at Family African Market] because it reminds me of where I come from," Kate says before shopping.
Mamba and Nadia stand on Grand River Avenue after Mamba gave a presentation about small business ownership to community members on March 2, 2018. Mamba and Nadia were eventually granted asylum in April 2017, four years after Nadia applied. Less than six months later, they won a $50,000 grant to open Detroit’s first East African restaurant, Baobob Fare.
Mamba and Nadia pray with their East African friends from Freedom House in their bedroom in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich before breaking their fast during Ramadan.
Kate blends up vegetables and spices at home to make Jollof rice for dinner.
Pamela marries her partner, Jordan, at their wedding in the backyard of his family home in New Baltimore, Mich. Pamela’s Congolese friends from Freedom House attended the ceremony, which was live-streamed for friends and family watching from Brazzaville.