My identity is deeply intertwined with being a refugee because that's the first experience that I remember.

Refugees have been displaced by war or natural disaster or political catastrophes, and they are much more threatening because they are reminders to people that all the comforts that we take for granted can be taken away in just a moment.

Refugees are threatening, not just to Americans, but also in many countries the world over. And it's partially because, unlike immigrants, refugees do not choose where they're going to go or why they're fleeing, and they are unwanted populations. They bring with them the stigma of disaster.

I never called myself a writer because it seemed so pretentious - a writer was what somebody else called you, a title bestowed.

In the United States, the immigrant experience occupies a very central place in American mythology. And sometimes, that place wavers between acceptance and rejection.

I've never stopped being a refugee.

No one wants for their child to become a refugee. It's an awful experience.