Tennesseans have shown that we are ready to welcome newcomers to our state. We’ve been welcoming refugees to Tennessee for over 30 years.
Lisa Sherman Luna
Guest Columnist
- Lisa Sherman Luna is the executive director of TIRRC Votes, the electoral arm of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
When I was 17, my family made the difficult decision to uproot our lives and move from our home in Guatemala to Nashville.
My sister had just survived a violent kidnapping, and while I was devastated to leave my extended family and the country I grew up in, I knew we were privileged to be dual citizens with the ability for my parents to do what was safest for us.
We were quickly welcomed into a community that helped make sure we had everything we needed to thrive, from helping my parents find jobs to securing housing and a car to enrolling my sisters and I in school. They helped us feel safe and supported.
Whether we’ve lived here for years or are just arriving at the border, all of us deserve to be treated with the dignity my family experienced when we moved to Nashville all those years ago. As a mom myself, I now know that a parent will do anything to seek safety and opportunity for their children, but it shouldn’t take the privilege of dual citizenship to protect one’s family.