Sara Paretsky

Thousands of refugee families arrive in the United States each year. Many of these families are channeled into state welfare programs where they must comply with work or work-training requirements and are subject to time limits on assistance. Sara Paretsky maintains in the following viewpoint that it is unfair to expect refugees, who are unfamiliar with English and recovering from stressful events, to adhere to the same timetables as people born and raised in the United States. The author contends that the federal government should provide refugees with a year of cash and medical assistance while they adjust to their new country, freeing states to concentrate on needy families already living in America. Paretsky is the granddaughter of a Lithuanian refugee and the author of the novel Ghost Country.

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