James Sayavong knows what it’s like to be a refugee in America. His father was a military officer in Laos when the communists overran his country after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam and the surrounding area. His mother buried documents in the yard for fear that the communist government would come after their family. They eluded government authorities, and James and his siblings were able to continue going to school in Laos for several more years. The family ultimately decided to flee, first to a refugee camp in Thailand, then the Philippines. By the time they got to Milwaukee, James Sayavong was 21 with no high school diploma and an uncertain future.

Today Sayavong is the principal of Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language (MACL), a Milwaukee Public School (MPS) just a half mile west of Marquette University. MACL is also home to the International Newcomer Center (INC), often the first stop for refugee children who arrive in Milwaukee. His school is preparing for the first wave of Afghan children who will soon be coming to town from Fort McCoy.

Thousands of Afghans who were airlifted to the United States are now housed at the military base in west central Wisconsin. MPS officials say that federal officials have told them that approximately 500 of them will ultimately make Wisconsin their home, but the last count given was 399. We do not know exactly how many school-aged children will be in that settlement group.

MPS officials believe that the majority of those Afghans settling in Wisconsin will find their way to the state’s major cities for several reasons.

First, larger cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay have the necessary infrastructure to help refugee children transition socially and educationally. City school systems have gone through this process before, most recently with children coming from Somalia and the Rohingya from Myanmar (Burma).

Second, refugees from the same countries tend to cluster together. Along the interstate highway between Minneapolis and Milwaukee, in every large community there are Hmong families.

Finally, many Afghans here are from larger urban centers. The capital city, Kabul, has a population of over 4.5 million, so larger cities might feel more like home.

MPS is preparing for an unknown number of children to arrive.

Read the full article about welcoming Afghan migrants by Terrence Falk at The 74.