VOX Investigates: Leaving Iraq, Starting A New Life In Atlanta

“We can have a better life here in Atlanta than we could have had in Iraq,” according to a a 16-year-old girl in DeKalb County.

Maya Martin / VOX Atlanta

By Name Withheld, New American Pathways

I’m sharing my story to let people see how immigrants experience difficult situations.

My family is from Baghdad. It is the capital city in Iraq, and it is actually beautiful. But sometimes it is not safe to live there, especially when there is war, like when my family lived there. So my parents decided to apply to come to the United States when I was 11 years old.