Life on the Move: The Global Refugee Crisis

On Thursday, April 20, Atlantic staff writer and current Joan Shorenstein Fellow, Caitlin Dickerson, led a discussion on the global refugee crisis. More than 80 million people have been forced from their homes worldwide by conflicts, climate change, persecution or destitution—a number that grows every day. From Warsaw, Poland, which has accepted more Ukrainian refugees fleeing war than any city in the world, to dangerous camps in Northern Mexico where asylum seekers wait to enter the United States, Caitlin Dickerson’s on-the-ground reporting highlights the vulnerability and complexity of life on the move, which often exacerbates pre-existing inequality. As she wrote for The Atlantic, “Being forced from one’s home causes irrevocable harm to anyone who experiences it… Some find stability—and, if buffeted by the right passport, family connections, or luck, can even find greater prosperity. But that is no replacement for what they have lost. Far more displaced people, though, struggle to establish themselves in a new place, or find that they are unwelcome, so they have to keep moving in search of a new home.”

Caitlin Dickerson is an award-winning investigative reporter and feature writer for The Atlantic magazine. Dickerson has reported on immigration from three continents and dozens of American cities. She has broken news about changes in deportation and detention policy, and often profiles the lives of immigrants, including those without legal status. Previously, Dickerson spent nearly five years as a reporter at The New York Times, and five years as a producer and reporter for NPR.  She is a Peabody, Edward R Murrow, and Robert B. Silvers prize recipient, and a three-time finalist for the Livingston Award. She is currently writing a book for Random House about the systemic impact of deportation on American society, and will be conducting research for the book during her fellowship.