Somalia

November 8, 2016 - 5:44pm
Thousands of refugees have resettled in Onondaga County in the past 15 years. Today, many cast their ballots as naturalized U.S. citizens.

In a thick white peacoat and gold headscarf, Lul Hassan held her young son’s hand as she entered a polling station on Burt Street. A resident of Syracuse, she is far from her native country Somalia, which she left in 2004 at the age of 14. But she is now a citizen of the U.S., and voted in the presidential election this afternoon as a Muslim-American refugee.

“[One of the candidates] say immigrants or terrorists or ISIS, even though I’m not one of them,” Hassan said. “I’m Muslim, but I am a citizen. My vote matters and my voice matters.”