Every Monday, I Visit Prisoners at Heathrow

One of the World’s Largest Airports Is Also Home to Detained Immigrants Stuck in Limbo

Every Monday, come 2 p.m. I’m usually ready in my seat in the Visitor’s Lock, unless there’s been a long wait to get fingerprinted and frisked. I then wait for Hormoz (not his real name) to get picked up from his cell on the wing and brought up. Weekday afternoons are normally pretty quiet here in the Lock, where family and friends sit on plastic chairs at plastic tables, both bolted to the floor, as they keep an eye on the door through which the detainees enter.

Two of the U.K.’s …

Undocumented, and Riding Shotgun

I Thought I Was an Average American Teen Until I Tried to Get a Driver’s License

Up until my early 20s, I rode shotgun. With my high school and college sweetheart, I flipped through the soft sleeves of our shared CD binder in search of the …

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Persian Food

My Iranian Mother Wanted Me to Cook Recipes from the Motherland. I Wanted to Be Independent.

My cavalier cooking practices have been a cause for shame and concern for my Iranian mother. To me, eating is just something you do to stay alive; for her and …

Somersaulting into America

As a Top Japanese Gymnast, My Dad’s Future Was Laid Out for Him. He Opted for Adventure in the U.S. Instead.

The letter that would change my father’s life—and eventually lead to his recent induction into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame—arrived in 1964, at his high school in Nara, Japan. …

Being American Means Never Having to Fret Over Your Legal Documents

Paperwork Was a Matter of Life and Death When I Was a Refugee. Now, It’s Just an Annoyance.

Last year, when my driver’s license was set to expire, I went online to apply for a renewal but was thwarted by error messages. Exasperated at the time I had …