In Minneapolis, where Somali refugees helped revitalize entire neighborhoods, the community was stunned by the presidential order capping annual refugee admissions at 7,500, the lowest number since the program began in 1980.

In May, a group of 59 white South Africans were admitted to the United States as “refugees,” and the United States “essentially extended citizenship” to them, Trump said at the time. The State Department is reportedly planning to resettle 2,000 Afrikaners by the end of October and then another 4,000 by the end of November.

The Trump administration is slashing refugee admissions down to 7,500 in the upcoming year, reserving the bulk of slots for white South Africans.

My taxi driver keeps one eye on the road and the other on the rear-view mirror, as if expecting smoke to rise ahead of us. The closer we get to Shatila Refugee Camp, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the tighter his grip on the steering wheel becomes.

The British writer-director's new film, set to kick off its festival journey in the coming weeks, is inspired by the real-life experience of a Kurdish asylum seeker named Saady.