Each year thousands of people arrive in the United States seeking refuge from violence and persecution in their home countries. American Purgatory, an audio documentary, portrays their experiences applying for asylum. It's a process that is necessarily rigorous, but for those going through it, it can seem like a contradiction to their vision of the US: more hell than heaven--a purgatory of sorts.

Listen to Part 1 of the program here.

Go to the American purgatory Website to download the entire documentary.

Tags: asylum, documentary, public radio
Topics: Immigration, Media production, Refugees

License: Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd)
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© 2008, Sarah Elzas and Olivia Bueno