CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — It was in Cedar Rapids, surrounded by cornfields, where Iowa artist Grant Wood painted “American Gothic,” the iconic 1930 portrayal of a stern-looking woman and a man with a pitchfork in front of a white frame house.

The city presents many different images today, after more than a century of international migration and faith-based resettlement efforts.

To many newcomers as well as lifelong residents, this heartland river city where migrants from present-day Lebanon built the first U.S. mosque is a welcoming microcosm of America’s melting pot at a time when immigration enforcement is disrupting families and communities.

Hundreds of refugee families were resettled by The Catherine McAuley Center, founded by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy, until the nationwide

See Full Page