Surprising salve for New York's beleaguered cities - influx of refugees

Buffalo, New York

NEWCOMERS have filled up hundreds of empty homes and apartments, and poured money and energy into destitute neighbourhoods. Former churches have been reborn as mosques and refugee health centres, or found new congregants to fill pews and collection plates. Students have restocked classrooms at public schools where enrolment had been in a decades-long downward spiral. Storefront "For Rent" signs have given way to "Grand Openings".

While President Donald Trump has cast incoming refugees in a sinister light, the influx into the beleaguered communities along New York's old Erie Canal has been a surprising salve for decades of dwindling population and opportunity.

The effect has been both low-budget and high-tech: Foreign-born students from countries like Iran have flocked to programmes - and paid tuition and fees - at upstate schools offering advanced scientific degrees, while street-level entrepreneurs have started shops offering knickknacks and takeout for curious locals, and exotic staples and calls home for …