THOMPSON:

Rania (ph), now 37, says the hardest part of living in Syria was the constant shelling and not knowing if her kids would make it home from school. One day a suicide bomber blew himself up right outside their apartment in Damascus.

After years of applications, she finally got a visa with the help of the nonprofit Catholic Charities. She and her husband and their four kids arrived in New York just last month.

Rania tells me she doesn't have to worry anymore that somebody is going to hurt her kids, she finally feels at peace. But Rania's sister, Azzam's other daughter, remains a refugee in Lebanon, next door to Syria. The fate of her application for a U.S. visa is more uncertain than before.