photo by Talia Hodge
Madhu Sharma is a fighter. For over 26 years, the Indian immigrant has helped refugees, asylum-seekers, immigrants and migrants who have survived the most horrific situations — war, human trafficking, sexual assault, torture — fight for freedom and secure citizenship as an immigration attorney and now the executive director of the International Institute of Akron. It can be harrowing, but Sharma perseveres, wearing a silver bangle inscribed with the pressing reminder to “keep fucking going.”
“It’s part of my personality not to give up or give in on the idea that we’re going to have an intersectional democracy that is representative of all the voices,” says the 53-year-old Akron resident. “I do this to help someone have a better experience than I had as an immigrant.”
Sharma grew up in the rural village of New London, Ohio. It wasn’t easy being one of only two immigrant families there in the ‘70s — she recalls a discussion about the possibility of a new development’s property values dipping because her family built a house there.
Seeking more inclusivity, she moved to California and worked there as an immigration attorney for 20 years. In 2011, she was awarded a Congressional certificate of honor for representing a case in which over 40 people were smuggled into the U.S. and held captive in a drop house, where sex crimes took place.“The stories were beyond violent,” she says. For the first time, people smuggled into the U.S. had access to a crime victim visa.
Those sorts of cases led to secondary trauma nightmares. Sharma seeks mental health counseling — and encourages others to do the same.
“It taught me to have appropriate boundaries in doing this work so you can sustain yourself,” says Sharma, who copes by gardening, writing poetry and spending time with her dog.
At 41, needing a change, she quit her job and traveled to India to meet her mother’s family.
“I realized what my life might have been in India, as opposed to the United States where I had access to choices and a culture where women have more of a voice,” she says.
She wanted to be close to her family in Ohio and began working at the institute in 2015. Through the Cleveland courts in 2018, Sharma provided legal representation to those involved in one of the largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in U.S. history. One of her biggest obstacles came during the August 2021 Afghanistan troop withdrawal. Many of the 300 Afghans living in Akron sought help from the institute for family members — 200 Afghans were resettled here from fall 2021 to spring 2022. Helping them was resettlement case manager, translator and interpreter Tamana Ziar, who came to Akron from Afghanistan in July 2021 to escape war-related violence — including a 2020 attack at her university that killed 22 students. She’s thankful to be here.
“I feel more safe in the U.S. … I’m more independent. I have my freedom, like going to school,” says Ziar.
This year, the institute, now located in downtown Akron, is resettling the highest number of refugees since 2016 — 500 from places such as Sudan and Iraq — as well as providing wraparound services to Ukrainians and other arrivals. It has resettled over 1,500 refugees during Sharma’s tenure as executive director.
But there is not a happy ending for all. Many Afghans came here on two-year humanitarian parole visas, which have been extended to 2025. Most of their asylum applications are awaiting processing — while the clock ticks. So Sharma continues to lead the battle for a more just immigration system.
“It’s about human beings,” she says. “Everyone in town, the state, the country has to come together to demand our politics shift to match our needs for immigrants.”
