This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX, and I'm Catherine Burns.

The Moth now does regular events in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Africa.

And this time, we're going to hear stories connected to each of those places.

Our first story takes place in America, but has roots in two other continents.

It concerns the struggles and fate of two people who moved here from far away

and the hopes of making the United

States their home.

Here's Emma Gordon live at the Moth.

I'm standing in the conference room of an immigration law firm and reading the asylum cases

that are framed on the wall and keeping one eye on my boyfriend who's pacing.

Six months ago I didn't even know this man and now I am clutching his deportation notice with both hands.

Two lawyers come in and we unravel the whole story. I'm taking notes furiously. One of the lawyers

asks, did you love her? And without hesitation, he says, I loved her very much. And she's like,

good, because now we just have to prove it. I write that down. Prove love for ex-wife and circle it.

We met in a dive bar in Brooklyn.

There were flames painted on the outside.

I walked in and I see a guy.

He's got messy hair, big coat, he's holding a beer, and he sees me, lowers

his beer and says, oh wow. I go directly to the bar, but I can feel the coat hovering

behind me. And he offers to buy me a drink, and I sense a hint of an accent. I tried to find somewhere else to sit, but there wasn't one.

So when I walk back, he greets me with open arms and says,

they always come back.

...