BY CHICO HARLAN

In ATHens

He a nd his family had tried for 17 m onths

to make it in Greece, and Kamal Mahmood

said he felt “shame” for how badly it had

gone.

Back home in Iraq, he’d been a doctor;

here, he was recognized only as a migrant.

He and his wife had become destitute. The

family slept in tents and shelters — until

they ultimately decided to return to the

country they’d once paid $12,000 to flee.

“Don’t lose this, okay?” a United nations

migration officer said at the airport in

Athens, handing Mahmood a packet of

documents. “These are your tickets up to

your arrival in Iraq.”

“Got it,” Mahmood, 44, said quietly,

taking the tickets, along with a temporary

passport that listed his wife and four

children and said “one way” on the front.

He and his family were returning as part

of a program, funded by Greece and the

european Union, that has become one of

the most significant pathways of reverse

migration from europe. Through that pro-

gram, about 16,900 people have made the

trip back to Africa, Asia or the Middle east

over the past three years. The flow is one of

the consequences of e.U. countries having

tightened borders, imposed stricter re-

quirements for legal status or otherwise

made themselves inhospitable.

Many migrants now feel coming to

europe was a mistake.

In some parts of the continent, people

who feel this way have few options, particu-

larly if they have no money to go home on

their own. even migrants rejected for

asylum are rarely forcibly deported.

But Greece is trying to offer a way out

with what amounts to a deportation system

on a voluntary basis. some people opt to go

home because they have faced initial rejec-

tions in their bids to qualify as refugees.

some have fallen into under-the-table agri-

culture jobs with illegally low wages. oth-

ers are simply fed up with being stuck in

Greece’s notorious tent camps, which hu-

man rights groups say are intentionally

squalid and overcrowded.

Those who leave are “people who have

had enough,” said Gianluca Rocco, chief of

the International organization for Migra-

tion (IoM) mission in Greece, which oper-

ates the returns program.

Groups that focus on migration say IoM

provides an otherwise-lacking last resort

see greece on A

BY MARC FISHER

His father gave up everything

to escape from communism, an

overbearing government, anti-

semitism and the painfully nar-

rowed opportunities that Jews

faced in the soviet Union. A lexan-

der Vindman grew up in Brook-

lyn, determined t o be as American

as can be.

now Vindman is suddenly a

crucial figure in a controversy

that could lead to the impeach-

ment of President Trump — hailed

by many of Trump’s critics as a

patriotic truth-teller yet dis-

missed by the president and some

of his allies as a disloyal tattler

who is somehow not fully Ameri-

can.

Vindman and his identical

twin, Ye vgeny, were not quite 4

when they landed in the United

states, s ettling in Brighton Beach,

Brooklyn, a half-hour subway ride

from the ferry that runs to the

statue of Liberty.

Grateful to the nation that ad-

opted them, the twins enlisted in

the U.s. Army and launched ca-

reers in government. To day, at 44,

see VIndmAn on A

In grateful

service to an

adopted home

BY MATT VISER,

MICHELLE YE HEE LEE,

ANNIE LINSKEY

AND MICHAEL SCHERER

even for a party accustomed to
an anxious donor and political
class — a group of second-guess-
ers that obama adviser David
Plouffe famously called the “bed
wetters” — billionaire Michael
Bloomberg’s likely entry into the
Democratic presidential primary
has supercharged a debate over
whether the party has the right
candidates, whether the time for
entries has passed, and whether

yet other candidates could raise

the mountain of cash needed for a

credible campaign.

Bloomberg’s d ecision, fueled by

his dissatisfaction with the race’s

leading moderate, former vice

president Joe Biden, and worries

about the rise of liberal leader

elizabeth Warren, injected re-

newed volatility into the primary

race just three months before vot-

ing begins with the Iowa caucuses.

Biden’s donors are growing

more concerned about his stand-

ing — even as some of them begin

to write six-figure checks in the

hope that a newly formed super

PAC can prop up a flagging candi-

dacy that is now further threat-

ened b y Bloomberg’s p otential en-

trance. Warren and her allies,

meanwhile, welcomed a billion-

aire foil whom they hope to use to

drive home her populist message.

nonetheless, polling this week

showing her losing to Trump in

critical upper Midwestern states

sent a thunderbolt of fear through

even some of her b oosters.

“It’s a mix in all these cases of

see democrAts on A

As Bloomberg hovers,

Democrats keep fretting

With the clock ticking,

party is second-guessing

who can beat Trump

BY IAN SHAPIRA

The King family stepped care-

fully up the concrete steps,

through the narrow doorway and

into a two-story log cabin with a

painful past. Inside, they exam-

ined every inch. The low ceiling.

The peeling chestnut walls. Then,

the second floor, a tiny space un-

der a pitched cedar-shake roof,

where sunlight slips through

small windows onto uneven oak

floorboards.

John B. King Jr., education sec-

retary for President Barack

obama, climbed up the wobbly

ladder for a depressing glance at

the sleeping quarters. But he

quickly came down and crossed

his arms, wondering about the

people who lived in this cramped

space more than 1 50 years e arlier:

his enslaved ancestors. Lydia

King. Charles King. Anne King. so

many Kings once lived here, on

this M aryland farm, still o wned by

direct descendants of the slave-

holder, Thomas G riffith.

“My ancestors must have had

see fAmIlIes on A

At a Gaithersburg farm, an unlikely bond forms

Two families — one black, one white — shared a painful history rooted in slavery. Then they met.

KatHerIne frey/tHe wasHIngton post

Amina King, 15, the daughter of former U.s. education secretary John B. King Jr., ducks to leave the

log cabin where her enslaved ancestors once lived on a farm called edgehill in gaithersburg, md.

G reece gives fed-up migrants a way out

Nearly 17,000 people have turned to a voluntary deportation program after losing hope on Europe

myrto papadopoulos for tHe wasHIngton post

At a refu gee camp north of Athens, families seeking asylum live in makeshift housing. many migrants feel coming to europe was a mistake.

the NAtIoN

A vaping ‘breakthrough’

Health officials say vitamin e

acetate is the likely culprit in the

outbreak that has killed 39. A

the world

the berlin wall’s legacy

pieces of the wall have journeyed

to six continents, where they serve

as shrines to a disturbing past. A

the ecoNomy

Another pivot on china

a day after the white House hinted

a pact was close, tr ump said it may

not wrap up this year. A

the regIoN

d.c.’s black broadway

a project seeks to collect and

digitize oral histories and artifacts

for exploring in a mobile app. b

Inside

obI arIsuKwu for tHe wasHIngton post

CONTENT © 2019

The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 339

bUsINess News ............................................. A

comIcs ............................................................. c

opINIoN pAges...............................................A

lotterIes.........................................................b

obItUArIes.......................................................b

teleVIsIoN ....................................................... c

world News....................................................A

∠∠ Dead ringers Roy Orbison,

Frank Zappa, Buddy Holly,

Amy Winehouse, Whitney

Houston: Dead musicians are

taking the stage in hologram

form. Is this really the kind of

encore we want? Magazine

Back in the swing Weeks

after Hurricane Dorian, the

strongest storm to strike the

Bahamas, one island is ready

for the winter rush. Travel

∠∠ Trump’s rap sheet

Rap artists have invoked

Donald Trump’s name in

their lyrics — in adulation

and in scorn — in more than

300 songs over the past

30 years. What does it all

mean? Arts & style

In Sunday’s Post

$ 210

CHad KIrKland

ABCDE

Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. su V1 V2 V3 V

Mostly sunny 48/37 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 59/43 B6 Democracy Dies in Darkness SATURDAy, NOVEMbER 9 , 2019. $

BY SHANE HARRIS,

MIKE DEBONIS,

ELISE VIEBECK

AND MICHAEL KRANISH

In vivid and at times conten-

tious testimony before House im-

peachment investigators, the se-

nior White House official respon-

sible for Ukraine described what

he believed was an unambiguous

effort by President Trump to pres-

sure the president of Ukraine to

open investigations targeting

American politicians in exchange

for a coveted oval office meeting.

Under questioning from Rep.

Peter Welch (Vt.) and other D emo-

crats, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman

said “there was no doubt” about

what Trump wanted when he

spoke by phone July 25 with

Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelensky — particularly in con-

trast with an April call between

the two leaders shortly after Zel-

ensky’s e lection.

“The tone was significantly dif-

ferent,” Vindman said, according

to a transcript of his oct. 29 depo-

sition released Friday. Vindman,

who as a senior White House offi-

cial listened in on both calls, went

on: “I’m struggling for the words,

but i t was not a positive call. It w as

dour. If I think about it some more,

I could probably come up with

some other adjectives, but it was

just — the difference between the

calls was a pparent.”

Welch a sked Vindman if he h ad

any doubt that Trump was asking

for investigations of his political

opponents “as a deliverable” — in

other words, as part of a quid pro

quo.

“There was n o doubt,” Vindman

said.

see trAnscrIpts on A

‘No doubt’ about

a quid pro quo,

o∞cial testified

TRUMP’s ‘DEMAND’

WORRIED VINDMAN

Transcript reveals Aug.

meeting on Ukraine aid

lt. Col. VIndman. al drago/bloomberg news

Ky. governor: some say broken
promises were behind gop loss. A

Jordan accused again: referee
says then-coach knew of abuse. A