Refugees Discover 2 Americas: One That Hates, and One That Heals

DUNDALK, Md. — Ra’ad and Hutham Lalqaraghuli are no longer sure which America they’re a part of.

Is it the hateful country they confronted a few weeks before the presidential election, when someone left a note at their door that said, “Terrorist Leave no one wants you here”?

Or is it the generous country of welcoming strangers who heard about their ordeal and showered them with gifts and cards with positive messages?

The victory of President-elect Donald J. Trump has intensified their whiplash. After a year in the Maryland suburbs, having arrived with their four children as refugees from Iraq, they find themselves comparing the threats they fled with those that might still emerge.

They did not sleep on election night after watching television coverage of the results.

They are “very afraid and worried,” Mr. Lalqaraghuli said on Wednesday. “We don’t know what this will mean.”

Their confusion, and the divided response to the family’s presence here, mirrors the experience of many other refugee families and Muslim Americans. In the past week, even as advocates report a steep rise in attacks and acts of intimidation against blacks, Muslims and immigrants — and on women wearing hijabs — many of those episodes have been followed by public acts of support and solidarity.