Friday April 21, 2023
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌


 

THE FORUM DAILY

Simply a must-read: In Kansas, the Manhattan Afghan Resettlement Team
(MART) brings together a broad range of community leaders, veterans,
educators, nonprofits and more to help the town's roughly 120 Afghan
evacuees rebuild their lives, AJ Dome writes in the KLC Journal
<[link removed]>.  

Fatima Jaghoori, a former U.S. Army medical sergeant and current
university student, has been working to bring her family and other
Afghans to the U.S. since 2021. Jaghoori and fellow Afghanistan veteran
and Manhattan Housing Authority Executive Director Aaron Estabrook began
reaching out to local agencies about resettlement and were overwhelmed
at the response.  

MART has since built a network of support: English classes at the local
Islamic Center. Real estate agents and university officials securing
long-term housing. Cooking supplies provided by local Farm and Food
Council. Any community member can donate or access volunteer
opportunities at the group's website <[link removed]>.
 

"I genuinely thought "It's a good definition of the Midwest, and a
good definition of how welcoming Kansas is and Kansans are," said
Jaghoori. "When it comes to conflict, they're gung-freaking-ho about
helping others." 

Meanwhile, this past week in local welcome:  

* Your editor @violindan <[link removed]> loves this
one: Violinist Ali Esmahilzada, who was famous in Afghanistan but had to
flee, now has a priceless antique violin thanks to the efforts of
journalist Latif Nasser and sound designer Jeremy Bloom. (Sydney Page,
The Washington Post
<[link removed]>)
 

* St. Louis nonprofit Bilingual International Assistant Services
<[link removed]> received a $1.8 million federal grant to
offer mental health services to Afghan evacuees in the area.  (Andrea
Y. Henderson, St. Louis Public Radio
<[link removed]>) 

* The city of Hartford, Connecticut, hosted its first-ever Ramadan iftar
ceremony in honor of people from Afghanistan and elsewhere who have
resettled in the city. (Ayah Galal and Zoe Strothers, WFSB
<[link removed]>) 

And finally, "The Covenant" opens in theaters today. A "love letter to
Afghan interpreters," the film depicts the difficulties and dangers they
faced as they aided U.S. troops, Blake Stilwell writes
for Military.com
<[link removed]>. 

Eid Mubarak to those celebrating, and welcome to Friday's edition of
The Forum Daily. I'm Dan Gordon, the Forum's strategic
communications VP, and today's great Forum Daily team also includes
Joanna Taylor, Clara Villatoro and Thea Holcomb. If you have a story to
share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>.     

A special thank-you today to Joanna for coming back and helping over the
past couple of weeks. Joanna, we wish you all the best at your new
permanent gig!

**PREPARATIONS** - Next week, the Biden administration will announce
plans tied to the expected May 11 end of Title 42 and a likely increase
in migrant encounters, Nick Miroff of The Washington Post
<[link removed]>
reports. A couple of reminders: Title 42 was not utilized at the border
until the pandemic, and there are myriad solutions
<[link removed]>
that don't go all-in on enforcement and deterrence at the expense of
migrants' human dignity and, in some cases, legitimate asylum
claims. 

**GOP BILL ADVANCES** - A proposed bill that would severely restrict
asylum and infringe on other legal immigration pathways has cleared the
House Judiciary Committee, Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washington
Examiner
<[link removed]>.
The Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023 now moves to the House
floor, where it faces opposition among some Republicans as well as from
Democrats.  

**LOOKING AHEAD** - As 2024 presidential hopefuls begin announcing
their candidacies, they should go beyond reactive immigration plans and
champion big-picture strategies, immigration expert Chris Richardson
writes in an op-ed for The Hill
<[link removed]>. "[W]e
are effectively shoehorning a 1990 immigration system onto 2023
America," Richardson writes. "Democrats and Republicans may take
different stances on immigration policies, but one thing they agree on
is that reform is long overdue." 

**'HUGS NOT WALLS'** - Families will hold the 10th annual "Hugs
Not Walls" event along the Rio Grande with a Mother's Day theme just
days before Title 42 ends, writes Julian Resendiz of Border Report
<[link removed]>.
"We try to bring light to this dramatic situation in which children grow
up here while their parents are not able to come over from Juarez. This
is a consequence of an often-irrational immigration system," said Border
Network of Human Rights' Fernando Garcia.  

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

 

DONATE
<[link removed]>

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org <[link removed]>

 

Unsubscribe from The Forum Daily
<[link removed]>

or opt-out from all Forum emails.
<[link removed]>

 

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States