The U.S. Embassy in Kabul is set to resume processing thousands of Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications for Afghans after months of delays in the interview process as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Susannah George of The Washington Post.  

The SIV program, which was created to support Afghans and Iraqis who aided U.S. forces, offers recipients a fast track to U.S. citizenship, among other benefits. But last year more than 7,000 SIVs allocated to Afghans went unissued, and as of September nearly 19,000 applications were stuck in processing. 

Refugee advocates say the backlog could be felt "for years to come" barring dramatic changes from the Biden administration. "Because this is a multistep process ... if one step is put on hold, it’s inevitable that a bulge will form at that point in the system," said Deepa Alagesan, a senior attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project. 

Call me an optimist, but these are the types of dramatic changes that could gain broad support.  

Welcome to Friday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

ROOT CAUSES — President Biden’s proposed immigration legislation includes measures to address the root causes of migration from Central America via a $4 billon four-year plan, reports Jasmine Aguilera at TIME. While the plan — which "aims to decrease violence, corruption and poverty in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras" and would establish refugee resettlement centers throughout the region — marks an increase in investment compared to previous administrations, advocates note that it’s still only a start (and that’s if Congress passes it). "It is only going to be effective if it’s sustainable over decades," says Ariel Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. Ruiz also notes that it shouldn’t be a solo effort: "What will make it more successful is if Mexico and the U.S. are speaking with the same voice about investment in the region."  

BORDER UNCERTAINTY — Over at the Los Angeles Times, Molly O'Toole reports on the daunting challenges the Biden administration faces along the border. An estimated 30,000 migrants are stuck in limbo on the Mexican side of the border under the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) a.k.a. "Remain in Mexico," and even though the Department of Homeland Security suspended new MPP enrollments this week, those at the border are left without answers. "I am just deeply worried that every single day the Biden administration waits to give clear indications of what’s going to happen at the border after Jan. 20, they put more people in danger," said migration researcher Savitri Arvey. Salome Limas, a social worker at the Madre Asunta shelter in Tijuana, expects the border to stay closed but is hopeful that "[t]he way of seeing the migrants will definitely change — not as enemies, but as people looking for safety in their lives." 

FLORIDA REPUBLICANS — Some Florida Republicans — though certainly not all — are expressing openness to working with President Biden on immigration, reports Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart issued a statement on Inauguration Day saying he is "fully committed to working with the Biden Administration and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to fix our broken immigration system once and for all." Sen. Marco Rubio, meanwhile, tried to find something of a middle ground: "America should always welcome immigrants who want to become Americans. But we need laws that decide who and how many people can come here, and those laws must be followed and enforced. There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them." Well, it’s a start. 

EVANGELICAL SUPPORT — In spite of conservative  lawmakers’ concerns over President Biden’s sweeping immigration proposal, Harvest Prude of World Magazine reports that Congress is under pressure to act from a range of outside groups. "There’s an incredibly broad range of American institutions pleading with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to pursue this sort of reform this year," said Matthew Soerens, national coordinator of the Evangelical Immigration Table. Charles Davis at Business Insider reports that some evangelical Christian leaders are giving President Biden credit for "acting as the Bible instructs" on immigration.  ICYMI: On Wednesday the Evangelical Immigration Table issued a statement in support of the administration’s initial steps while urging bipartisan solutions in Congress.  

EDITH — In an op-ed for Boulder Weekly, Denver Institute for Faith & Work founder and CEO Jeff Haanen shares why he was among the 180 signatories on a bipartisan statement in support of immigration reform, writing that his experiences as a pastor in the Hispanic community led him to understand that "when [laws] cease to serve the common good, they need reformation." He shares the story of Edith, one of the many young immigrants he pastored who were "so eager to contribute to the only country they had ever known."  Haanen writes that statement signatories are calling for "changes to our immigration law which strengthens communities, addresses border security, grows our economy, expands visas for high tech and agricultural work, and regularizes the status of the estimated 10-12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., including more than 800,000 Dreamers like Edith." (The statement was picked up in Politico and The Verge, as well.)