Last night, The New York Times broke news that U.S. troops "intend to be out of Afghanistan by early to mid-July, well ahead of President Biden’s Sept. 11 withdrawal deadline." No news of what will happen to the 18,000 Afghan nationals who assisted the U.S. military and have Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) backlogged in the system. Evacuating SIV holders and others eligible for humanitarian protection to a safe place while their applications are being processed is the honorable thing to do. Because right now, they have a target on their back.

Welcome to Wednesday’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].

KELDY — Claudia Torrens at the Associated Press shares an update on Keldy Mabel Gonzales Brebe, one of four parents returned to the U.S. in early May as part of the effort to reunite families separated at the border by the Trump administration. While she counts her blessings to now be with her family in Philadelphia, she faces challenges in her new home: One of her sons dropped out of school to help pay rent, and Keldy herself is sleeping on the living room sofa. "She wants to get a job, but is caring for her 7-year-old autistic niece and an unsteady 75-year-old mother, along with cooking and cleaning for the family." Said Linda Corchado, a nonprofit legal services director who helped Keldy obtain humanitarian parole: "We don’t just want the door open for Keldy. We want her to be successful in the United States."

SHADOW WINS — A new report from Tulane University Law School’s Immigration Rights Clinic finds that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "helps maintain the status quo of prolonged detentions by releasing immigrants without having their cases vindicated in court," per ProPublica’s Dara Lind. When someone in immigration custody challenges their detention in court, ICE often releases them while their petitions are pending, allowing the judge to dismiss the case in a "shadow win." These "shadow wins" underscore the need for clearer guidelines on how long a detainee can constitutionally be held before deportation. "[B]ecause the releases end the legal case challenging detention, ICE may be using these releases to avoid negative court decisions that make formal rulings regarding prolonged, indefinite and punitive detention," the study concludes.

TITLE 42 — President Biden faces mounting pressure to end Title 42, the Trump-era pandemic rule that allows U.S. officials to immediately expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, Zolan Kanno-Youngs reports for The New York Times. On Monday, two of the administration’s own medical consultants "sent a letter to members of Congress saying the rule has had the ‘perverse impact’ of encouraging parents to send their children to cross the border alone, since Mr. Biden has chosen not to immediately turn away minors and instead is processing them into the United States." While the majority of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border continue to be expelled, newly-created exceptions to the policy remain unclear. "There is even less of a public health justification now, when, more than a year later, arriving asylum seekers could be easily screened and tested, and currently those over 16 vaccinated, in a way that protects the public health," the letter adds.

SERVICES — The public charge regulation implemented by the Trump administration "may have an enduring impact on the long-term well-being of children in immigrant families," per a new study. Houston Public Media's Elizabeth Trovall reports on research from the Urban Institute which found that "[n]early a third of low-income immigrant families with children said at least one relative avoided public benefits in 2020 because of immigration-related concerns." These benefits include essential assistance like food stamps, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. The report’s author, Jennifer Haley, adds that despite families facing added economic hardship amid the pandemic, the hesitancy to apply for assistance has continued. Haley adds: "There is extensive research evidence suggesting that children whose needs aren’t met in childhood might have problems later in life in terms of their health or educational attainment and other outcomes in the longterm."

INDIA — Though they’re thousands of miles away in the U.S., many Indian Americans are feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis unfolding in their home country — and are compelled to respond. Missouri physician Anup Katyal is one of many doctors throughout the Indian diaspora "trying to fill this void from afar through both organized and unofficial channels," Fenit Nirappil writes in The Washington Post. Each day, Katyal "has awakened to a flurry of messages from 20 relatives, friends and fellow doctors in India seeking medical advice." Meanwhile, Danielle Ivanov of The Gainesville Sun tells the story of 16-year-old Mokshvi Shah, a high schooler who began a GoFundMe campaign to support pandemic relief efforts in her home country, where almost all of her relatives have contracted the disease. "We were terrified. We can't really help from here. We can't fly over and take care of them," said Shah, whose campaign has raised nearly $8,000. "I knew that action had to be taken very soon."

Thanks for reading,

Ali