NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

"Afghan or American, the person's nationality didn't matter-you
never leave a man behind," writes Elliot Ackerman, former Marine and
intelligence officer who served five tours of duty in Iraq and
Afghanistan, in an op-ed for The Atlantic
.
He tells the story of his interpreter, Ali, who after three years,
recently earned his Special Immigrant Visa and relocated to Texas with
his wife and children.  

But Ali's younger brother, who is also an interpreter, as well as
his other siblings and parents are still living in Afghanistan -
and have received death threats from the Taliban. In April, when the
Biden administration announced it would withdraw U.S. troops from
Afghanistan by Sept. 11, Ali wrote to Ackerman to plead for help to get
his family evacuated to safety.  

Time is running out to evacuate Aghan nationals who helped the
U.S., report Dan De Luce and Courtney Kube of NBC news
. Last
week, Ozzie Nelson, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and former NSC
staffer under the Bush administration, joined two SIV recipients and
our friends at Upwardly Global to say
,
"As a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, I know how critical Afghan
nationals were and are as allies and partners. As a counterterrorism
expert, I understand what's at stake if we fail to live up to our
promises."  

Welcome to Monday'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]
.  

IMMIGRATION JUDGES - There are approximately 500 immigration judges
to handle a backlog of 1.3 million asylum cases, reports Gabe
Gutierrez of NBC News
. "There
aren't enough of them, they need more support staff, and they've felt
political pressure from their bosses at the Justice
Department."  Judge Dana Leigh Marks told Guttierez, "In essence, we
are holding death penalty cases in a traffic court setting." To help
manage the situation, the Biden administration has called for hiring
100 new immigration judges as part of its budget, Gutierrez notes. 

BORDER 

**WALL** - The Biden administration is calling on Congress to
officially cancel billions of dollars of funding for former President
Trump's border wall in order to repurpose the money for its
original intention, report Caitlin Emma and Connor O'Brien
of Politico
. Facing a
federal watchdog probe
, the
Biden administration laid out its plan for funding on Friday: "More
than $2 billion Trump diverted from military construction projects will
be returned, funding 66 military projects in 11 states, three
territories and 16 countries," they write. "Unless and until Congress
[cancels border wall funding], the Administration will continue to use
the funds responsibly for their appropriated purpose, as required by
law, and DHS has developed a plan to do so," the agency said. 

**'ABOUT OUR FRIENDS'** - Biloela, a small, conversative
town in Australia has united around the case of a sick child and her
family who have been sent to a remote detention
center, reports Yan Zhuang of the New York Times
. Struggling
with an illness that has been exacerbated by lack of medical care
from Christmas Island detention center, last week
three-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan was medically evacuated to
Perth and is now fighting for her life. Due to
Australia's "draconian"
 immigration
policy, her case is now renewing calls from advocates and
protestors to release her Sri Lankan asylum-seeking parents from
detention - permanently.  "[W]hen the family was whisked away by
immigration officials in 2018 after their claims for asylum were
rejected and their temporary visas expired, locals weren't thinking
about politics." Instead, said Simone Cameron, a Biloela local and
friend of the family, the case "was about our friends."  

MISINFORMATION - Pastor Gustavo Banda's job is two-fold: He runs
a shelter in a church in Tijuana, Mexico, for recently deported migrants
from the U.S., while also combatting human smugglers advertising their
services on Facebook, report Olivia Solon, Jacob Ward and Aarne Heikkila
of NBC News
. "I'm
telling everyone that this is a complete lie," Banda said. "If they
need help trying to cross, they should get a lawyer and do it the legal
way and that I can help them." But as the Tech Transparency Project
has noted, misinformation on social media platforms specific to
human-smuggling content remains an issue. "The biggest concern with
these Facebook groups is that you have people who are in very desperate,
vulnerable situations commingling with people that are parts of
organized criminal networks, including cartels and gangs," said Katie
Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project. "It's a problem
Facebook has known about for many years." 

**MOVIE REVIEW** - The long-awaited film release
 of Lin-Manuel
Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes's award-winning Broadway
musical "In the Heights" has evolved over the years
- mirroring the history of immigration in the U.S., writes A. K.
Sandoval-Strausz, director of the Latino and Latina studies program at
Pennsylvania State University, in an op-ed for the Washington Post
. The
movie "transform[s] what was once a straightforward love story into a
sweeping tale about the meaning of an immigrant neighborhood in a nation
where an aging citizenry, a shrinking workforce and a declining
birthrate put us in desperate need of rejuvenation
."  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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