From Ali Noorani, National Immigration Forum <[email protected]>
Subject Expansion
Date June 16, 2021 2:00 PM
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Leaving Afghan allies behind to face the Taliban is a "moral and
strategic mistake," writes the Wall Street Journal
's
editorial board.  

On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul suspended visa operations due to
the rise of COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan. Though it's stopping visa
interviews in Kabul, the State Department noted it would continue
processing applications in Washington, D.C.  

"These Afghans will have a bullseye on their backs from the moment we
leave the country," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement. "If President Biden abandons
them, he is signing their death warrants."  

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]
.    

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**DELAYS** - A group of Democratic senators sent a letter
Tuesday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking answers
for the processing delays for DACA applications, reports Daniella Diaz
of CNN
. "DACA
processing delays have significant consequences, not just for
individuals depending on the status for their livelihoods and security,
but for their families and for the businesses and workplaces that employ
them," the senators wrote. In related news, we joined five other
groups from the advocacy and business community to write a letter
 to
Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, along with the entire
Texas congressional delegation, calling on Congress "to immediately act
to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers through bipartisan
legislation such as the Dream Act." 

**EXPANSION** - The Biden administration on Tuesday
announced the expansion of the Central American Minors
program, which allows certain migrant children to reunite with
family in the U.S., Tracy Wilkinson reports for the Los Angeles
Times
. The
move "vastly increases the potential pool of children who will be
allowed to seek entry," as well as the categories of adults who can
petition for children to join them. "This is going to be a lifesaving
measure for so many children in danger," said Daniella Burgi-Palomino of
the Latin America Working Group. "This is not going to help absolutely
everyone ... but so many more children will have access." The
expansion could lead to at least 100,000 newly eligible petitioners,
per an administration official. The announcement came on the same day
that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with
high-level officials in Mexico "to address the level of irregular
migration that has persisted for several months," Christopher Sherman
writes at the Associated Press
.  

**TEXAS WALL** - Former government officials and border experts
say Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to complete the Texas
portion of President Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall faces both
"legal obstacles and logistical headaches," reports Anna Giaritelli of
the Washington Examiner
. The
first challenge: Obtaining privately owned and protected federal
land along the border, a process still entangled in Trump-era legal
battles. The second challenge: Funding the project. Giaritelli notes
that there is "no precedent for a state government to spend its own
money to secure the international boundary physically," adding that
recent border wall projects have averaged $20 million per mile. "Before
the wall became politicized, career officials at U.S. Customs and Border
Protection came up with a detailed plan for which sections of the border
would be best secured by a wall," said Stewart Verdery, former
assistant secretary for border and transportation security at the
Department of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush
administration. "If the state construction process is not based on that
type of analysis, then building a hodgepodge of fences is only going to
divert migrant traffic to other areas." Not one to be left out of
efforts to take private land, President Trump will join Abbott for a
visit to the wall later this month, per Raga Justin at the Dallas
Morning News
. 

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**REFUGEES** - A new poll
 from YouGov and the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) found that a majority
of Americans (56%) believe the U.S. should commit to resettling at
least 95,000 refugees per year, Chantal Da Silva writes in Forbes
.
Refugees have long had positive impacts on their local communities: In
Tucson, Arizona, KTOV's
 Shelle
Jackson highlights the Iskashitaa Refugee Network's year-round
fruit and vegetable harvest program, which helps refugees integrate
while combating waste and addressing food insecurity in the broader
Tucson community. FYI, World Refugee Day is this
Sunday - and UNHCR
 announced
that Afghan-Canadian artist Hangama Amiri is the first refugee to
be commissioned by UNHCR and Twitter to create the emoji
celebrating the occasion. The emoji is live on Twitter through June 23
when using the hashtags #WorldRefugeeDay, #WithRefugees and #RefugeeDay
in any of 12 languages.  

**PATHWAYS** - New polling
 from FWD.us speaks
to the strong public support for pathways to citizenship for many
undocumented immigrants. Most Americans support a pathway to
citizenship for "essential workers, Dreamers who came to the U.S. as
children, undocumented individuals living in the U.S. for many years,
those with U.S. citizen family members, or those who currently have
temporary protection from deportation" - categories that cover
nearly all of the undocumented population. The polling also finds a
strong level of support in the battleground states that could 
determine control of Congress next year and the Presidency in 2024,
including Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. "It's well past time for Congress to
provide the certainty that undocumented immigrants need as they work
essential jobs, go to school, support their families, and help rebuild
the American economy," per the polling report. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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