NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott is stepping down from the post
he has held since February 2020, reports Priscilla Alvarez of CNN
. Border
Patrol Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz is expected to fill the role on an
acting basis. This is the latest series of changes to Border
Patrol's leadership structure.  

Speaking of the border, I wrote about how fighting corruption in
Central America long-term can help reduce immigration challenges in
an op-ed for The Dispatch
. According
to the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index
, Northern
Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras rank worse
on corruption than 103 of the 180 countries surveyed, meaning widespread
insecurity for families across the region. Rooting out corruption "is
fundamental to the safety of Central American families and the ability
of their children to live to their fullest potential in their own
communities."  

Vice President Kamala Harris' recent trip to the region cannot be a
one-off gesture. Keep an eye out for news from her upcoming trip to
the U.S.-Mexico border with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas, which Daniel Lippman of Politico
 reports is slated
for tomorrow.  

Next week, per Olivia Beavers at Politico
, former
President Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and a number of House
Republicans will gather in the summer heat for their own
Border-Palooza.  

Let's see which gathering advances rational solutions.  

Welcome to Thursday'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]
.   

[link removed]

**ALLIES** - Some good news: Following calls from national
security experts
, military
veterans
, Republicans
and Democrats
 in
Congress and countless others, the Biden administration "will soon
begin what could be a wholesale move of tens of thousands of Afghans" to
safe third countries as their Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) applications
are processed, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt report for The New York
Times
. The
move couldn't come sooner: As U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan
nears completion, Afghans who aided U.S. troops fear for their lives
amid increased attacks from the Taliban, report Martha Raddatz,
Cindy Smith, and Conor Finnegan of ABC News
. "These
brave Afghan partners, these Afghan and American heroes, people who we
asked to risk their lives not just for Afghanistan, but for America
because we had their backs, their future is in your hands," said Rep.
Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), a former Marine officer who has been
vocal about the need for evacuation.  

**FOUR WAYS** - There were nearly 9.3 million job openings in April
alone - the highest number on record, according to a Bureau of Labor
Statistics announcement
 last week. And immigration
may be the only way to solve this labor shortfall before it becomes a
full-blown economic crisis, write the Cato Institute's David J.
Bier and immigration lawyer Christopher M. Richardson in an op-ed
for The Hill
. They
offer four ways President Biden can make this happen: reverse
Trump-era bans that block immigrants from entering the country, reuse
immigrant visa numbers from this year to avoid losing them, remove
dependents and children from the numbers of employment-based immigrants
who are counted toward visa caps, and further increase the number of
H-2B temporary visas.   

**FAITH **- The number of refugees resettled in the U.S. in
2020 was the lowest since the resettlement program was created in
1980. In response to this current climate for refugees, World Refugee
Day interfaith prayer services were organized by the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services to "pray publicly
for the well-being of refugees in the U.S., across religious and
political lines," reports Catholic News Service
. "Oftentimes
in the Bible it says welcome the stranger because you were a stranger
yourself in Egypt," said Tom Dobbins, director of justice and peace for
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York and coordinator for
the event. "What a really important thing to do, to pray as people of
faith from many different traditions to come together and pray with
other people of faith for God's providence to help our brothers and
sisters and neighbors in need." 

[link removed]

**NURSE NINA** - Together with a skeletal staff of health care
workers, nurse Nina Ng - a daughter of Chinese immigrants - treated
up to 50 migrants a day from a makeshift tent in Reynosa, Mexico, as
part of a five-day humanitarian trip to the border, reports Robert
Brodsky of Newsday
. During
her 12-hour shifts, Ng met a woman struggling with untreated cancer, a
teen with a neurological disorder left untreated for years, and many
unaccompanied minors, including a 5-year-old. "You're helping people who
really have nothing and your little interaction with them makes their
day," said Ng, who is hoping to return to Reynosa and continue aiding
migrants at the border. "I have so many resources here. I have a job. I
have a house. I can travel anywhere I want for fun. So why not spend a
little time giving back to people that have nothing?" 

**HUMANIZE** - For Immigrant Heritage month, our friends at the Ad
Council and Stand Together collaborated to create 'Belonging Begins
with Us ," reports ABC7
Washington
.
The project taps into the idea of welcoming immigrants into the
country, serving as a catalyst to "help people feel like they
belong," said Jorge Lima, Stand Together's Vice President of
Immigration. A photo essay by Francesca Volpi, published in The
Guardian
, similarly
humanizes those who have left home: Volpi's work features moving
photos and stories from Syrian women refugees of all ages who fled to
Lebanon after the civil war broke out a decade ago. "I look at my son
sometimes and I think that he is the hope, he is the fruit that I bear
for all the suffering and the hard work that I did to raise him," said
Khaldieh, 36, a single mother featured in the project. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

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

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

10 G St NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes
or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

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