NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

What is life really like in a border community? That's what Rep.
Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who is hosting Vice President Kamala
Harris' visit to El Paso, will aim to convey, reports Renuka
Rayasam for Politico Nightly
. 

Escobar plans to show Harris the large facilities to which
migrants who cross the border in smaller towns are sent, giving the
VP a "crash course in how migrants are apprehended and processed [and]
how local officials are working with federal officials." Harris will
also meet with faith-based leaders and advocates.  

"El Paso is the capital of the border," Escobar said. "It will
provide key context as [Vice President Harris] continues to address
root causes."  

While Escobar said Harris wants to stay focused on addressing the root
causes of migration during her visit, The New York Times
 reports
another layer of plans under consideration: determining how to phase
out Title 42, the Trump-era public health rule that allowed border
agents to turn away nearly all asylum-seekers and other migrants. The
plan is "sure to complicate an already thorny issue" as Harris visits
the border, write Eileen Sullivan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs. 

Looking for more context about the realities of life at the
border? Carlos Sanchez, director of public affairs for Hidalgo
County, Texas, recently wrote an op-ed for The Guardian
 about
the nuances of border communities and the complexities of their
immigration challenges. 

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]
. And Mom, Happy Birthday.  

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**THE RIGHT THING** - As the Biden administration prepares to
evacuate
 thousands
of Afghan allies as the U.S. withdraws from the country, the president
wants to send a clear message: "Those who helped us are not going to be
left behind." Speaking ahead of a meeting at the White House
today with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and national council Chairman
Abdullah Abdullah, Biden said Afghan translators "will be welcome here
just like anyone else who risked their lives to help us," per Al
Jazeera
. As
for evacuation plans, The Dispatch
 
reports that the Biden administration "is working to relocate those
Afghan allies and their families to an unspecified destination -
possibly Guam - while their visas allowing them entry into the United
States are processed." Said Sen. John Kennedy
(R-Louisiana), who brought the Save Our Afghan Allies Act
 to
the Senate floor yesterday: "There's right and wrong in this world.
There's politics, and there's a time for it. But there's a time
to do the right thing. And the right thing is to help save these human
lives who fought for America." 

**SISTER MARY** - Baltimore-based Sister Mary Alice McCabe is
helping newly arrived migrants and refugees who crossed the
border with various tasks to navigate their new life in the U.S.,
reports Soli Salgado of Global Sisters Report
. Her
day-to-day tasks - interpreting for migrants out of her car by
phone; connecting them with social, legal or health services; helping
them receive financial supplements and rent aid or sort out their
documents; interpreting for their lawyers or at health clinics -
"[provide] some insight to the challenges that come with such a dramatic
resettling," Salgado writes. "Those who know the immigrants up close
and see their faces and hear their stories, they have no problem
whatsoever in saying, 'Welcome,'" Sister Mary said. "It's those who
don't know, who don't get close to them, who have a different
attitude."   

**PHILLY** - The Philadelphia School Board unanimously passed
a resolution Thursday designed to protect students from immigration
enforcement, Kristen A. Graham and Jeff Gammage report
for The Philadelphia Inquirer
. "Federal
immigration law enforcement activities at our schools, on our
transportation routes, on our district property, or during school
programs or activities significantly disrupts the welcoming environment
and learning process for all students," the resolution reads. It
also calls for the district to develop an emergency response plan to
support the safety and well-being of students whom enforcement may
affect, as well as develop training for staff, contractors and
volunteers within 100 days. "By assuring immigrant students and their
families feel unconditionally safe in our schools, we are ensuring that
they are given the opportunity to thrive and reach their greatest
potential," said school board member Mallory Fix Lopez. 

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**REFUGEE MUSICIANS** - For the Boston Globe
, 
Mariya Manzhos tells the story of Sebastian Agignoae, who
discovered a few years ago that his father fled communist 
Romania after facing persecution for being a musician
and eventually resettled in Des Moines, Iowa. To support
musicians like his father who have been forced to flee,
Agignoae launched the International Orchestra of Refugees (IOR)
 in
2018. "We want to try to fill the gap in communities who are trying to
better integrate refugees and be more diverse and engage them in
economic growth," he said. The IOR continues to
work with around 50 refugee musicians, and partners with
organizations like Refugee Services of Texas, Loyola University, and
Jesuit Refugee Service.. "There is nothing like confidence for young
immigrants in a place where you don't know where to start," said band
leader Patron Yemery, who grew up amid civil war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. "For me, music was the basis of everything else." 

**LUPIN** - The Netflix crime thriller "Lupin" is back for a
second season, and the series is wrapped around immigrant stories in
surprising ways - in this case, the story of a Senegalese
immigrant family in France. "Migrants getting the job done is not,
however, a 'theme' in Lupin emphasized simply to make a point," Los
Angeles Times
 TV
critic Lorraine Ali writes. "It just is, woven through the series in
ways large and small." (FYI, the article contains major season two
spoilers.) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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