NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

The U.S. military has officially left Bagram Airfield in
Afghanistan, handing it over to the Afghan National Security and
Defense Force after nearly 20 years, reports Kathy Ganon of
the Associated Press
. The
withdrawal "is the clearest indication that the last of the 2,500-3,500
U.S. troops have left Afghanistan or are nearing a departure, months
ahead of President Joe Biden's promise that they would be gone by
Sept. 11." 

Amid the departure, the U.S. has asked Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan to take in approximately 9,000 Afghans who worked with the
U.S., per a team at Bloomberg News
. "All
the visa seekers are surprised by this news and we are hoping they shift
us swiftly as the security is really worsening and those countries are
much safer than Afghanistan," said Amin Rahimi, an Afghan employee of a
U.S. government-funded project. 

On its face, in my opinion, this is nowhere near adequate.  

Members of Congress and advocates on both sides of the aisle continue to
push the Biden administration to evacuate more than 18,000 Afghan
allies facing mounting threats from the Taliban, Basil John reports
for Nexstar Media
.  

"The idea that we would abandon them would set a terrible precedent for
the United States and our military moving forward. We must secure their
safety before an entire pullout takes place," said Rep. Dan Meuser
(R-Pennsylvania). 

Welcome to the 4th of July edition of Noorani's Notes. Our
friends at the Carnegie Corporation of New York
 are
celebrating with their annual list of immigrants who have strengthened
our nation, and NBC News
 reports
President Biden will host a naturalization ceremony today for members
of the military.  

If you have a story to share from your own community, please
send it to me at [email protected]
. Enjoy the holiday weekend. 

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**AGING OUT** - On Thursday, the House passed
 the
bipartisan America's CHILDREN Act
. Introduced
by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Deborah Ross (D-North
Carolina), Young Kim (R-California), and Raja Krishnamoorthi
(D-Illinois), the bill would protect Documented Dreamers - dependents
of long-term non-immigrant visa holders - from aging out of legal
status and having to self-deport. The Migration Policy
Institute estimates that 190,000 kids and young adults currently have
no path to legal status once they turn 21, NBC
's Sakshi
Venkatraman reports. "We've lived here all of our lives," said Dip
Patel, founder of Improve the Dream. "For me personally, [the
legislation is] really exciting ... I've had something that's never
made sense growing up. It's an idea that I've always had: Why
don't they just create this? It's great to see." 

**BORDER** - As both a farmer in Iowa and Christian missionary in
Guatemala, Marianne Abel-Lipschutz listened to people in both places
describe their "quest for the border" - and ultimately felt called
to serve there. For Comment
,
she shares her experiences as a bilingual chaplain in Del Rio, Texas.
"[D]ivine intervention can bring justice to the Rio Grande: not because
of new legislation or a cultural awakening but because, over time and
one by one, God changes people's hearts," she writes. "God is always
inviting us to cross the borders of our own imaginations into a
gloriously better day." Of course, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has a
slightly different take, claiming migrants are driving a dramatic
increase in violence in the Rio Grande Valley. But as Police Chief
Andy Harvey of Pharr, Texas, told CBS4 News
, "we
haven't seen an increase in crime. In fact, we've seen decreases in
crime."  

**ICE LAWSUIT **- The ACLU sued the Biden administration
Wednesday "seeking to block the transfer of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) detainees at a New Jersey jail," reports Harper Neidig
of The Hill
. Attempting
to "prevent detainees from being transferred to remote locations across
the country away from their families and attorneys," this is the first
legal challenge against this administration's immigration policy,
notes Neidig. The ACLU points out that transferring ICE detainees
long distances disrupts their legal right to counsel
for court proceedings. "True to form, we will sue any administration
- Democrat or Republican - and hold them accountable when they take
positions that violate civil liberties and civil rights," said
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. 

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**REUNIFICATION UPDATE** - According to a federal court filing
Wednesday, parents of 368 migrant children separated at the U.S.-Mexico
border under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy have yet to
be located, Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN
. The
number is down from 391 last month, with the Biden administration's
family reunification task force continuing to engage with
families. "We chose intentionally to start slow, so we can go fast
later," a senior DHS official said of the reunification process. "We
need to make sure that families have a place to go when they get
here." 

**SUMMER GAP** - Hoping for a summer business boom, employers in
tourist areas say travel restrictions, closed consulates, and a
limited number of H-2B seasonal visas for immigrant workers are making
it more challenging to resume operations as normal, Rebecca Rainey
reports for Politico Pro
 [paywall]. "There
simply are not enough workers to fill those slots," said Lynn Minges,
president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging
Association, who estimated the state's hospitality industry has
about 70,000 openings. A bipartisan group of House members introduced a
bill
 in
June to reform the H-2B program, but legislation still needs to move in
the Senate. As Loews Corp. executive Andrew Tisch writes in an
op-ed for Forbes
, the
case for immigration reform is one of both heart strings and purse
strings.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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