NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

In an overwhelmingly bipartisan
 vote yesterday, the
House voted to expand the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program to
allow more Afghan allies who aided the U.S. military to immigrate to
the United States, Luke Broadwater reports for The New York Times
.  

The bill would increase the number of SIVs available for
Afghans from 11,000 to 19,000 in addition to "broadening the
universe of people eligible for them by removing some application
requirements." 

Now, the Biden administration needs to work on evacuating Afghan
allies as quickly as possible
. With U.S. troop
withdrawal from Afghanistan in its final stages, Afghans who worked
with the U.S. have a "bull's-eye on their back," said Rep. Michael
McCaul (R-Texas). "... Please, Mr. President, get them out before they
are killed." Reuters
 reports
this morning that Tajikistan is preparing to take in up to 100,000
Afghan refugees as violence escalates.  

Meanwhile, The New York Times
' Jennifer
Steinhauer and John Ismay report that some Afghans have taken to
Facebook and WhatsApp to ask their former U.S. military colleagues for
help as the Taliban closes in. "I will keep working this for you every
day and every night until we get this taken care of," Major Thomas
Schueman told his former interpreter Zak, who has been waiting six
years for SIV approval, via video chat. "I'll never forget you,
brother." 

Welcome to Friday's edition of Noorani's Notes. I'm Joanna
Taylor, communications manager at the Forum, filling in for Ali today.
If you have a story to share from your own community, please
send it to me at [email protected]
.  

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**BORDER BILL** - Senate Democrats "are considering including
about $10 billion in their $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package
for border security - focused on infrastructure at legal entry
points," Stef W. Kight and Alayna Treene report for Axios
. Per
sources familiar with the negotiations, the funds may be allocated
"toward facilities for handling asylum claims; additional staff for
higher cross-border traffic areas; expanding immigration courts to
address backlogs; alternatives-to-detention programs, and various
ports-of-entry repairs." While the details aren't set in stone,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has set a Wednesday
deadline for getting all 50 Senate Dems on board with the
proposal's general framework
. Schumer's
goal is to pass the measure before members break for August
recess, Kight and Treene add.  

**DREAMER EMPLOYMENT** - In light of U.S. District Judge Andrew
Hanen's ruling on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
 (DACA)
barring new applications, employers face tough decisions
surrounding recipients' work authorization, report Lydia O'Neal and
Ellen M. Gilmer of Bloomberg Law
. "It
is indeed likely that some employers will be concerned about the
implications of the ruling and that it may lead them to avoid promoting
or advancing recipients based on concerns about the durability of their
work eligibility," said Leon Rodriguez, a former director of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services. Currently, the ruling most
directly affects first-time DACA applicants -  more than 55,000
 people - whose
pending applications remain frozen. "None of them are able to
apply [to work]. So that's future workers that employers won't be
able to employ," added immigration lawyer Greg Siskind. A reminder
that there is broad, bipartisan support
 for
allowing DACA recipients and other Dreamers to earn permanent legal
status, including across faith communities: Evangelical leaders,
Catholic groups and human rights advocates are among the countless
voices urging Congress to take action on permanent legislative
solutions, reports Jeff Brumley at Baptist News Global
. 

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**FARMWORKERS NEEDED** - Iowa's largest pork producer
is calling on lawmakers to remove seasonal visa restrictions and
allow them to employ immigrant workers year-round, Donnelle Eller and
Stephen Gruber-Miller report for the Des Moines Register
.
"If the labor shortage is not addressed, it could lead to farms and
packing plants shutting down, causing serious financial harm to the
communities in which they operate," said Jen Sorenson of Iowa Select
Farms (who is also president of the National Pork Producers
Council) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
Wednesday. "[U]ltimately, the consumer will be punished with reduced
pork supplies and higher prices at the store." Access to foreign
workers year-round is a component of the bipartisan Farm Workforce
Modernization Act
 - passed
in the House in March - which would provide an earned pathway to
citizenship for more than 1 million undocumented farmworkers.  

**HONG KONG** - A coalition of exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy
activists sent a public letter urging Congress to grant refugee
status to Hong Kong citizens seeking resettlement, Phelim
Kine reports for Politico
. The
request comes ahead of a looming restrictive immigration law
 set
to take effect Aug. 1, which will allow local authorities to impose
'exit bans' on government critics. The letter's
proposals - some of which are included in the bipartisan Hong
Kong Safe Harbor Act of 2021
 - also include
a request to grant Temporary Protected Status to Hong Kong citizens
already in the U.S. and an extension of visas to high-skilled
residents. "When the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in 1989, the
United States became a vital place of sanctuary for young [Chinese]
democrats," said Johnny Patterson, policy director at the nonprofit
pro-democracy organization Hong Kong Watch. "Now is the time to offer
the same hand of welcome to Hong Kongers." 

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, 

Joanna

 

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