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AFGHAN REFUGEES — The State Department announced Monday that it would expand eligibility for Afghan allies seeking admission to the U.S. as refugees who do not qualify for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), report Jessica Donati and Alan Cullison of The Wall Street Journal. The new priority designation will include thousands of Afghans who worked as employees of U.S. government contractors for U.S.-funded programs, U.S.-based media, or nongovernmental organizations. It will also include eligible family members. "Afghans applying for refugee status under the new criteria will need to be referred by a current or former employer, then relocate to a third country," and will need to cover the costs of travel and lodging on their own, Donati and Cullison add. This expansion comes as the Taliban continues advancing in Afghanistan in addition to "significant bipartisan pressure" urging the Biden administration to protect Afghan allies. TWO YEARS LATER — Today, I’m thinking about my friends in El Paso, Texas. Two years after the massacre of 23 people in a local Walmart — "one of the nation’s most horrific hate crimes and the biggest attack against Mexicans and Mexican Americans in modern history" — anti-immigrant rhetoric, fear-mongering, and political tensions over immigration continue, writes a team at Dallas Morning News. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) "recently likened immigrants to invaders, in a sharp contrast from the somber, apologetic tone he took just after the killings." In fact, today an El Paso federal judge, Kathleen Cardone, will rule in court against Abbott’s latest order restricting transportation of undocumented immigrants, reports René Kladzyk of El Paso Matters. (Take a few minutes to read Bishop Seitz’s pastoral letter written in the months after the massacre.)
BORDER PATROL CHAPLAINS — Mya Jaradat of the Deseret News gives us a first-person look at Border Patrol and the human element of what their jobs entail. Being on the ground is often taxing and dangerous, but faith and spiritual support can help them move forward. "And relationships — with God and with each other — are at the core of the chaplaincy program," Jaradat writes. Currently, there are 164 chaplains in the Border Patrol serving over 24,000 agents. "The most important part is being able to connect" with other agents, said Spencer Hatch, assistant chief of the U.S. Border Patrol’s chaplaincy program. The main goal is a "ministry of presence," Hess and others say. "God has a purpose for all of our lives ... as a chaplain, my job is not to figure out why you are given what you are given. My job is to figure out things in my life," Hess said. DIVERSITY VISAS — The Diversity Visa program was targeted by former President Trump in 2017 — and under the new administration, applicants remain in limbo, Nicole Narea reports for Vox. "What the Biden administration has done to the diversity visa program in deprioritizing, it contravenes [his campaign promises], and we’re worse off because of it," said Rafael Urena, an American attorney representing diversity visa applicants affected by the policy. Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York) announced an amendment in July to rollover unused diversity visas from 2020 and 2021 to remain available after the fiscal year ends on September 30, but the future for many applicants remains uncertain. "We are not just case numbers. We are people. … This is our only chance for a better future," said Lizbeth Rosales, a diversity visa lottery winner from Lima, Peru. REPPING REFUGEES — In 2010, Olympic qualifier Jamal Mohammed fled the Sudanese province of Darfur to resettle in Israel and built a new life and career in running, reports George Ramsay of CNN. Today, Mohammed will run his first Olympic 5,000-meter race in Tokyo as part of the Refugee Olympic Team. "I'm going to compete for 80 million people around the world who left their countries to go to find a better place for them and help them achieve their goals," Mohammed told CNN Sport. Added Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and one of the Forum’s 2021 Leading the Way speakers: "We’ve all shared hardship and deprivation and separation from loved ones; we've all lived through a sort of collective exile. ... Somehow they carried a double symbolism in [their] entrance in the Olympic Stadium." Thanks for reading, |
