Thursday, August 19
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

The Biden administration "moved slowly for months to address the plight
of vulnerable Afghans who had worked for the United States even as a
deadline for U.S. military withdrawal loomed," a team at The
Washington Post
 reports.  

Throughout the withdrawal, "the administration expressed nominal support
for the [Special Immigrant Visa] program" while citing bureaucratic
hurdles for the lack of decisive action, Rep. Peter Meijer
(R-Michigan) told the Post.  

"There was a very proactive campaign from outside groups trying to help,
and we were stiff-armed," added James Miervaldis, chairman of the
nonprofit No One Left Behind, which helps wartime allies with the
visa process. "All we asked for was a plan. Whatever they wanted to do,
we were standing by to support. But then they didn't do anything." 

Here are some more reads to contextualize the current situation:  

* The question of resettling Afghan allies has divided the GOP, "pitting
immigration restrictionists against those who view the resettlement of
individuals and families in the U.S. as a moral charge." (Marc
Caputo, Politico
) 

* At the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Pakistan has fenced off Afghan
refugees, with the government saying it "has reached its limit and
cannot accept more people from the war-torn country, despite pleas from
the UN refugees' agency." (Sarah Atiq, BBC News
) 

* The plight of Afghan interpreters, in their own words. (Monica
Campbell, PRI's The World
) 

* As Afghans are resettled across the U.S., resettlement groups are
seeking volunteers and donations. NPR
 lists
some nationwide opportunities, and if you're in the D.C. or Maryland
area, the Baltimore Sun
 shared
some ways to help refugees being resettled locally.  

As Forum Senior Fellow Linda Chavez writes an op-ed for The xxxxxx
:
"We are the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. Can we really
do nothing to evacuate those who stood with us for twenty years?" 

Welcome to Thursday's edition of
Noorani's Notes. We're pausing the Notes on Fridays this month,
so we'll be back Monday. 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] .

[link removed]

WELCOMING STATES - As some GOP lawmakers continue to politicize
refugee resettlement, some Republican governors have joined their
Democratic counterparts in sounding a welcoming tone, Dareh
Gregorian reports for NBC News
.
"Utah was settled by refugees fleeing religious persecution. We
understand the pain caused by forced migration and appreciate the
contributions of refugees in our communities," Gov. Spencer
Cox (R) tweeted
late
Tuesday alongside a letter to Biden offering to assist with
Afghan refugee resettlement. Seven other Republican governors
and five Democrats have pledged similar support, writes Business
Insider
's Grace
Panetta. The Pentagon also confirmed Wednesday that as many as
22,000 Afghan refugees will be temporarily housed at Fort McCoy in
Wisconsin, A. J. Bayatpour reports for WKOW News
.  FAITH
RESPONSE - Faith-based refugee aid groups have criticized the Biden
administration for its lack of planning to evacuate Afghan allies
swiftly and safely, report Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack
Jenkins of Religion News Service
.
"We've been screaming from the rooftops for months now that we need to
get these allies to Guam or another U.S. territory," said Krish
O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service. In a follow-up
,
Jenkins and Miller report on faith groups' continuing pressure to
assist vulnerable Afghans. Meanwhile, evangelical resettlement
agency World Relief 's
regional offices are preparing to welcome Afghan families. In Durham,
N.C., for example, Adam Clark of World Relief told ABC11
's
DeJuan Hoggard that because the area is home to many Afghan North
Carolinians, the situation has been very personal to the community -
and they're ready to step up and demonstrate welcome. "We can't
accelerate the rate at which people are brought here," Clark said. "We
can just prepare. And we're excited!" 

[link removed]

DIVERSITY VISAS

** **- A federal judge has ordered the State Department to issue
9,095 additional diversity visas after ruling "that the department
illegally used Trump-era restrictions to stop processing visas for
winners of the 2020 Diversity Visa Lottery," Law360
 reports.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta
ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration's visa ban, which
Biden lifted in February
, did not prevent the
State Department from processing or issuing visas. Regardless, this
ruling is just one step for visa winners: "The State Department doesn't
make getting a diversity visa simple - there are requirements after
requirements, medical exams and of course the fees," said Curtis
Morrison, an attorney for the diversity visa winners. Morrison also
noted that the winners include 900 applicants from Afghanistan: "For
these families, this win is good, but for them, they don't see the light
at the end of the tunnel." 

'GAME CHANGER' - The Biden administration announced a plan
 Wednesday
to overhaul the U.S. asylum system, Ted Hesson reports for Reuters
. The
proposed changes, which include doubling the number of asylum officers
to expedite processing at the U.S.-Mexico border and allowing U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services more authority to bypass backlogged
immigration courts, "will significantly improve DHS's and DOJ's
ability to more promptly and efficiently consider the asylum claims of
individuals encountered at or near the border, while ensuring
fundamental fairness," DHS Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas said. Formal publication of the rule on Friday
will kick off a 60-day public comment period. Our take
: If
enacted, the rule would help address increases in migration at our
southern border and lessen the burden on our overwhelmed immigration
courts. For more, read Migration Policy Institute
 Senior
Fellow (and former Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner)
Doris Meissner on how this new asylum rule could be a "game changer." 

Have a safe and restful weekend,  

Joanna 

 

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