Monday, August 30
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

On Sunday, the U.S., along with 97 other countries, announced
a joint arrangement
 with
the Taliban to continue evacuating Afghan allies past the Aug. 31
withdrawal deadline, per Axios
. Moreover, President Biden directed
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead
the resettlement efforts of Afghan refugees who have already evacuated
Afghanistan under Taliban rule, reports Joseph Choi of The Hill
. 

In the midst of all this, questions regarding security vetting
have surfaced. "Here's the truth: Any Afghan, whether they are being
admitted as an SIV or as part of the humanitarian parole, is only
admitted into the U.S. after biographic and biometric checks are
conducted," writes Elizabeth Neumann,  Founding CNSI
 Leader and former Assistant Secretary for
Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention at DHS, in her op-ed for ABC
News
.  

Now, here are a handful of local stories of welcome
to start off the week on a good note:  

* Iowa Falls: This town is fighting for Niazy (aka "Zee"), a former
interpreter for both American and Allied forces in eastern Afghanistan,
to gain political asylum and stay at a place he calls home. (Produced
by Amol Mhatre, CBS News
) 

* Tomah, Wisconsin: "[Y]ou have to show compassion, and this is
compassion for people who have been our allies. To leave them in their
present situation would be an un-Christian thing to
do," said Republican retiree Frank Best. (Christian Schneider, The
Dispatch )

* Tuscon, Arizona: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is
preparing to welcome and help Afghan allies. "Arizona wholeheartedly
welcomes Afghans who served alongside America's military forces and
are now fleeing the Taliban regime," tweets
 Gov.
Doug Ducey (R-Arizona). (Ciara Encinas, KGUN 9
) 

* In San Antonio, VetStrong
, an organization designed
to serve homeless veterans, is delivering furniture to newly arrived
Afghan families. (Sig Christensen, The San Antonio Express News
) 

Welcome to Monday'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]
.  

[link removed]

**BORDER CAMPS** - When a squalid refugee camp in Matamoros, Mexico
closed, another one opened just 55 miles away in Reynosa within weeks,
reports Miriam Jordan of The New York Times
.
"Overcrowded already, with more than 2,000 people, it is filthy
and foul-smelling, lacking the health and sanitation infrastructure
that nonprofit groups had spent months installing at Matamoros," aid
workers told Jordan. The possibility of reinstating Migrant
Protection Protocols
 (MPP)
- aka Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy - 
also "increase[s] the likelihood that other, similar camps will spring
up along the border once again," writes Jordan. "Reynosa is ten times
as dangerous as Matamoros ever was, people do get dragged off that plaza
and get kidnapped while people watch," adds Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, a
director of the non-profit the Sidewalk School for Children Asylum
Seekers, per The Brownsville Herald's
 Iris
Karami. 

**INJUNCTION** - U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone "granted the
Biden administration's request for a preliminary injunction halting an
executive order issued by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that
targeted the transport of migrants
" on Thursday,
reports Tierney Sneed of CNN
. "The
order seems to do little to protect public health despite its purported
motivations," Cardone wrote Thursday
.
"Texas presents no evidence that noncitizens entering the United States
at the border pose a particular health risk such that restricting their
transportation would improve health and safety."  

[link removed]

**'I DIDN'T WANT TO REMEMBER' **- The Biden
administration proposed a new rule
 last
week that would allow U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
asylum officers to adjudicate asylum applications of some recent
border-crossers. The change "could also make the experience more humane
for migrants fleeing persecution, like 'Herrera'," a man who says he
became a target of political violence in his hometown in central Mexico,
reports Tyche Hendricks of KQED
.
The proposed asylum plan aims to alleviate the growing backlog
of nearly 1.4 million cases and lessen the wait time for families to
have their cases heard. "I didn't want to remember the kidnapping or
anything else because it's really ugly," said "Herrera", now 50, and
a construction worker in San José. "But I have to keep opening up the
trunk and pulling out those memories."  

**FRANKLIN COUNTY **-  There are interesting changes afoot in
Central Ohio, writes Yilun Cheng for The Columbus Dispatch
: "At
least seven first-time candidates who are immigrants or children of
immigrants are eyeing a seat at city councils and school boards in
[Franklin County]." About 11 percent of all residents in the county
are foreign-born, but "[i]t is not easy for immigrants to rise to a
position of power when the system has traditionally excluded
them," explained Mohamed Ali, who is running for the Columbus City
Schools Board of Education. 

**FARM LABOR NEEDS** - According to the latest Census data
,
"many rural areas in the United States are continuing to lose
population, while many urban and suburban areas are gaining," Sarah
Donaldson writes for Farm and Dairy
.
The decline in rural populations is posing concerns for
agricultural labor in some states, with farm groups renewing calls for
immigration reform, particularly in Ohio and Pennsylvania. "There's a
significant need now, and then a growing need in the future," said
Brandon Kern, senior director of state and national policy for Ohio Farm
Bureau. "In a state like Ohio, losing population in some of these rural
areas ... is going to be a challenge." Said Liam Migdail,
communications director for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau: "These are jobs
that are hard to attract people to. That's why visa programs have been
... part of filling the labor gap." 

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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