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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Over the last week, we've seen reports that a large number of Afghans
will arrive in the U.S. on humanitarian parole. The Forum's Danilo Zak
published a helpful explainer
 on
the parole process, vetting procedures and what people are eligible
for. 

Ahead of the final U.S. military plane leaving
 Afghanistan,
dozens of bipartisan lawmakers from Florida, Georgia, and other states
became "deeply involved in helping to arrange evacuations," report Luke
Broadwater and Catie Edmondson of The New York Times
.
In many cases, lawmakers turned to "their own connections to foreign
officials, private organizations and individuals navigating private
charter flights in and out of Afghanistan."  

But despite their intense and valiant efforts, not everyone has been
evacuated. "Do you understand what it's like to have people send you
messages saying, 'You promised me you'd get me out,' 'I'm
being hunted,' 'You can't get me out,' 'Why are you
betraying me?,' 'You left me behind'?" Matt Zeller, former Army
reservist and C.I.A. analyst who served in Afghanistan, told The New
Yorker's
 Megan
K. Stack. "Imagine now it's someone you served with and there's
nothing you can do about it." 

Meanwhile, local and national charities have stepped up to welcome and
resettle Afghan families: 

* Arizona and San Diego veterans are working hard to rescue both Afghan
allies and family members still in Afghanistan. (Jasmine Ramirez, KOLD
News 13
;
Priya Sridhar, NBC 7 San Diego
)

* About 40 Afghan refugees have found a home in Jacksonville, Florida,
with help from Catholic Charities. And the U.S. State Department's new
Afghan Parolee Support program beginning Sept. 1 could bring more.
(Katherline Lewin, Florida Times-Union
) 

* Durham, North Carolina, will also welcome Afghan refugees. (Tim
Pulliam and Ana Rivera, ABC11 News
). 

* Maine's Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project is offering support to
local Afghan families who hope to see their relatives resettle in the
U.S. soon. (Terry Stackhouse, WMTW News 8
) 

"Some of these refugees are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Some
will be your future brothers and sisters in Christ," writes Russell
Moore of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today
.
"Whether they are or not, though, every one of them reflects back to us
the picture of a God who made humanity in his image and loves each one
of us." 

Welcome to Tuesday'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]
.

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**BACK TO WORK **- U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone's temporary
ruling Thursday - which blocked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) ban on
non-government vehicles transporting migrants - has allowed Catholic
Charities of the Rio Grande Valley to get back to
work, John Lavenburg reports for Crux
.
"Our mission has always been to serve the most desperate who are
standing right in front of us," said Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville
via statement. "We are grateful that we can continue serving migrants
- most of whom are young women and children in desperate need of the
basic necessities." 

**H-1B **- The National Foundation for American Policy's
(NFAP) new report
 shows
opinions issued by Trump-appointed judges and a legal settlement
 "have returned
H-1B denial rates to pre-Trump levels, representing a failure by Trump
officials to cement the former president's anti-immigration legacy,"
NFAP executive director Stuart Anderson writes in Forbes
.
While visa denial rates have decreased, Anderson writes, Trump's
restrictive policies still "imposed significant costs on employers, visa
holders and the economy, likely contributing to more work and talent
moving to other countries." 

**TO THE SOUTH **- Mexico News Daily
 reports
that just outside Tapachula in southern Mexico, migrants from Central
America, Haiti, South America and Cuba clashed with Mexican officials as
they sought faster hearings for their asylum claims. Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was in the region at the same time,
said his government would continue to "contain the northward flow of
migrants." But, he added, the U.S. "has to provide scholarships and
allow temporary works visas for Central Americans ... They don't have
[a sufficient] workforce and have an older population. How will [the
United States] grow if there's no workforce?" Clearly, AMLO read Room
to Grow
.  

[link removed]

**IMMIGRATION REFORM** - Business and higher education leaders in
Maine called for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in
the next federal budget package during a press conference Monday, Ari
Snider reports for Maine Public
.
"These Dreamers are going to be our future doctors, nurses, dentists,
and other medical professionals," said James Herbert, President of the
University of New England. Moreover, 84 mayors nationwide have also
called on Congress and President Biden to pass immigration reforms,
especially in the face of an "acute labor shortage," per The National
Law Review
.
"It's right for our economic future," said Scranton, Pennsylvania,
Mayor Paige Cognetti. "It's time for Congress to finally act." 

**AFGHAN PARALYMPIANS** - Against all odds in Kabul: Two Afghan
Paralympians - Zakia Khudadadi, 22, a taekwondo qualifier, and
Hossain Rasouli, 26, a sprinter - showed up on Saturday to compete in
Tokyo's Paralympic Games, reports a team at The New York Times
. "Several
attempts to evacuate the athletes failed, and Paralympic organizers have
said that their eventual arrival in Japan involved multiple steps and
the assistance of many organizations and governments," they write.
"Having the athletes here isn't about getting media coverage," said
International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence. "This is
about these athletes fulfilling their dream about getting to attend the
Paralympic Games." For more inspiring stories, read about Afghan swimmer
Abbas Karim's journey to the Paralympic Games from NYT's
 Motoko
Rich. 

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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