It did not have to be this way.
As of Wednesday morning, the U.S. government "was housing nearly 20,000 Afghan refugees at military installations in five states, while another 40,000 evacuees remained at bases overseas awaiting processing," CBS News reports.
The State Department said, "that it appeared a ‘majority’ of Afghans who had worked for the U.S. military and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) had not been successfully evacuated and remained in Afghanistan," NBC News’ Dan De Luce reports.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R- Illinois) called on the Biden administration to provide a detailed breakdown of the number of Afghans and Americans who were evacuated and the number of allies that remain in
Afghanistan, reports Laura Kelly for The Hill.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster "are making a joint appeal to top U.S. and United Nations officials to extract orphans from Afghanistan before they’re taken by the Taliban," per Noah Bressner and Margaret Talev at Axios.
And Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) wrote a letter to DHS this week calling for the evacuation and resettlement of Afghan journalists, NPR’s Claudia Grisales reports.
Meanwhile, a number of Republican congressional candidates who served in Afghanistan are making it their mission to continue assisting efforts to evacuate Afghan allies, Paul Steinhauser writes in Fox News.
As newly arrived Afghan refugees enter the U.S., "[t]hey will become as thoroughly American as their native-born peers, and their energy, ambition and pluck will be an enduring gift to their new country," The Washington Post’s editorial board writes. And in an op-ed for Religion News Service, Bethany Christian Services CEO Chris Palusky adds: "Today, our Afghan friends need the United States government to keep its word. Their lives depend on it. And Christians need to be on the front lines praying, advocating and helping."
On that note, more stories of communities across the country — conservative and liberal — who continue to prepare for the
arrival of Afghan refugees:
- Salt Lake City, Utah, received its first Afghan SIV recipient this week. (Kyle Dunphey, Deseret News)
- In West Michigan, Kalamazoo First Congregational Church is preparing to welcome 100 Afghan refugees. (Emirrora Austin, News Channel 3)
- Airmen at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware are donating supplies to support vulnerable Afghans. (Sarah Ash, ABC 47)
- Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) announced that his state welcomed its first group of Afghan refugees this week. (ABC 15)
- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) says the state is ready to welcome Afghan refugees. (Andy Chow, WKSU)
- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) "said nearly 50 of the state's Air National Guard service members have been activated to support Afghan ally refuge efforts around the country." (Fox 29)
For a clearer understanding of the immigration processes involved for evacuees, the Forum’s Danilo Zak broke down the different pathways to protection for Afghans at risk.
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a great Labor Day weekend; we’ll be back on Tuesday. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected].
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MPP NEGOTIATIONS — Following a court order to reinstate the policy, the Biden administration has begun conversations with the Mexican government on the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a.k.a. ‘Remain in Mexico,’ report Nick Miroff and Mary Beth Sheridan of The Washington Post. The ruling "has left administration officials in the awkward position of having to ask Mexico to help reinstate a
policy Biden denounced," they note. "The Mexican government, in coordination with the U.S. government, is moving forward under our laws and international law in favor of orderly, safe, routine migration," said Roberto Velasco, chief officer for North America at Mexico’s foreign ministry. "However, what’s needed is a major, large-scale U.S. effort to deal with the root causes of migration."
NATIONAL SECURITY — An "often overlooked benefit the United States gains by welcoming, educating, employing, and investing in high-skilled immigrants: national security," write C. Stewart Verdery, Jr. and Elaine K. Dezenski, members of the Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI), in a Morning Consult op-ed. "The contributions of these immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy, contribute to our global influence and help export American values such as transparency and intellectual property protections." Along these lines, 40 members of Congresss sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for the budget reconciliation package to "include relief for the approximately 1.2 million individuals languishing in the employment-based green card backlog." Thousands of green cards are set to go to waste by the end of this month if processing delays continue past their expiration date, Ellen M. Gilmer at Bloomberg Government points out.
FARMWORKERS — The number of farmworkers on H-2A temporary agricultural visas "more than tripled over the past decade, a statistic that could help lawmakers pushing to make the temporary worker program more attractive," Megan U. Boyanton reports for Bloomberg Law. Per a new report from the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, the number of laborers participating in the H-2A program spiked to 258,000 in 2019 from 79,000 in 2010.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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