Thursday, September 9
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Lee Wolosky, who previously worked in national
security during the Clinton and Bush administrations and served as
an ambassador under Obama, will be joining the Biden administration to
advise on Afghan refugee resettlement efforts and concerns over the
military withdrawal, reports Hans Nichols of Axios
. This
is good news. 

Still, stories like that of SIV applicant Muhammad come to mind. Last
month, Muhammad received an email from the State Department telling
him to go to the Kabul airport to evacuate - but he and his family
were blocked by the Taliban during their two attempts to leave, Caitlin
Dickson reports for Yahoo News
.
If the U.S. government doesn't help him leave, he said, "I would be
killed along with my family and my blood would be on the hands of the
authorities sitting in the Department of State." 

If you want to learn how to help, our friends at the National
Association of Evangelicals are hosting a webinar today at 2 p.m.
ET on the Christian response to the situation in Afghanistan. Register
here .

And here are some of our favorite local stories of Afghan support and
welcome today: 

* A northeast Ohio native and gold star wife launched an Emergency Fund
for Displaced Afghan People
 to
help at-risk Afghan refugees. (Karlynn Wells, Spectrum News 1
) 

* Middle Tennessee veterans are working to rescue Americans and allies
left behind via their humanitarian group Patriot Mountain. (Elizabeth
Lane, WKRN-TV
) 

* Officials with Bethany Christian Services, Samaritas, the Islamic
Center of West Michigan and other groups joined U.S. Rep. Peter
Meijer (R) for a candlelight vigil in Grand Rapids to honor the
struggle of Afghan refugees. (John Tunnison, MLive)
 

* The Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City is working with Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese Oklahoma City to prepare for hundreds of
Afghan families arriving in the city. (Lionel Ramos, Oklahoma Watch
) 

* A local business owner in DuBois, Pennsylvania, raised more than
$3,500 for Afghan refugees via a patriotic t-shirt fundraiser. (WCED
News
) 

* A group of high school students in Salt Lake City is preparing to
welcome Afghan refugees with music. (Matt Rascon, KSL-TV
) 

* Northwest Arkansas is expecting to welcome around 50 refugees over the
next six months. (KHBS
) 

* Michael Martel, the Marine Corps veteran overseeing donations for
Afghan families housed at Camp Atterbury in
Indiana, told the Indianapolis Star
's Rashika Jaipuriar: "The
willingness to help - it's strong. It's ... been a while
since I've seen it ... on this scale ... So again, Indiana has
been great." 

* Foodhini , a D.C. food
delivery service featuring cuisine from emerging immigrant chefs, began
a new initiative to provide homemade Afghan-style "welcome meals" for
refugees and families arriving in the area.  

Welcome to Thursday'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]
.  

FYI: We'll also be hosting a discussion via Facebook Live
 at 2 p.m. ET tomorrow
about what it's like to live in the U.S. without permanent status,
what legislative solutions exist, and how Congress can act right now. 

[link removed]

**POTENTIAL BACKLASH** - As we've seen through countless stories
from across the country, Americans are embracing Afghan refugees and
welcoming them into their communities. But, as the Boston Globe
 Editorial
Board warns, "the arrival of a large number of migrants also provides
fertile ground for demagogues and fearmongers." As we welcome
vulnerable Afghans, we can demonstrate our collective compassion across
political divides, but we must also remain vigilant against nativist
forces seeking to weaponize immigration. I told the Board: "If we can
welcome Afghan refugees across political lines and at the local and
national level, we go a long way to strengthening our democracy." 

**FORT BLISS **- According to a new (and third) Fort
Bliss whistleblower complaint, "immigrant children housed at one of the
Biden administration's emergency shelters were burned after bathing in
scalding water, had their blood drawn without explanation, and were
repeatedly threatened with deportation," report Adolfo Flores and
Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News
.
"In the aftermath of our disclosures, HHS asserts that the fundamental
failures our clients identified are 'old' and have been 'fixed,'"
the whistleblower report states. "To the contrary, the problems are
ongoing, systemic, and repeated...with tragic consequences. It is true
these are old issues; it is not true they have been fixed." 

[link removed]

OHIO - Miles of border Ohio shares with Mexico: Zero. Number
of taxpayer dollars spent on the deployment of Ohio law enforcement to
the border: Almost a quarter million. Marty Schladen at the Ohio
Capital Journal
 reports
that taxpayers are expected to pay nearly $230,000 following Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine's (R) decision to send 14 Ohio State Highway Patrol
officers to the U.S.-Mexico border this summer after a request from
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). "Neither governor has justified the need for
out-0f-state law enforcement personnel in the region, where cities have
significantly lower crime rates than those in Ohio," Schladen writes.
"For its part, the Texas Department of Public Safety declined to discuss
what sort of policing Ohio taxpayers financed in the Lone Star State." 

RECONCILIATION - More than 700 mayors, council members, school
board members and other local officials from across the U.S. are
calling on Democratic lawmakers and President Biden to include
immigration solutions in federal budget reconciliation,  The Hill
's
Rafael Bernal reports. "Providing a path to citizenship for [Dreamers,
TPS recipients and their families] not only recognizes the sacrifices
they have made for all Americans over the past year, but also the
important role they continue to play in America's economic recovery
and long-term global competitiveness," the group wrote in a Wednesday
letter. Moreover, Marianne Levine of Politico
 reports
that the Senate parliamentarian is planning to hear "dueling
arguments" Friday as Democrats make the case for immigration reform in
the package. For more on the prospects of reform via this process,
check out our reconciliation explainer
.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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