Monday, September 13
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

There is a lot in motion these days.   

Through budget reconciliation
,
Democrats seek to legalize Dreamers, farmworkers and Temporary
Protected Status recipients. Migration from Central America continues
even as Mexico, at our behest, hardens its southern border. Natural
disasters and political instability in Haiti and Cuba, respectively,
create their own set of migration pressures. And, dominating the news,
tens of thousands of Afghans are being processed into the country.  

All of this is happening against a backdrop of an increase in white
extremism, a coronavirus pandemic that 43% of Republicans
 believe
immigrants crossing the southern border are responsible for
spreading (despite evidence to the contrary
), and looming
electoral cycles that will be the most divisive of our lifetime.  

If recent history is any indication, even though 69% of
Americans support
 resettling
Afghans who worked with the U.S., a nativist backlash is sure to come.
But in the here and now, we want to do everything we can to ensure the
resettlement of Afghans is not only broadly supported but is done in a
way that pushes back against extremism and sets the stage for
other refugees as well. This won't be easy.  

Priscilla Alvarez and Oren Liebermann at CNN
 report
that "the Biden administration will now resettle more than 60,000 Afghan
refugees inside the U.S. over the next several weeks," temporarily
accommodating them at eight military bases. The Wall Street
Journal's
 Raja Abdulrahim reported this
weekend that the U.S. is grappling with hundreds
of Afghan unaccompanied minors who were separated from their
families in the aftermath of the U.S. military withdrawal.  

More stories will come, but there is a new story about American
immigration that we can develop - that we need to develop.  

Ultimately, we must give people who are worried about immigration a
place to go that is compassionate, not extremist. Again, this is not
easy - but it's critical. Because, as President Bush said
 in Shanksville,
Pennsylvania, this weekend: "There's little cultural overlap between
violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their
disdain for pluralism, in their disregard of human life, in their
determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same
foul spirit, and it is our continuing duty to confront them." 

With that said, here are more stories of communities invested in
helping our Afghan allies:

* A 16-foot moving truck was filled with more than $7,000 worth
of donations for Afghan families temporarily relocated at a New
Jersey military base. (WCED News
) 

* World Relief Memphis, with support from the City of Memphis and Shelby
County, is helping Afghan refugees look for permanent housing and
employment. (Jordan James, WREG News
) 

* Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
,
a leading international law firm, has been working on the cases of
dozens of Afghan families seeking refuge in the U.S. 

* Afghan doctors and health care workers are treating newly arriving
Afghan refugees at the Philadelphia International Airport. (Aubrey
Whelan, The Philadelphia Inquirer
) 

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]
. 

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**RECONCILIATION** - Advocates are pushing for immigration
provisions
 to
remain in the upcoming budget reconciliation package, Rebecca
Morin reports for USA Today
. Stuart
Anderson points out in Forbes
 that the
bill could also bring green card relief for applicants stuck
in yearlong backlogs. And Luke Broadwater of The New York Times
 reports that
senior Democrat and Republican aides with immigration and
budget expertise met with Senate
Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough in an effort to sway her
ultimate decision on whether immigration provisions can be included in
reconciliation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) set a
deadline to broker a deal by Sept. 27. In the meantime, take a few
minutes to read this essay collection compiled by our friends at
the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
. 

**MIXED STATUS** - A new analysis of Census Bureau data
 by FWD.us indicates
that more than 10 million U.S. citizens share a household with an
undocumented immigrant, reports Rafael Bernal of The Hill
.
Per the analysis, undocumented spouses and parents of U.S. citizens
could earn as much as 58% more income if they were able to
obtain legal permanent residency. "This economic impact would have
important multiplier effects for the broader economy, adding $59 billion
more to the economy each year and an additional $16 billion in combined
federal, payroll, state, and local tax
revenue," wrote FWD.us Senior Demographer Phillip Connor.

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MPP

** **- "A string of recent court decisions has put President Biden in
a predicament: Re-implement his predecessor's Remain in Mexico policy in
good faith or turn to Trump-era tactics to dismantle the divisive
immigration rule," writes Rebecca Beitsch for The Hill
. "The
question of what happens now turns on what does good faith mean?" said
Jorge Loweree, policy director for the American Immigration Council.
"The federal government doesn't only have a binary choice to detain
every person at the southern border or expel them to Mexico -
there are other options they have under
law." Said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for
Immigration Law & Policy at the University of California: "If the
administration really wants the policy outcome, it could certainly
rewrite the memo." 

ESSENTIAL IN FRANCE - France has granted some
12,000 immigrant frontline workers - including doctors, nurses,
cleaning staff, cashiers, and garbage collectors - citizenship via
a special fast-track program, Ellen Francis writes for The Washington
Post
.
"I had worked during the crisis when there was a need for
doctors," said Fouad Kerbage, a Lebanese-born oncologist. "We
didn't know much about the virus. There was no vaccine ... but it
was our duty to keep doing our jobs." Said France's citizenship
minister Marlène Schiappa in a statement Thursday: "These front-line
workers responded to the call of the nation. It is normal for the nation
to take a step toward them." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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