Wednesday, September 15
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

NOORANI'S NOTES

 

"The Biden administration plans to unveil a private refugee sponsorship
program next year, allowing private organizations and groups to
financially support refugees - including Afghans," reports Stef W.
Kight of Axios
. The
program would be similar to one in Canada that is extremely
popular. A potential "on-ramp for future private refugee
sponsors," Welcome.US , launched
Tuesday; it's a place where Americans can support newcomers. (The
Forum is a Welcome.US supporter.) The administration's
plan would  represent "a whole new way for Americans to help
address a burgeoning refugee crisis," Kight notes.  

U.S. News & World Report's
 Braeden
Waddell provides great visuals of the top states for Afghan
resettlement since 2001. 

Elsewhere, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would work to
safeguard Afghan women and children, following calls from Sen. Jeanne
Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and others, reports Dan Alexander
of Seacoast Current
. In The
Christian Chronicle
,
Cheryl Mann Bacon features retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Bradley
and his wife, Jan, who built schools and clinics in Afghanistan
and are now praying, petitioning, and helping get Afghan
families to the U.S.  

And the stories of local welcome efforts across
communities continue (including a story from our European
friends):  

* University of Harding students donate 'welcome boxes' for incoming
Afghan refugees relocating to Arkansas. (Kendall Ashman, 40/29 News
) 

* In Charlottesville, Virginia, Buford Middle School employees are
offering mental health support for Afghan students. (Dominga
Murray, NBC 29
) 

* The International Institute of St. Louis "received an outpouring of
donations and announced they are pausing in-kind donations until staff
can take inventory and figure out what needs haven't been met." (Zara
Barker, FOX 2
) 

* The Idaho Office for Refugees will help resettle about 400 Afghan
refugees; most will join host families in the Boise and Twin Falls
areas. (Brenda Rodriguez, KTVB 7
) 

* Boston Medical Center's Immigrant & Refugee Health Center (IRHC)
will connect vulnerable Afghans with health care and social
services to "help them heal, thrive, and begin to rebuild their lives."
(Sara Rimer, BU Today
) 

* Kentucky Refugee Ministries is also connecting Afghan evacuees with
free health care. (Monica Harkins, WDRB.com
) 

* Albania, one of Europe's poorest nations, has committed to taking in
up to 4,000 Afghan refugees and is temporarily housing several hundred
in resorts. (Andrew Higgins, The New York Times
) 

Welcome to Wednesday'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]

**FAST-TRACKED CASES** - Per new data from the Transactional
Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, more
than 11,000 asylum seekers were added to an expedited federal
immigration court process in August, reports Sandra
Sanchez for Border Report
. This
brings the total number of cases to nearly 17,000. Dubbed
the Dedicated Docket, it is designed to process cases under 300
days. Among those who qualify are "[f]amilies apprehended between
legal U.S. ports of entry and placed in removal proceedings and approved
for alternatives to detention," notes Sanchez. The data also reveal
that six immigration judges have a total of two-thirds of these
cases. "So, it does raise questions about how those immigration judges
are going to be able to manage that high volume of cases," said TRAC
researcher Austin Kocher. 

ILLINOIS FARMWORKERS

** **- According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture,
farming generates $19 billion annually
 in the
state. Yet farmers say they are struggling to find local workers. In
a feature for The Counter
,
Amanda Pérez Pintado of Investigate Midwest/Report for America dives
deep into how Illinois farmers are calling on Congress to pass the
bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act
 - which
would change the agricultural work visa process
and offer undocumented farmworkers a way
to earn citizenship. Linnea Kooistra, whose roots in farming go
back ten generations, testified before the Senate Judiciary
Committee in July: "Do we want our food produced in this country where
we have the safest food supply in the world? The ag labor crisis on our
farms is an issue of national security that must be addressed, and it
must be addressed now." 

[link removed]

RECONCILIATION - A reconciliation bill that would include
immigration measures advanced in the House on a 25-19 party line vote
Monday, reports Rafael Bernal of The Hill
. "The
Democratic proposal ... would allow its beneficiaries to apply for
permanent residency, provided they pass background checks, pay $1,500 on
top of any other statutory fees to receive a green card and fulfill
certain presence requirements, depending on their current status,"
Bernal reports. The big question remains whether the Senate
parliamentarian will allow key immigration provisions to proceed. 

VENEZUELANS - In a new poll by a coalition of bipartisan
groups, almost half of all Venezuelan Americans in
Florida said they would no longer support Republican Sens. Marco Rubio
and Rick Scott "if they oppose granting permanent legal status to
Venezuelan Americans who currently have temporary protected status,
or TPS," reports NBC News'
 Carmen
Sesin. "Including immigration [in specific bills] is so relevant for
an economic recovery and for the growth of the country," said Maria
Antonieta Díaz, founder of the Venezuelan American Alliance.
"Immigration is a topic that unites us despite any partisan
sympathy." Many of the more than 300,000 Venezuelans estimated to
qualify for TPS live in Florida, home to the most Venezuelans of any
state, notes Sesin.  

VACCINATIONS

** **- The U.S. will require most new immigrants to get the COVID-19
vaccine "as part of its routine medical examination" beginning Oct. 1,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced
 Tuesday, per Bryan
Pietsch of The Washington Post
. Most applicants
for U.S. permanent residency are required to receive the immigration
medical exam "to show they are free from any conditions that would
render them inadmissible under the health-related grounds." Other
vaccinations already are required for applicants, including against
measles, polio, influenza, and tetanus. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

10 G St NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes

or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States