Tuesday, September 21
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

The Biden administration plans to raise the refugee admissions ceiling
 to
125,000 for fiscal year 2022, Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN
. This
is the second proposed increase from the Biden administration, which
initially raised the admissions cap in May to 62,500 from President
Trump's historic low of 15,000.  

From the beginning of this fiscal year in October 2020 through August,
only 7,637 refugees were admitted to the U.S., per the Refugee
Processing Center
. (To put this in
context, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR
, estimates that
there are more than 26 million refugees worldwide.)  

Increasing the admissions cap is an important step - but after
years of low admissions, we won't even
approach 125,000 unless the administration also
bolsters the pipeline for resettlement. Congress and the
administration need to prioritize rebuilding the capacity of
federal agencies and refugee resettlement organizations so they have
the resources and support to make resettlement a reality. 

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of
Noorani's Notes. I'm Joanna Taylor, communications manager at
the Forum, filling in for Ali today. If you have a story to share from
your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected]
. 

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AFGHAN SUPPORT - Organizations throughout the U.S. are "rallying
evangelical support for incoming Afghan refugees, as Christians across
the ideological spectrum have united in prayer, fundraising, and
programming to help," Stefani McDade reports for Christianity Today
. In just
over a week, the Hope Clinic in Cleveland raised more
than $100,000 to cover humanitarian parole
 application fees for
Afghan evacuees, while World Relief Sacramento has enlisted Afghan
counselors to address refugees' mental health needs - and these are
just two examples. "We have a biblical calling to welcome the
stranger - and there are no qualifications or caveats on that," said
World Relief Sacramento director Kerry Ham. "The refugee program is
something I believe the United States can be very proud of the 40-plus
year history of doing just that - regardless of ethnicity,
regardless of faith." A side note that on Monday the Evangelical
Immigration Table sent a letter
 to
Congress asking that Afghans on humanitarian parole receive the
same government support as resettled refugees. 

Meanwhile, local stories of welcome continue: 

* Since the end of August, more than 50 members of the military from
Washington state have been supporting efforts to welcome Afghan
nationals arriving at military installations. (Master Sgt.
John Hughel via the Defense Visual Information Distribution Network
) 

* Dr. Arlita Harris, executive director for the Immigration Center at
Western Oaks Church of the Nazarene, writes that Oklahoma
should welcome Afghan refugees. (The Oklahoman
) 

* Hoosiers of many faiths are collecting prayer rugs to donate to Afghan
refugees at Camp Atterbury, south of Indianapolis.
(Rashika Jaipuriar, Indianapolis Star
) 

* "We had bikes donated. We have had clothes. We had a car donated as
well. It's just been this outpouring of love," said Heidi
Henkel, who is aiding her husband, an Army veteran, in
bringing his Afghan interpreter and his family to Colorado. (Shaun
Boyd, CBS Denver
) 

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HAITIAN MIGRANTS - The first group of Haitian migrants
deported from a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas, "landed in their
home country Sunday amid sweltering heat, anger and confusion, as
Haitian officials beseeched the United States to stop the flights
because the country is in crisis and cannot handle thousands of homeless
deportees," Harold Isaac and Catherine Porter report for The New York
Times
. In
a follow-up story
,
Porter spoke to Nicodeme Vyles, who was among the first to be
deported and says he was not given the opportunity to speak with an
immigration agent. "I thought the United States was a big country, with
laws. They treated us terribly," said Vyles, who has not lived in Haiti
in years. "I don't know this country anymore." Meanwhile, the White
House has condemned U.S. border agents' use of a "whip-like cord" to
threaten Haitian migrants along the Texas border, Daina Beth
Solomon reports for Reuters
. 

PLAN B - Democrats "are ready to pitch a Plan B" to Senate
Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough after she ruled against their
proposed inclusion of immigration provisions in the budget
reconciliation package, report Rafael Bernal and
Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill
. Among
the options on the table: "a congressional mandate for the executive to
change the registry date for certain undocumented immigrants and
beneficiaries of humanitarian parole programs, essentially implementing
a statute of limitations for past unauthorized entries." The story
cites a FWD.us report
 that finds changing
the registry date to 2010 would allow about 6.7 million people who
arrived before that date to be eligible for legal permanent
residency. 

DACA

** LIMBO** - Many first-time applicants for Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are deferring their college and career
plans as they await a federal appeal of the
court ruling declaring the program unlawful
, Laura
Rodríguez Presa reports for the Chicago Tribune
. "It
feels like everyone is progressing and my life is at a halt, living
under the terms of the government," said Angela Sustaita, 18. "While I
see all my friends going to college or getting new jobs, I feel useless
just sitting at home." While the latest court ruling
bars new DACA applications only, "it has also affected the backlog
of renewal cases that had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving
many who were previously approved for DACA without work permits,"
Presa explains. 

Thanks for reading, 

Joanna

 

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