Wednesday, September 22
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

The Democratic-led House approved $6.3 billion in
emergency funding for Afghan refugee resettlement on Tuesday,
reports Al Jazeera
.  

The bill, which now heads to the Senate, sets new timelines to process
asylum claims from Afghan evacuees and requires U.S. officials to
interview refugees within 45 days. It would also require
the Department of Homeland Security to submit quarterly reports to
Congress on the number and status of Afghan evacuees in the U.S. and
overseas on U.S. military bases. 

"This funding will ensure the government agencies involved in the
resettlement process have the capacity necessary to help our Afghan
allies build new lives in safety in the United States," said Rep.
Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina). 

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]
.  

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AFGHAN WELCOME - Christians are turning to the Bible to help
welcome and resettle Afghan refugees, writes Shane Bennett of Healing
Nations  in a piece for Denison Forum
 (republished in
the Christian Post
). "This
Afghan migration to our shores may be the greatest opportunity in years
for us to obey Jesus' instruction to act like the good
Samaritan," he writes, encouraging Christians to befriend and
advocate for their new neighbors. "May the God who opened doors for
this blessed influx of Afghans open up opportunities for each of us, as
he sees fit, to extend the love, grace, present peace, and hope of Jesus
to both newly arriving Afghans and Muslims all over."  

Here's this morning's sampling of local stories of welcome: 

* KindWorks  is rounding up volunteers
to cook homemade Afghan welcome meals for refugees resettling in
the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. (John Gonzalez, ABC 7
) 

* Florida law firm Pajcic & Pajcic donated $50,000 to Catholic
Charities Jacksonville's refugee resettlement program to
support Afghan SIV holders and humanitarian parolees. (Katherine
Lewin, Florida Times-Union
) 

* Sacramento, California's Elk Grove Unified School District "began
offering culturally appropriate meals and setting aside rooms in many of
its middle and high schools for prayer during Muslim holidays" in
preparation for arriving Afghan students. (Diana Lambert, KQED
) 

* More than 30 major companies - including Amazon,
Facebook, Pfizer and UPS - will join the Tent Coalition for Afghan
Refugees,  founded
by Chobani's Hamdi Ulukaya, to integrate, train and hire Afghan
refugees as they rebuild their lives in the U.S. (Erin Doherty, Axios
) 

DEL RIO - The Biden administration's response to the
humanitarian crisis facing Haitians at the border is still
developing. The Washington Post
 reports
that the U.S. is preparing to double the number of deportations to
Haiti, "raising alarm that thousands of cash-strapped migrants will add
a new dimension to the humanitarian crisis in a country torn apart by
violence, natural disaster and political strife." Meanwhile, two
U.S. officials told the Associated Press
 that many
Haitian migrants are being released into the U.S., "undercutting the
Biden administration's public statements that the thousands in the
camp faced immediate expulsion." What's clear is that the
administration's response to Haiti "has drawn condemnation from both
Republican hardliners and Democratic allies," Maureen Groppe and Rebecca
Morin write for USA TODAY
. Said
Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations: "There are lots of people trying to flee desperate
situations in countries that are on our doorstep. And there's no
particularly good answer as to how to deal with that."  

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UNHCR RESPONSE - As the Biden administration ramps up deportations
to Haiti, Gessika Thomas and Daina Beth Solomon of Reuters
 report
on the scene that returnees "reacted angrily as they stepped off
flights at Port-au-Prince airport after spending thousands of dollars on
arduous voyages from the troubled Caribbean nation via South America
hoping for a better life in the United States." U.N. refugee
chief Filippo Grandi (who is speaking at our Leading the Way
 convening in
October) "said U.S. expulsions to such a volatile situation might
violate international law and could constitute refoulement or exposing
people seeking shelter to life-threatening situations." As a new
camp grows on the Mexican side of the border, "Mexican and Haitian
authorities held talks on Tuesday about how to deal with the migrant
influx, with Mexico set to offer space for Haiti's government to open
consular offices in the southern cities of Tenosique and Talisman, close
to the Guatemalan border." 

GOODWIN HOUSE - Around 17% of the nation's medical
workforce is made up of immigrant employees at long-term care
facilities. In a Washington Post
 column,
Petula Dvorak tells the touching
story of how residents at Goodwin House, a retirement home in
northern Virginia, honor the immigrant staff members who aid them
every day. In two weeks, residents raised $40,000 to fund nearly
90 staff members' citizenship application fees, in addition to
tutoring them in preparation for the citizenship test. Nicola Stevens,
a Jamaican-born cafeteria worker, "said she never had grandparents
growing up. 'But I have so many grandparents now,' Stevens told the
residents who helped her, who nagged her to study as her citizenship
test came up." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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