Thursday, September 23
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

The Biden administration is under intense scrutiny for their treatment
of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. This
morning, Yamiche Alcindor of PBS broke the news
 that Ambassador
Daniel Foote, Special Envoy for Haiti, has resigned, saying "he will not
be associated with the U.S.'s 'inhumane, counterproductive decision
to deport thousands of Haitian refugees.'"  

In The 
New
York Times
, Mijente Executive
Director Marisa Franco asks, "How are you actually different than
Trump?" Over at The Washington Post
,
NAACP President Derrick Johnson asks, "If we were to close our eyes
and this was occurring under the Trump administration, what would we do?
The inhumane treatment of the Haitian refugees is utterly sickening." 

Nana Gyamfi, the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants and executive director
of Black Alliance for Just Immigration
(BAJI), contrasts the outpouring of support for Afghan refugees to
the way Haitians are being treated at the border in another Washington
Post
 piece:
"One group is being met with food, cheers, places to live, etc. -
which is what welcoming looks like. And the other group is being met
with cowboys with leather straps or ropes and detention by force." 

We released a new poll
 yesterday
that highlighted the opportunity - and challenge - ahead when
it comes to welcoming people seeking refuge. We found that 61% of
Republicans, 63% of Independents and 75% of Democrats agreed "that the
United States should have a legal, secure process in place to take in
people from oppressed or war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan." The
question is, how do we expand this depth of support for Afghans to other
populations? 

Welcome to Thursday's, lots of questions, 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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PUSH FACTOR - The shift of drug smuggling routes from the Caribbean
to Central America has empowered cartels - and fueled the migration
crisis. In a feature for Reuters
,
Laura Gottesdiener writes about Honduran
mayor Alexander Ardón, whose "murders, drug-trafficking, and other
confessed crimes have implicated the pinnacle of Honduran politics and
worsened the migration crisis from Central America." Official
drug trade "is a major contributor to the violence, the corruption and
the impunity that have polarized the country and caused many Hondurans
to become migrants," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). 

**HEART TO HEART** - "The Haitians who come to our border seeking
refuge have suffered beyond the imagination of most Americans," writes
Southern Baptist pastor and author Alan Cross in an op-ed for The
xxxxxx
. "How
we see and treat them says a great deal about the state of our own
hearts and consciences." The earthquake in 2010, and the political and
natural disasters that followed, are just pieces of the larger history
behind the Haitian diaspora, he writes. "As we try to keep order and
security at our border, let's make sure that we don't demonize those
who desperately come to us looking for help. They are human beings made
in the image of God." 

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AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT - Organizations across the country are
seeking volunteer translators as thousands of Afghan refugees are
expected to resettle in the U.S. in the coming weeks, reports Stephanie
Bennett for Fox News
. Meanwhile, Adebayo
Adeleke, a retired U.S. Army major, underscores the need for immigrant
recruits with language skills in a column for The Dallas Morning News
,
calling on lawmakers to "welcome our Afghan allies with open arms and
then create opportunities for them - and all immigrants - to serve
in our armed forces." 

Here's your daily dose of local stories:  

* Wayne County, Michigan, officials and partners announced a $20
million rental assistance program for tenants, including
assistance for Afghan refugees to secure housing. (Nushrat Rahman
and Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press
) 

* Timeless Toys in Chicago "is accepting and matching new toy donations
to Afghan refugee children through the end of September." (NBC 5
) 

* Per Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts
, more than 100 volunteers are preparing to
welcome and resettle Afghan refugees to the
area. (Jim Kinney, MassLive
)  

MIGRANT TEENS - On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras
approved a plan that requires U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) "to attempt to place migrant teens who turn 18 in government
custody in less-restrictive housing options than adult detention
facilities," reports Grace Dixon of Law360
. The
five-year permanent injunction requires ICE "to identify groups and
organizations to sponsor the new adults, revise methods for documenting
placement decisions and implement additional training for officers with
only minor modifications." 

'HIS NAME IS SANG' - We're coming up on the MLB playoffs,
so let's go to the diamond. For The Athletic
,
Stephen J. Nesbitt tells the story of Seong Han Baek, who spent the
evenings of his first week in America searching for baseball fields and
practicing one line in English: "Can my son play on your team? His
name is Sang. He is a pitcher." This is a story of
determination, grit and just awful tragedy. It's worthy of your
time.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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