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AFGHAN AID — The continuing resolution Congress passed Thursday includes $6.3 billion in supplemental funding for Afghan resettlement, as well as benefits for Afghan parolees who were admitted to the U.S. under humanitarian parole. (Our statement is here.) Earlier in the day, senators rejected a proposal to curtail assistance, Luke Broadwater of The New York Times reports. Recent polls show strong support across the board for resettling Afghans who helped the U.S. military: Vox and Data for Progress found that 74 percent of likely voters — including 66 percent of Republicans — are in favor, Nicole Narea reports for Vox. Although support was lower for other groups, especially among Republicans, our own recent polling indicates that Americans across party lines agree that the U.S. should have a legal, secure way to offer welcome to people from oppressed or war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan. Here are this morning’s local stories of welcome:
‘THE PASTOR’S HELP’ — Miriam Jordan of The New York Times explains how a desperate phone call from the southern border transformed into a church’s full-blown effort to support nine Haitians. Thanks to the generosity of Haitian American pastor Rooldy Alexandre and members of the Beersheba Adventist Church in Philadelphia, these families were able to secure temporary housing. "Since arriving, the church has had to help us with absolutely everything," said Josue Alexis, who called Pastor Alexandre from the border after listening to his sermons from a Panama refugee camp. "I look forward to managing on my own, without depending on others. There are other people arriving who are going to need the pastor’s help."
RANSOM — In a powerful feature at NBC News, Juan Cooper of Noticias Telemundo Investiga gets an inside look at the kidnapping of migrants and the ransom their families are being forced to pay. In interviews with 32 migrants kidnapped from 2019 to 2021 in Mexico and the United States, relatives explained how they paid "$1,500 to $5,000 as ransom to different cartels or criminal gangs for each of kidnapped migrants." Denis Sanabria sold everything he could to help save his brother David and niece Ximena, who were kidnapped en route from Honduras. "For a moment, we felt that everything was finished … but there is always a great God who can do anything," Denis said upon receiving his family at the Nashville airport. TRUCKS, TURKEYS AND PIGS — Labor shortages made worse by Britain’s restrictive immigration policies are affecting many aspects of British society. Britain’s financial sector is calling for visa leniency, reports Huw Jones of Reuters. A truck driver shortage is causing concerns about gasoline supplies, such that Britain’s doctors and other health care workers "could be put up in hotels to ensure they can get to work," Chloe Taylor reports for CNBC. James Davey of Reuters adds that farmers may have to slaughter hundreds of thousands of pigs because of its butcher shortage, and there are other farm worries: Karla Adam and William Booth of The Washington Post write that the British government has promised an additional 5,500 temporary visas for poultry workers for fear "of a holiday shortage of turkeys." Thanks for reading, Ali |
