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AFGHAN REFUGEES — Samuel Benson, one of our former interns, details for Deseret News the incredible story of how a makeshift team of veterans, nonprofit organizations and volunteers helped Afghan allies escape. For example, veterans "formed an Underground Railroad-style operation that pulled together the disparate work to evacuate over 1,000 refugees," Benson writes. Now, efforts are shifting to resettlement: More than 3,900 eligible Afghan refugees were recently vaccinated for COVID-19 at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Nicole Maxwell of the Alamogordo Daily News reports. "The ultimate goal of Operation Allies Welcome is to successfully resettle vulnerable Afghans into local communities while prioritizing national security and public health," said Robert Fenton, Senior Response Official for Operation Allies Welcome. Here’s today’s collection of local stories of support (plus a few from abroad):
‘LET’S FACE REALITY HERE’ — Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Sunday that unvaccinated immigrants are "[a]bsolutely not" driving an increase in U.S. COVID-19 rate infections, reports Alison Durkee for Forbes. Fauci’s comments come after a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 55% of Republicans and 40% of unvaccinated respondents blame immigrants and tourists for the COVID-19 surge. "When you have 700,000 Americans dead and millions and millions and millions of Americans getting infected, you don’t want to look outside to the problem. The problem is within our own country," Fauci said. "Certainly immigrants can get infected, but they’re not the driving force of this, let’s face reality here."
IMMIGRANT WOMEN — In partnership with Documented, The Fuller Project, and THE CITY, Tanvi Misra tells the stories of four New York City immigrant women who fought for their communities throughout the pandemic, despite their own financial hardships. Often without access to a government safety net, women like Veronica Leal, Rumana Sayeed, Goma Yonjan and Arlette Cepeda helped their respective communities access aid, advocate for legislation, and document their pandemic experiences. "When you talk about women being excluded, I also think about it in a larger context of brown, Black, Latinx and Indigenous women’s domestic labor," said Sanjana Khan, co-founder and executive director of the Bengali community organization Laal. "They don’t have that data to show they’re employed… but they’re constantly working." HISTORY LESSON — America’s history with Haiti is complex. From Reagan-era discrimination against Haitian asylum cases to former President Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies — not to mention the recent events in Del Rio, Texas — America owes Haitians a great deal, writes Michael Posner, lawyer and director for the Center of Business and Human Rights at NYU’s Stern School of Business, in an op-ed for The New York Times. "The Biden administration needs to prioritize human rights and democratic governance in Haiti, which are essential if the island nation is ever to escape its familiar cycles of domestic chaos and mass migration," writes Posner. "More immediately, the Biden administration should allow all Haitians who arrive at our borders and have a credible fear of persecution in their home country the right to enter the country to pursue asylum claims." STORM LAKE — As many parts of northwest Iowa grapple with slowing population growth, Storm Lake, Iowa, "is in a very different position than its counterparts" thanks to immigration, Elijah Decious writes for The Cedar Rapids Gazette. "[Businessowners] need to understand, these people are making your economies stable in your counties," said Emilia Marroquin, who serves migrant workers at farms and plants around northwestern Iowa. "Diversity is something that’s going to enrich the communities." Storm Lake Mayor Mike Porsch added, "I’m a strong proponent that if you want to grow and bring industry and jobs, your work force is going to have to come from the diverse population. The (native) workers aren’t here." Thanks for reading, Ali |
