Monday, October 18
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

NOORANI'S NOTES

 

Back in June, the Biden administration announced "a multi-agency plan
 to
crack down on foreign tax havens, illicit financing and other overseas
corruption," reports Rachel Scharf for Law360
. One
of the initiatives was the Anti-Corruption Task Force, a group
of Department of Justice Criminal Division officials focused on El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  

Per a DOJ statement
 Friday,
the task force has created a tip line for reports of individuals and
corporations involved in illegal activities to combat Central
American corruption - part of the administration's larger goal
to address the root causes of migration. 

Kenneth A. Polite Jr., head of the DOJ Criminal Division, said, "As the
vice president recognized during her visit to Guatemala earlier this
year, corruption and impunity in the region undermine democracy, fuel
irregular migration, and pose a threat to our national security because
they sustain criminal organizations and transnational crime." 

Meanwhile, migration pattern "flows have changed. They go much beyond
the Northern Triangle. Now, that's complicated the narrative and the
response," Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute
told CNN's
 Priscilla
Alvarez. 

In fact, as Maria Abi-Habib and Ruth Graham report for The New York
Times
, incidents
of kidnappings and ransoms have spiked in Haiti. In addition to a group
of 16 American missionaries who were taken over the weekend, gangs are
controlling much of Port-au-Prince, "kidnapping children on their way to
school and pastors in the middle of delivering their services." As a
reminder, last month, the U.S. removed thousands of Haitians from Del
Rio, Texas, returning many of them to Haiti.  

We'll be talking about global migration at Leading the Way 2021,
 which
is just one week away. Mark your calendars for next Monday and
Tuesday, you don't want to miss it - and then make sure
to reserve your spot here.
 

Finally, this morning we extend our deepest condolences to the family of
General Colin Powell, son of Jamaican immigrants, who was the
highest-ranking Black public official at the time when he was
nominated to serve as Secretary of State in 2001. His passing
 is
a loss for the nation.  

Welcome to Monday'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]
.  

[link removed]

**'DETAIN FIRST, ASK LATER'** - More than 4,500 people
- all potential victims of trafficking - have been held in
immigration detention in the UK before being released, per data
released from the past five years, reports Haroon Siddique for The
Guardian
. "Aside
from the moral imperative to make trafficking support more readily
available to those who need it, it is clear that the government's
'detain first, ask later' approach to immigration detention is
completely obscuring the state's ability to identify human
trafficking, and is running counter to its goal of fighting modern
slavery," said Maya Esslemont, the director of the charity After
Exploitation, which obtained the data. After Exploitation and other
charities are urging the government to curb the nationality and borders
bill , which they
say will make it more challenging to identify victims,
notes Siddique. 

'SHOCKING'- For the first time in a decade, Domino's U.S.
same-store sales declined, falling 1.9% on a year-over-year
basis. Per Kevin Stankiewicz of CNBC
, Domino's
Pizza CEO Ritch Allen told CNBC's Jim Cramer: "In the U.S. with
minimal population growth organically, we do - we need immigration in
our industry to continue to have enough team members." The next day,
after what he called a "shocking" and "sobering" conversation, Cramer
said, "We literally have to start thinking about an immigration policy
that involves taking in people."   

RECAPTURE - Multiple legislative proposals aim to recapture
unused green cards as part of the Democrats' budget package,
which has earned "bipartisan attention," report Andrew Kreighbaum
and Ellen M. Gilmer of Bloomberg Law
. Green
card recapture proposals wouldn't require a new legalization
program, said Kristie De Peña of the Niskanen Center. "It only
affects the timing of adjustment as opposed to who is eligible to adjust
their legal status." Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina),
the sponsor of the Senate measure, told Bloomberg
Government he's confident the bill will advance this year, either
through a fast-tracked Senate floor process or attached to other
legislation.  

[link removed]

MINA - "The State Department plans to resume regular evacuation
flights from Afghanistan before the end of the year to help U.S.
citizens, residents and some visa applicants leave the country," per a
senior State Department official, reports Jessica Donati of The Wall
Street Journal
.
Meanwhile, Libby Cathey of ABC
 tells
the story of "Mina," a university-educated and unmarried Afghan woman
still in Afghanistan, who was separated from her immediate family living
in New Jersey. "I'm not mentally good nowadays because this situation
is a burden on me," she said, pleading for help on a recent call with
advocates trying to evacuate her. Thousands of Afghans like Mina face
the same frightening challenges, Cathey notes. 

In the U.S., local efforts of resettlement, aid and support
continue:  

* Zainab - who fled from Afghanistan just two years ago and is now a
chef in Washington, D.C.'s Foodhini  - is
offering "'welcome meals' that are donated by customers to support
newly arriving families." (Joel Rose, NPR
) 

* Ibrahim Bata of Zionsville High School in Indianapolis, son of a
former Afghan refugee, "raised more than $11,000 to buy shoes and socks
for young Afghan evacuees at Camp Atterbury." (Russ McQuaid, Fox 59
) 

* Spokane, Washington, Gonzaga Prep junior Neharika Sharma and a group
of teenagers around the world recently founded a nonprofit
called Youth Bringing Immigrants Together
 (YBIT) and are "looking
for opportunities to help out Afghan refugees." (Sophia McFarland, The
Spokesman-Review
) 

* Larry Hovis, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship of North Carolina in Winston-Salem, and Chris
Mitchell Hovis, an active member of Zebulon Baptist Church, drove 160
miles across the eastern part of the state over the weekend to "raise
money and awareness for refugee housing needs in North Carolina as many
Afghans continue to arrive over the next few weeks." (Laura
Brache, The News & Observer
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

10 G St NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes

or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

 

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States