Wednesday, November 17
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Secretary of Homeland
Security Alejandro Mayorkas defended U.S. border
policies, reports Suzanne Monyak of Roll Call
. 

Republican senators questioned current migration levels and encounters.
But a point of contention was most notably when "[a] number of
Republicans also asked Mayorkas about the reported $450,000 settlement
payments under consideration for migrant families separated at the
border" under Trump's zero tolerance policy.  

"Mayorkas declined to answer their queries, maintaining that those
payments and litigation exist under the jurisdiction of the Justice
Department, not DHS. He also insisted the payments are not a so-called
pull factor drawing migrants to cross the border," writes Monyak. 

For more on the hearing, including data around "notice[s] to appear"
for immigration courts, see Priscilla Alvarez's breakdown for CNN
. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American
Immigration Council also boiled down the hearing into key
takeaways on Twitter
. 

In other news, the National Catholic Register
 reports that Bishop
Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, a Forum board member, was elected as
chairman-elect of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on
Migration.  

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]
.  

[link removed]

POLAND-BELARUS BORDER

** **- Violence and chaos erupted "at the Poland-Belarus border on
Tuesday, as migrants desperate to cross into the European Union threw
stones at Polish border guards who responded with water cannon and tear
gas," reports a team at CNN
. With
each side blaming each other, and weather conditions deteriorating, the
situation is only worsening, they note. "Today we have witnessed how the
Polish security forces on the Belarusian-Polish border used special
means containing toxic irritating chemicals against refugees, including
women and children," Igor Malyk, deputy head of the Belarusian Armed
Forces' Department of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection
and Ecology, told Belarusian state media BeITA. For more context on
the story, see Pawel Florkiewicz and Joanna Plucinska's piece
for Reuters
. 

POLITICAL PRESSURES - A group of Senate Republicans wrote a letter
Monday calling on their colleagues "to reject government spending
bills" that don't include Trump's border wall funding,
reports The Hill's
 Aris Folley. Just
last month however, Senate Democrats talked about redirecting
funds "toward bolstering border security technology, among other
measures." NBC's
 Suzanne Gamboa says
Democrats are banking on part of Biden's Build Back Better agenda,
"which includes an immigration 'parole' provision that would give
undocumented immigrants - some who have been in the U.S. for decades
- permission to work and a temporary 10-year reprieve from
deportation."   [link removed]

TITLE 42, EXPLAINED - For The Washington Post
, Philip
Bump dives deep into the recent history of the Title 42 policy -
emblematic of the "Trump-era politicization of the pandemic that still
benefits Joe Biden." But recidivism is rising because of Title 42,
driving up apprehension numbers. "Without Title 42, the number of
apprehensions would probably be lower and the number of asylum seekers
higher. The administration, it seems, is willing to take that
trade-off," notes Bump. In a Sept. letter
, public health
experts called on the Biden administration to end the use of the
pandemic-era policy. 

'A FAMINE ALREADY' - A group of organizations, including members
of AfghanEvac Coalition, are urging the U.S. government to provide
"additional resources to help tens of thousands of people get out of
Afghanistan" following the U.S. military withdrawal, reports Ben Fox
of the Associated Press
.
"The State Department doing enough isn't enough; we need whole of
government solutions; we need the international community to step up and
we need it quickly," said Peter Lucier, a former Marine who served in
Afghanistan, now working with Team America. "Winter is coming. There
is a famine already
." 

Here is today's series of local stories of communities across the
U.S. welcoming Afghans:  

* Manny Yekutiel, owner of Manny's Cafe in the Mission
District, recently held an event raising "$53,850 for two leading
organizations providing refugee assistance in the Bay Area: The Afghan
Coalition and Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay." (Lea
Loeb, The Jewish News of Northern California
) 

* Southern Colorado's "KOAA News 5 is partnering with Lutheran Family
Services Rocky Mountains and Vanguard Skin Specialists to fundraise for
the [hundred plus] Afghan refugees who will be resettled in Colorado
Springs by the end of the year." (News5 Staff
) 

* Thanks to donation drives from Connecticut Shoreline in partnership
with other resettlement agencies in the area, "new arrivals will be
offered toasters, coffee makers, towels, sheets and warm
clothing." (Sarah Page Kyrcz, CT Insider
) 

Thanks for reading,  

Ali 

 

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