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RESETTLEMENT PROGRESS — On Wednesday, the Biden administration shut down the "first temporary housing site for Afghan evacuees as resettlement accelerates," reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. Per the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the last group of Afghan families temporarily housed at the Fort Lee, Virginia, military base left on Wednesday. The latest DHS data indicates over 25,000 Afghans who relocated to the U.S. have left the military bases, while another 45,000 evacuees from Afghanistan remain at temporary housing sites across "seven military installations in Indiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin," Montoya-Galvez notes. Over at Vox, Nicole Narea takes a broad look at not just Afghan resettlement — but "[w]hy Biden is struggling to revive the U.S. refugee program" in the aftermath of the Trump era. Well worth the read. Here is today’s catalog of local stories in support of Afghan refugees:
‘WARM SOUP AND WARM MEALS’ — Tomasz Miskiewicz, the mufti who heads Poland’s Muslim community, is doing his part to help migrants who cross from Belarus find refuge, reports Felix Hoske of Reuters. He is collaborating with "Lipka Tatars in eastern Poland, a group of around 2,000 people who are part of one of the oldest Muslim communities in Europe, " Hoske writes. "Whether a person has the right to stay legally in Poland or not, every person has the right to a roof over their head, to a warm place to stay, to a plate with warm soup and warm meals in general, to decent clothing," Miskiewicz said. In a powerful op-ed for the Guardian, Anna Iasmi Vallianatou, academy fellow of Europe Programme of Chatham House, details how "Europe’s transactional migration policies" have exacted a human price and toll. Meanwhile, for NPR, Marco Storel compiles even more compelling photos of the escalating situation along the Poland-Belarus border, with text by Rob Schmitz.
JAPAN’S MAJOR SHIFT — A justice ministry announced today that Japan is looking to accept "foreigners in certain blue-collar jobs to stay indefinitely starting as early as the 2022 fiscal year," per Reuters. In 2019, a law took effect in Japan that granted visas to a category of "specified skilled workers" in 14 sectors, including farming and nursing — for only five years. This category didn’t apply to all their family members. "If the revision takes effect, such workers — many from Vietnam and China — would be allowed to renew their visas indefinitely and bring their families with them," Reuters reports. "As the shrinking population becomes a more serious problem and if Japan wants to be seen as a good option for overseas workers, it needs to communicate that it has the proper structure in place to welcome them," said Toshihiro Menju, managing director of Japan Center for International Exchange. KENTWOOD WELCOME — Brian McVicar of MLive tells the story of Phauda Kark, a former Nepali refugee, who is the owner of JP International Grocery Store in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He resettled to Kentwood in 2014, southeast of Grand Rapids, and now "spends his days providing customers with a taste of Himalayan food and culture." Kentwood "saw its Asian population climb to 6,119 in 2020, up 90 percent from a decade ago," per new census data — and in part due to an increased arrival of refugees, McVicar adds. "The world has come to Kentwood," said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley. "When you’re out and about in Kentwood, you see the world." Thanks for reading, Ali P.S. For KENS 5, Anastasiya Bolton tells a touching story on how a former unaccompanied teen from Honduras "endured [a journey to the U.S.] and reunited with his mother 10 years later." |
