Tuesday, November 23
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Complicated problems require complex solutions. And our immigration
system is complicated.  

In Foreign Affairs,
 two of
the smartest people in the field, Muzaffar Chishti and
Doris M. Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute, take a deep
dive into the problems and solutions along the border. They lay out a
range of "complex, long-term initiatives" that build "strategies that
enable migration to be safe, legal, and orderly." 

Welcome to Tuesday'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]
. 

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WAITING GAME - Yesterday we highlighted how long some
Afghan evacuees have been temporarily living at Holloman Air Force
Base in New Mexico, per Abigail Hauslohner of The Washington Post
. Jessica
Donati of The Wall Street Journal
 reports on the
wait times elsewhere: Thousands of evacuees "could be stranded in
other countries for years because of backlogs in the U.S. refugee
system," per U.S. officials and refugee organizations. To help with
relocation efforts and overcrowding at U.S. military bases, "[m]any
governments across Africa, Europe and South America agreed to open their
doors on a temporary basis to Afghans evacuated by private groups, such
as those composed of veterans or nonprofit organizations." But because
these groups conducted their evacuations separate from the
U.S. military, it's unclear how long these evacuees would have to
wait abroad before resettling in America if they're eligible,
Donati notes.  

Here is today's compilation of local stories: 

* Fargo, North Dakota-area employers like glass window manufacturing
plant Cardinal I-G "are jumping at the opportunity to partner with the
refugees and fill thousands of job openings in the state." (Madison
Quinn, KFGO ) 

* Up in Lewiston, Maine, the support has been "overwhelming with
people donating clothing, food and other items" in anticipation
of 50-100 Afghans arriving in the next few months. (WGME
) 

* In Dallas and several other major cities, Church World
Service's Afghan Placement and Assistance program "aims to help
refugees who are staying in temporary Airbnb housing transition into
permanent homes, as well helping them navigate a new life in the U.S."
(Alex Gonzalez, Dallas Observer
) 

* Several non-profits in Rochester, New York, have
joined a community partner program that "pair[s] religious and
nonprofit organizations with incoming refugee and new arrival
families." (John Molseed, Post Bulletin
) 

JOURNEY BY SEA - For The Washington Post
, Widlore Mérancourt and Paulina
Villegas chronicle the journey of four dozen Haitian men, women and
children who tried to reach the U.S. by boat in September - but
got lost. They ended up in the Bahamas, where some say they were
treated inhumanely while detained for nearly a week before being
returned to Haiti. "As of October, the U.S. Coast Guard had intercepted
over 1,500 Haitians at sea in the previous 12 months - three times the
number seen in 2020 and the highest on record in at least five years,"
note Mérancourt and Villegas. Despite the dangers of traveling by
sea, many Haitians see no other option: "I have no country because
there is nothing for me here," said Jeff Pierre. "If I hear of another
trip by boat tonight, I am leaving Haiti." Meanwhile, Reuters
 reports
that Haiti opened a consulate in Tapachula, Mexico, Friday "in a bid
to help manage migration." 

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**BRIAN BUKLE** - Brian Bukle, 61, "filed a lawsuit alleging the
U.S. government Monday held him for more than a month in immigration
detention even though he was a U.S. citizen," per the Associated Press
. Bukle was
born in the British Virgin Islands and became a U.S. citizen
at age nine - but after serving a prison sentence in California,
he was transferred to U.S. immigration authorities in June 2020, the
AP notes. "After I served my sentence, I thought I would be going home
to see my son for Father's Day," Bukle said. "Instead, I came this
close to being deported and losing everything, a nightmare that has
stayed with me to this day." Bukle's suit "raises questions about
the reliability of databases used by U.S. officials to determine whether
someone can be deported from the country," especially for people who
derived citizenship as children from their naturalized parents, the
AP notes. 

'THEY JUST DON'T CARE' - In a column for The Washington
Post
,
Catherine Rampell makes the case for "the missing immigrant workers"
- those who have lost their jobs in essential industries due to
their work visas expiring. When Helen Muradyan, a second-year
resident physician originally from Armenia working at a California
community hospital, renewed her visa in 2019, the process only took
two or three months. In April of this year, Muradyan submitted her
renewal application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) - and heard almost nothing for months. When her work
permit expired in October, Muradyan had no choice but to stop working at
a hospital already struggling with staffing shortages. Currently,
renewal applications like Muradyan's can take up to 9.5 to 11
months to process, Rampell notes. The delays
have impacted Muradyan's residency program and threatened
her livelihood - and she's not alone. "It doesn't
make sense, that if someone really wants to work, they can't go back
to work because of these delays," Muradyan said. "It's like they just
don't care." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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