Wednesday, November 24
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, closed borders, and a recovering
economy, several wealthy nations - including
Germany, Israel, Australia and others - are looking for skilled
immigrants to fill gaps in their labor markets, report Damien
Cave and Christopher F. Schuetze of The New York Times
. 

"Covid's disruptions have pushed many people to retire
, resign
 or
just not return to work," they write. "... By keeping so many people in
place, the pandemic has made humanity's demographic imbalance more
obvious - rapidly aging rich nations produce too few new workers,
while countries with a surplus of young people often lack work for all."
(Our Room to Grow paper
 gets
at this point.) 

Added Jean-Christophe Dumont, head of international migration research
for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):
"Covid is an accelerator of change. Countries have had to realize the
importance of migration and immigrants." The OECD recently published a
paper on the outlook of international migration
 for
2021. 

That change appears slower to come to the U.S., where the focus
is mainly on the U.S.-Mexico border, Cave and Schuetze
note. (Speaking of that focus, The Washington Post's
 Nick Miroff explains
how newly arriving Venezuelan migrants are posing "a border
challenge" for the Biden administration.) 

I hope you have a great, restful Thanksgiving. Among
those I'm thankful for are the immigrant farmworkers who help put
food on our tables at Thanksgiving and all year round. Just in time for
the holiday, a documentary about these workers
is available for free on Vimeo, thanks to Driscoll's
. 

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of
Noorani's Notes. We'll be back Monday. If you have
a story to share from your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected]
. 

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'NOBODY CAN PROTECT YOU' - Per dozens of internal ICE emails,
"the Trump administration aggressively recruited local law enforcement
partners and courted sheriffs who championed similar views on
immigration policy" by trying to expand the controversial 287(g)
program. "[T]he program empowers state and local law enforcement
officers to act with federal authority: questioning, reporting and
detaining undocumented immigrants," reports a team at The Washington
Post
. Partners
in 287(g) and a related program quadrupled between 2017 and
2021, from about 35 to more than 140. "You're living with the grace
of God, constantly worried the cops are going to show up," said a
48-year-old undocumented worker. "It's a constant fear. Nobody can
protect you." For more on 287(g), see this explainer from the Law
Enforcement Immigration Task Force
. 

**TEXAS BORDER POLL** - According to a new Texas poll
, about
half of Texans support Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) handling of
immigration at the border, while only a third say they approve of
Biden's. Dianne Solis of The Dallas Morning News
 reports
that the governor's "get-tough border policies may give him an edge
in his bid for re-election in 2022 and prove a testing ground for a
politico who's also eyeing a White House
run." The numbers illustrate polarization by party and underscore
the need for reforms that protect immigrants and the southern border
alike. 

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ZABI

** **- For CBS News
,
Camilo Montoya-Galvez tells the incredible story of Zabi, now
a 20-year-old college student, who fled Afghanistan when he
was 13. After more than three years in a shelter for migrant
children in Indonesia, Zabi eventually came to the U.S. as a refugee
in 2019, resettling in Michigan. With the fall of Afghanistan, his
family fled to neighboring Pakistan; now Zabi is "imploring the U.S.
to grant his family refuge." He's helped his family register with
the United Nations refugee agency, and recently submitted requests for
his family to secure humanitarian
parole, explains Montoya-Galvez. "His whole life he's had things
happening to him and he's worked so hard to be here and yet other
people are still taking a priority in his life," said Tori Grant,
Zabi's case manager at Bethany Christian Services. "I think that shows
how compassionate he is."  

GOING LOCAL - Before we get to today's local stories: Casey
Smith of the Associated Press
 reports
that federal officials have extended the deadline "to resettle roughly
4,100 Afghan refugees
 who
are still at the Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury training
post more than two months after
 they
arrived there." (And in case you missed it: This NPR piece
 by Marisa Peñaloza and
Joel Rose is worth a look and listen.)    

* Clarkston, Georgia, has a history of welcoming refugees. As it tries
to keep up with large numbers of arriving Afghans, members of
Georgia's Clarkston International Bible Church have planned a
Thanksgiving-week service in five languages, in addition to welcoming
efforts centering around food. (Chris Moody, The Washington Post
) 

* This week in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Resters and Siddiqis,
a military family and Afghan family, "will celebrate Thanksgiving
together - that most American holiday, with its togetherness and
traditions and cornucopia of plenty - as a new family divided by
language but connected by love." (Danielle Dreilinger, The
Fayetteville Observer
)  

* In Sacramento, California, a new initiative called the American
Network of Services for Afghanistan Refugees (ANSAR) will help Afghan
families meet needs including housing and employment. (Chris
Baker, ABC 10
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

P.S. Check out how Wayside Food Programs in Maine "conducted seven
focus groups with 33 community leaders from seven cultures to figure out
how they could serve immigrants better," per Jackie Mundry of News
Center Maine
. 

P.P.S. Apologies to Rochester, Minnesota: Yesterday we identified the
wrong Rochester for John Molseed's Post Bulletin
 article. Several
non-profits in Rochester, Minnesota (not New York), have joined a
community partner program to support Afghan refugees. 

 

 

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