Monday, November 29
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Let's start the week with a look at migration around the world.  

First, some somber news: At least 27 people died after a boat trying
to reach Britain capsized off the coast of France on Wednesday, The
New York Times
 reported. 

Instead of developing solutions to humanely manage migration,
Britain wants to see more enforcement, per The Guardian's
 Jon
Henley. "As soon as [British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson has a
problem," said French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal, "he
considers it is Europe's responsibility to solve it. It doesn't work
like that - it works through cooperation." 

Meanwhile, between Wednesday and Thursday night, the Italian
coastguard "rescued about 300 migrants from an overloaded boat that ran
into difficulty in rough seas in the Mediterranean as they tried to
reach Europe," per Reuters
.  

In 2017, Italy signed an agreement with Libya to detain and push back
migrants crossing the Mediterranean. (An agreement I write about in my
forthcoming book, Crossing Borders
.) The New Yorker's
 Ian
Urbina reports on the cooperation between Italy and Libya, and how it
led to the disappearance of migrants in unofficial Libyan detention
camps.  

And the humanitarian crisis at the Belarus-Poland border
continues, with Belarus and the European Union clashing over the cause
of - and response to - thousands of migrants at the border,
Kacper Pempel and Maria Kiselyova report for Reuters
.  

With these events in mind, Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his
condolences for the migrants who died on their journey trying to reach
Europe in search of a better quality of life, per Channels Television
. 

Some good news: Guy Chazan reports for Financial Times
 that
Germany's new coalition government will seek to "make it easier
for [immigrants] to obtain residence permits and, ultimately, German
citizenship, and smooth the entry of foreign skilled workers into the
German labour market." 

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]
.  

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BALANCE - Colleen Long and Will Weissert at the Associated Press
 ask a pressing
question: "Can Biden find the right balance on
immigration?" Publicly, most Democrats are "unwilling to criticize
their leader on a polarizing topic that has created divisions within the
party," they note - but many are having private conversations
questioning Biden's handling of immigration. "It's hard but
they've got to do it," said Douglas Rivlin of America's Voice.
"They're going to face voters next year ... Biden isn't. And
they have to be clear they're pushing Biden to be the Democratic
president we elected, rather than being scared of the issues because
the politics are difficult."  

IN 'LITTLE KABUL'

** **- For The New York Times
, Michael
D. Shear and Jim Tankersley dive deep into the housing
disparities and employment challenges Afghan refugees are facing in
the U.S. They point to Fremont, California's 'Little
Kabul,' an area once full of job opportunities and an affordable
housing market that is now too expensive for many newcomers and
long-term residents alike. While alternative housing and jobs
are available in areas like Fargo, North Dakota; or
Tulsa, Oklahoma, these communities often lack the cultural support,
services, and large Afghan community found in Little Kabul, Shear
and Tankersley note. "Are we setting [refugees] up to fail there?"
asked lawyer and Afghan refugee Homaira Hosseini of newer resettlement
destinations. "...Or are we setting them up to fail in places where
there aren't any jobs for them, but there is support?"  

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**HOPE** - CNN
's
John Blake tells the story of Zak Khogyani, a pilot and
photographer who volunteered to help with Afghan evacuation
efforts by serving as an interpreter on evacuation flights. "[The
memories] all came rushing back," said Khogyani, whose family fled
Afghanistan when he was nine. "It was harder than I
thought." As Khogyani greeted evacuees, many of them "told me that
they were proud of me," he said, "and that I gave them hope that the
future will be bright." Meanwhile, Kelly Kennedy at WOIO Cleveland
 
tells the story of Ohio veterans Matt Carpenter and Rick Stockburger,
who helped evacuate Afghan refugees amid the Taliban
takeover. (Matt and Rick shared their incredible story on a recent
episode of Only in America
.)  

WELCOME EFFORTS - During an economic summit in Turkmenistan on
Sunday, several leaders of Asian countries "called for boosting
their economic ties and pledged to provide assistance to Afghanistan,"
per Alexander Vershinin of the Associated Press
. In
related news, the final episode of our "Welcoming Afghans" series
on Only in America
, features Nazanin
Ash, CEO of Welcome.us , and Nadia Hashimi, a
member of the coalition's National Welcome Council. Nazanin and
Nadia recounted the story of Welcome.us, a diverse coalition that has
come together to welcome Afghans to the U.S. 

Here's today's collection of local stories: 

* Kiki Nagy, a volunteer at Miry's List
,
hosted a traditional Thanksgiving feast for an Afghan family of
six in Los Angeles. (Natasha Chen, CNN
) 

* Food truck owner Ahmed Aldoori, originally from
Iraq, is providing hot traditional
Afghan meals to refugees arriving to Des Moines, Iowa. (Andrea
May Sahouri, Des Moines Register
) 

* Former U.S. Department of Agriculture adviser Caroline Clarin is
trying to save 12 former employees, all Afghan agricultural
specialists whom she bonded with over a love for farming, from her and
her wife's Minnesota farmhouse. (Julie Watson, Associated Press
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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