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More Syrians are leaving their homes in search of a better life, "even though the 10-year-old civil war has wound down and conflict lines have been frozen for years," report Sarah El Deeb and Christoph Noelting of the Associated Press.
"They are fleeing not from the war’s horrors, which drove hundreds of thousands to Europe in the massive wave of 2015, but from the misery of the war’s aftermath," including severe poverty, corruption and a "wrecked infrastructure," they note.
More than 78,000 Syrians have applied for asylum in the European Union this year — a 70% increase from last year, per EU data.
Meanwhile, John Leicester of the Associated Press writes how a network of hundreds of volunteers working along the Italy-France border are providing welcome, comfort and shelter to
migrants making the trek up the freezing Alps.
Since around 2016, volunteers have come "[a]rmed with thermoses of hot tea and the belief that their own humanity would be diminished if they left pregnant women, children and men young and old to fend for themselves," writes Leicester.
"... In the Alps, on both sides of the border, the approach is essentially humanist and humanitarian, grounded in local traditions of not leaving people alone against the elements."
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes, our last edition for 2021. A big thank you to the NN team for all their hard work (support them here). Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. And, of course, if you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. See you in January!
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U.S. POPULATION — The U.S. population grew by only
0.1 % this year — a record low — due to the COVID-19
pandemic, per Census Bureau data published Tuesday. Another record: "It was the first year in which growth from births exceeding deaths fell below net arrivals from abroad, according to the bureau," report Paul Overberg and Janet Adamy of The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. recorded 148,000 more births than deaths, while net migration to the country grew by 245,000. For more context, see the breakdown from Luke Rogers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch. Meanwhile, NPR’s Joel Rose reports that pandemic restrictions and Trump-era cuts also contributed to the more than 1 million immigrant workers missing from the workforce this
year.
‘WE URGE YOU’ — The Biden administration "has issued dozens of denials" to Afghans seeking safety in the U.S. — and while the total number of denials is still small, "advocates fear they represent a
larger trend," reports Andrea Castillo for the Los Angeles Times. "Tragically, tens of thousands of Afghans and their families now face persecution and death threats from the Taliban, as well as threatened deportation back to Afghanistan for those who made it to third countries," wrote a coalition of 55 lawmakers in a letter to USCIS on Monday. "We urge you to ensure that all vulnerable Afghans, including those in third countries and those still stranded in Afghanistan, are paroled into the
United States and not left to languish in legal limbo."
Meanwhile, local communities continue to welcome and support Afghan refugees:
- Minnesota-based Alight, formerly known as the American Refugee Committee, is preparing to resettle some of the 250 Afghan families moving to Minnesota from military bases this January. (Learfield Wire Service)
- In less than one week, community volunteers in Charlotte, North Carolina, "worked to collect donations — thousands of dollars of groceries, boxes full of PediaSure, Ensure, multivitamins, and other essential items added to Amazon and Walmart wish lists" for Afghan refugees in need. (Briana Harper, WCNC)
CENTRO DE ESPERANZA — The nonprofit Centro de Esperanza recently opened its doors as a new migrant resource center in the Mexican border town of Sonoyta, reports Clara Migoya of the Arizona Republic. With support from U.S. donors, the resource center will provide migrants "two meals a day, clothing, basic medical attention, legal information, entertainment and education for children," as well as provide temporary shelter for about 10 people in urgent need. "We all migrate from one place to another.
When I was in San Luis Rio Colorado, they gave me a hand when I had nothing to eat," said Sonoyta municipal president Luis Enrique Valdez. "Those are things that teach you how to lend a hand."
A MEXICAN CHRISTMAS — For The Lily, Betty Chavarria
gives an intimate perspective on how she’s keeping her Mexican traditions alive this Christmas with her two-year-old daughter, Sofía. As they spend Christmas away from her mother, Betty writes she’s re-creating family traditions both for her daughter’s sake and to be transported to her own childhood. With illustrations by Jennifer Dahbura, the piece is a "road map" for a Mexican Christmas, from a
recipe for tamales de rajas to a playlist of classic holiday songs and more. I’m making the tamales.
Thanks for reading,
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