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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

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Last year Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered the state's Department
of Children and Families not to renew the licenses of shelters that care
for unaccompanied migrant children. Evangelical Christians and others
are asking him to reconsider, Katie LaGrone reports for Scripps News
Service
. 

"Vulnerable children, regardless of where they are born, have the right
and inherent dignity to receive love and care," a letter signed by over
200 faith leaders reads. "Florida should not be the one saying there is
no room at the inn." 

In the words of Joel Tooley, a pastor in Melbourne and Evangelical
Immigration Table mobilizer: "I know the governor has a history of being
a man of faith, and I'm trusting that our Catholic, Jewish, Christian,
Hindu and Muslim communities will have some influence on his decision,
and we'll see him act accordingly for the children in our society that
we've been entrusted with." (Tooley also has a new op-ed on the subject
in Sunday's Florida Today
.) 

The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, President of the National Latino Evangelical
Coalition, told Senait Gebregiorgis of WESH2
,
"Part of our love of neighbor and responsibility to vulnerable
communities is helping unaccompanied children be integrated and
connected with their families here." 

Will any of this lead DeSantis to change his mind? Will conservative
voters turn away from DeSantis and his ilk because of their treatment of
immigrant youth? Hard to say. But the need for a different approach on
immigration is clear.  

Welcome to Monday's edition of Noorani's Notes. Deepest
condolences to Bills fans. But whoof, what a game. If you have a story
to share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected] .

[link removed]

**WORKFORCE** - The idea that immigrants and refugees are part of the
solution to labor shortages isn't just abstract. In Iowa, La Luz
Centro Cultural and Genesis Youth Foundation
, organizations that serve
immigrants and refugees, are launching programs to help address the
state's worker shortage, Kassidy Arena of Iowa Public Radio

reports. "It's about education and empowerment," said La Luz Director
Claudia Rivera. "...We want to make sure that we have quality employees
and our jobs are being filled." Meanwhile, Dianne Solis reports for the
Dallas Morning News
,
"[l]abor shortages are rippling through the service and construction
industries, pushing up wages even among unauthorized immigrant
workers." 

**'THERE'S LESS FEAR'** - In January 2021, newly elected
Democratic sheriffs in Georgia's Gwinnett and Cobb counties ended
participation in 287(g), a federal program that "deputized local law
enforcement to act as immigration agents" on behalf of U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ending the partnership has "[ushered] in
an era of stability for the undocumented population living in or
transiting through metro Atlanta," writes the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution's

Lautaro Grinspan. Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens says his department
has noticed "much better communication with the Hispanic community."
Which means much safer communities for all.

[link removed]

**LIFELINE LIMITED** - The federal government has been unresponsive
for months to appeals from particularly vulnerable asylum-seekers,
Adolfo Flores reports for BuzzFeed News
.
Cases include people in need of medical help, among others, whose
petitions for humanitarian parole - "one of the few lifelines
asylum-seekers have" - are going unanswered. In the meantime, they are
stuck in Mexican border cities and at risk of extortion, kidnapping or
assault. "We really are only submitting the most at-risk, the most
vulnerable cases whose lives are threatened if they don't receive safety
in the US," said Chelsea Sachau, an attorney with the Florence Immigrant
& Refugee Rights Project. 

**EVACUEES **- Michelle Hackman at The Wall Street Journal

has the latest on Afghan evacuees' vetting process, relocation and
assistance. By the numbers, more than four-fifths of Afghan evacuees
brought to the U.S. have been moved off military bases and into
communities. But they remain "in a sort of legal limbo" in terms of
their status, as they were brought here on "temporary humanitarian
grounds." (This is why we need an Afghan Adjustment Act
.)
 

Meanwhile, locally: 

* Team Rubicon is organizing a million donated items in Milwaukee, from
sofas to shoes, that await Afghan evacuees being resettled in Wisconsin.
(Bret Lemoine, Fox 6
)  

* A group of mosques and Islamic centers in the Albany, New York, area
have banded together to help welcome 300-plus Afghan evacuees who have
arrived since September, and "[a]rea residents of many faiths have come
forward to help." (Azra Haqqie, The Times Union
) 

* As the International Institute of New England has worked to resettle
427 Afghans, three large evacuee families have found temporary homes at
one of two churches in Newburyport, Massachusetts. "People really
stepped up in our community, which was great to see," said the Rev.
Jarred Mercer, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. (Heather
Alterisio, The Daily News
) 

**'KAFKAESQUE'** - If you thought federal bureaucracy was bad,
wait until you read this: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
operates "almost entirely on pen and paper." This means some 80 million
files are stored in various facilities, including the underground
Federal Records Center in Kansas City, The Wall Street Journal's

Michelle Hackman reports. Since these facilities have closed or severely
limited access amid COVID-19, citizenship application backlogs have
increased. "This situation has turned into a Kafkaesque bureaucratic
immigration nightmare, and the applicants deserve better," said Susan
Cohen, an immigration attorney with Mintz Levin and author of Journeys
from There to Here: Stories of Immigrant Trials, Triumphs, and
Contributions.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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