|
‘NEW NORMAL’ — A shortage of immigrants is contributing to the "remarkable imbalance" between the number of available jobs and available workers, The Economist reports. Giovanni Peri and Reem Zaiour of the University of California, Davis, note that pre-COVID trends pointed toward 2 million more working-age immigrants than we have in the U.S. today, and their absence is hurting industries across the spectrum. The bottom line? "[T]he extreme tightness today will have offered a glimpse into the future as ageing depletes the pool of potential workers. ... Getting by with less help will be the new normal." Barring, you know, smarter legal-immigration policy. FLORIDA — The Sunshine State’s latest effort to scapegoat unaccompanied migrant children has passed the state’s Judiciary Committee on a party line vote. The bill would "prohibit any government agency, state or local, from doing business with any airline, bus or other transportation company paid by the federal government to bring immigrants who are in the country illegally to Florida," per Brendan Farrington of the Associated Press. Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky pointed out that most immigrants being brought to Florida are children, and the bill "would prevent
children from being united with their families or resettled with a sponsor." Yesterday, I had some thoughts about Florida Man.
VETTING — Forum Board Member Elizabeth Neumann is out with a new paper for the National Foundation for American Policy examining the security vetting of refugees. Based on her years of experience and detailed analysis, Neumann concludes that "these procedures provide adequate security for the United States to welcome refugees without fear of a terrorist attack." But she adds an important level of nuance to what needs to be done moving forward: "The goal is not zero risk, the goal is a strong and
continually improving layered set of defenses." And something we don’t talk about a lot: "We need to significantly strengthen and rapidly scale local prevention capabilities to intervene with individuals vulnerable to being radicalized to violence."
THANKFUL — "Everything is OK now," 32-year-old Massoud Ahmad Vighagh said after being one of the last Afghan evacuees to be resettled from Indiana’s Camp Atterbury. Rashika Jaipuriar tells Vighagh’s story in the Indianapolis Star as resettlement operations at the base wind down. "Something very profound happened here on Hoosier soil," Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said of the efforts at Camp Atterbury. "This truly was one of Indiana's finest hours." [Holcomb also tweeted Monday, "To our newest Hoosiers who are beginning their new lives here, welcome home."] Don’t miss the Star’s gallery of the mural at that base, which evacuees helped create. Per CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, "As of Monday, there are ~11,000 Afghan evacuees on domestic military bases, per DHS. Officials previously said the admin expects to move all Afghans off the domestic bases by mid-February. More than 63,000 Afghans have been resettled as part of Operation Allies Welcome. Elsewhere on the local-welcome front:
TREASURES — A reminder that refugees are real people who lead meaningful lives. Refugees in a makeshift camp in France, hoping to make it to England, are turning to storytelling for a measure of comfort, Alexander Durie reports in Al Jazeera. Durie spoke to refugees about their treasured objects. For Haven, age, 10, it’s her scooter. Hide, 30, treasures a photo of him working as an ambulance driver before he fled: "It makes me happy because it reminds me how I helped many people." Senzai, from Afghanistan, says of his Afghan flag necklace: "This necklace [is] so important to me because in Afghanistan we’ve given so many lives because of it, and now the Taliban don’t accept it. This flag is all of my heart." Thanks for reading, Ali |
