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The Biden administration is planning to roll out an expedited resettlement process to potentially bring thousands of Afghan refugees from Qatar to the U.S., report Stef W. Kight and Jonathan Swan of Axios.
This accelerated process "would allow Afghans to be screened, vetted, approved for refugee status and placed on planes to the United States within 30 days of their arrival at the military site in Qatar being used to house them." The resettlement process typically takes two to five years.
The benefit of an expedited U.S. Refugee Admissions Program process in Qatar is that it "would immediately put Afghans on a pathway to green cards," they add, unlike the lengthy process to obtain a path to permanent status via humanitarian parole.
Also, this morning at 11:30 Eastern, I’m moderating a press conference on immigration and the economy, featuring Idaho Dairymen’s Association CEO Rick Naerebout, Professors Stephen Yale-Loehr of Cornell and Tony Payan of Rice University, and LIBRE Initiative President Daniel Garza.
Interested media may contact Audrey Garden for registration details. (Tell Audrey I sent you.)
Welcome to Wednesday’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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THE SCRAMBLE — More than 76,000 Afghan refugees have arrived across the U.S., but resettlement agencies and nonprofit organizations "have struggled to keep up, leaving many families and individuals in a state of limbo," Charlotte Lawson and Harvest Prude report for The Dispatch. As of Monday, some 11,000 Afghan arrivals temporarily remained at five military installations, a Pentagon official told The Dispatch. Another wrinkle in this resettlement process: The government has granted different statuses to Afghan arrivals, impacting the benefits they can receive. (Think Special Immigrant Visa recipient vs. those granted Priority 2 status).
THE MOHIB FAMILY — After a harrowing escape from Kabul, and lodging at a hotel for over a month, the Mohib family has secured apartments in McLean, Virginia, reports H. J. Mai of NPR News. Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) helped the family secure housing, and the nonprofit KindWorks helped them furnish their apartments. "I’m glad they can grow up here and have a good life," said former prominent Afghan judge, Kamila Noori, of her children and grandchildren’s new lives in Virginia. "We already had our life."
Here are today’s stories of local welcome:
- "People like Mohibullah and his brothers and sisters are filled with gratitude," says Clayton Naff, executive director of Lincoln Literacy in Nebraska, a nonprofit which is helping resettled Afghans adjust. "They bring great vitality to our community, just as refugees and immigrants before them. I am fully confident we will be better off for having welcomed refugees to Lincoln." (Mary Kay Roth, L Magazine/Lincoln Journal Star)
- The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma is feeding 300 Afghan refugees weekly. "It becomes a sense of safety and love," said Jeff Marlow, who is with the organization. (Sawyer Buccy, News On 6)
- In partnership with World Relief Fox Valley’s Good Neighbor Teams, 14 members of Christ the King Lutheran Church have helped refugees in Wisconsin "with things like furnishing homes, driving to appointments, setting up internet, communicating with neighbors and adjusting to life in an unfamiliar place." (Kelli Arseneau, Appleton Post-Crescent)
- Oasis International, a St. Louis-area ministry, has helped to resettle 450-500 Afghan refugees as part of their Good Neighbor Initiative. In collaboration with Missouri Baptist churches, "[t]he ministry gave 25-plus new cars to new Afghan refugees, signed 18 Afghan women up for English classes, gave tens of thousands of dollars in grocery gift cards to refugees, and celebrated 10-plus baby showers for Afghan families…" (Ben Hawkins, The Pathway)
UNACCOMPANIED MINORS — In an op-ed for , Archbishop of Miami and Metropolitan of the Province of Miami Thomas Wenski draws parallels between the unaccompanied migrant children of today and Cuban children seeking refuge 60 years ago. Under Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s, he points out, more than 14,000 unaccompanied minors were resettled in the U.S. "Their contributions to America show that magnanimity rather than mean-spiritedness is a ‘best practice’ in resolving immigration challenges." Now, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) attempts to cut all federal programs in the state serving unaccompanied immigrant children, Wenski writes that the governor’s recent order and accompanying proposed legislation "would hurt vulnerable populations but also would end up hurting the citizens of Florida."
HEALTH WORKERS — Wealthy nations such as the U.S. and Canada are luring healthcare workers from developing nations to address shortages, Stephanie Nolen reports in The New York Times. In the U.S. alone, about 1,000 nurses from African nations, the Philippines and the Caribbean are arriving each month. The practice has caused shifts in migration and raises ethical questions, Nolen notes: "The high, high risk is that you are recruiting nurses from countries that can least afford to lose their nurses," said Howard Catton, chief executive of the International Council of Nurses.
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