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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

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Today, Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Honduras for the
inauguration of Xiomara Castro, the country's first female president,
reports Austin Landis of Spectrum News
. 

The trip will serve as an opportunity "to deepen the United States
relationship with Honduras and as a way for Harris to continue her
diplomatic work to address the root causes of migration toward the
southwest border," per senior administration officials. 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg Government's

Ellen M. Gilmer provides a critical window into the administration's
plans to advance further reforms through regulation. In addition to
strengthening DACA, another proposal would let U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services officers adjudicate asylum claims, "instead of
funneling them to backlogged immigration courts." 

In other news: For a new episode

of Only in America this week, we look at the path forward for those
affected by America's archaic immigration system - and what you can
do to help make changes for immigrants, refugees, and their families in
our communities.  

And yesterday I chatted with Scott Tong of WBUR's Here & Now
 about
President Biden's first year - and why he should engage a larger
coalition of voters when it comes to immigration. 

Welcome to Thursday'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]
.  

[link removed]

INCONSISTENCY - On Wednesday, two medical advisers urged the U.S.
government to expand COVID-19 vaccinations for people in immigration
detention as "infections have surged
 by
over 800% in 2022," according to a whistleblower disclosure obtained by
CBS News
'
Camilo Montoya-Galvez. "In our own inspections of ICE facilities, for
example, we have seen and documented inconsistent enforcement of mask
use in detention centers, inconsistent testing and surveillance, and a
failure to develop facility level infection control plans," doctors
Scott Allen and Josiah Rich wrote in a letter

to the Department of Homeland Security. They also underscored the need
for booster shots, which are not mentioned in ICE's COVID-19
protocols. 

ALLIES WAITING - Hundreds of CIA-trained Afghan counterterrorist squad
members and their families are among the thousands of Afghans still
waiting to be relocated from the United Arab Emirates, reports a team
at The New York Times
.
Many boarded non-American evacuation flights, including charters
operated by the UAE, and were permitted to stay there indefinitely.
Because they are in a safe location, officials explained that the U.S.
is processing them through regular bureaucratic order. This further
delays the resettlement process as Special Immigrant Visa applications,
required medical testing, and vaccinations must be completed, the team
notes. For more on how the U.S.'s "broken immigration bureaucracy" is
impacting Afghan evacuees, see Jasmine Aguilera's piece for TIME
Magazine . 

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OMER'S FAMILY - Omer Farooq was a lecturer at the American
University of Afghanistan before the Taliban took over in
August, reports Adrienne Smith of WSYR-TV
. "I
was 100% sure that I'm going to be killed," he said. With the help of
an American soldier who connected him with the State
Department, he and his family escaped Kabul, hopping from one place
to the next. After some time in Texas, Omer contacted InterFaith Works
of Central New York to help his family resettle in Syracuse.
"We were so thankful that finally after a 5-month journey spending in
tents, in dirt, being in sewage, shouting for help ... When we came
here, we were just like finally ... we have reached our
destination," Omer said. 

Here's today's stories of local welcome: 

* Bethany Christian Services has placed more than 20 Afghan refugee
children in homes across Michigan. They're currently looking for
foster families to permanently house Afghan children and teens in West
Michigan. (Jacqueline Francis, News 8
) 

* Nonprofits like Los Angeles-based Team Rubicon and Minneapolis-based
Alight are spearheading a donation effort in Brooklyn Center to help
Afghan refugees resettle in Minnesota. (Jason Melillo, CCX Media
) 

* Sante Fe residents have supported newly arriving Afghans with
donations and assistance via the nonprofit Lutheran Family Services
Rocky Mountains. Susan Oupadia, a retired doctor who
oversees many of the donations, is also co-sponsoring a refugee
family for a year. (Scott Wyland, Sante Fe New Mexican
) 

FARMWORKERS - In a Forum-hosted press call yesterday, Idaho
Dairymen's Association CEO Rick Naerebout said immigration reform is
needed to "help ease the economic strain on Idaho's dairy farmers,"
Katie Fritz reports for the Idaho Falls Post Register
.
Naerebout noted that while 90% of his association's on-farm workers
are foreign-born, they are ineligible for temporary agricultural work
visas because dairies operate year-round. He also pointed out that the
number of on-farm workers employed in Idaho's diary industry decreased
from 8,000 in 2012 to fewer than 5,000 in 2022 - but during that same
period, the inventory of dairy cows in the state grew by 100,000. "So
we're seeing our industry continue to grow but that work force
shrink," Naerebout said. Advancing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act

of 2021 would be a step in the right direction. 

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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