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Let’s start with something cool. For months now, we have been including a few articles everyday highlighting stories of Americans welcoming Afghans to communities across the country. The team put together an interactive map of these stories, offering a picture of the remarkable work across the country (and beyond). If you like it, do me a solid and share with your friends.
New research from the National Foundation for American Policy reveals that issuing fewer immigrant visas amid the COVID-19 pandemic did not help the U.S. economy improve or grow, NFAP Executive Director Stuart Anderson writes in .
"There is also no evidence of faster employment growth or lower unemployment rates for college graduate U.S. natives as a result of decreased admissions via the H-1B program," writes University of North Florida economics professor Madeline Zavodny in the report. "Instead, labor markets that had been more reliant on temporary foreign workers via the H-1B program before the pandemic appeared to have had more unfilled jobs during the pandemic."
The news comes as some stakeholders have argued against the Biden administration increasing the number of H-2B visas by 20,000, "even though such visas help reduce illegal entry and prevent at least some of the dangerous border crossings," Anderson notes.
Today marks one year since our Room to Grow paper was published (and covered by The New York Times and Axios). The case is clear: We need to increase levels of immigration to address both demographic decline and labor shortages. The situation is only going to get worse.
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].
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BORDERS — Twelve migrants froze to death on the shared border between Greece and Turkey on
Wednesday, per several Turkish officials, report Carlotta Gall and Safak Timur of The New York Times. "For more than a year, Greece has been taking tougher measures to keep migrants out. It built a fence and policed the land border, forcing migrants who came from Turkey back across the river," they note. Over in the U.S., Matt Shuham of Talking Points Memo reports that the National Butterfly Center at the southern border is shutting down for the "immediate future" after being targeted for right-wing conspiracy theories resulting in a physical altercation. Somewhat related: The nomination of Texas sheriff Ed Gonzalez, also an LEITF member, to lead ICE has advanced out of Senate committee for a second time "despite GOP objection," per Geneva Sands of CNN. Also, here’s a great story about the need to build trust between law
enforcement and immigrant communities.
PRESSURE ON DESANTIS GROWS — Internal documents between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and President Biden show an ongoing debate "over whether migrant children who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border alone should be cared for by shelters in Florida, as they have been since 2005," reports Priscilla Alvarez for CNN. "Historically, when we’ve talked about children, there’s been nonpartisan agreement that children deserve protection," said Lisette Burton, chief policy and practice adviser at the Association of Children’s Residential & Community services. "I haven’t seen before a time where really vulnerable children have been put at the center of political arguments in this way." Echoing this point, Women of Welcome Director Bri Stensrud told World Magazine’s Addie Michaelian that the order is "forcing [foster facilities] to choose between vulnerable kids." For more on this shelter rule, see our press statement.
FAILED EVACUATION — A new report released today by the Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says a lack of planning by the Biden administration resulted in "a botched withdrawal that left hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan partners behind," reports Dan De Luce of NBC News. "The United States will have to deal with the fallout of this failure for years to come," said Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking Republican on the Committee. "With the Taliban hunting down those who had assisted the United States, State should have planned to relocate a sizable amount of these people," per the report. All the recent news about the Afghan evacuation led me to write
about our circles of empathy.
SPONSOR CIRCLES — In a Q&A For Christianity Today, Wheaton College’s Kent Annan speaks with Danielle Grigsby of the new Community Sponsorship Hub to explain
how sponsor circles play into Afghan resettlement efforts. "No matter where people are in the United States, they can welcome a newcomer to their community and provide them with the practical support they need to get settled by serving as a certified sponsor circle," Grigsby says, noting that sponsors help with tasks from finding
initial housing to enrolling children in school.
Today’s local welcome efforts include:
- For the holidays, Larry and Trudy Rankin of Lakeland, Florida, spent 10 days volunteering their time to help with Afghan resettlement as part of a welcoming effort by El Calvario United Methodist Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico. "The couple’s tasks included ferrying the refugees around in a van — taking them shopping and to the park and, on one occasion, searching for a phone repair shop after a toddler dunked her parents’ cell phone in a toilet." (Gary White, The Lakeland Ledger)
- The first Afghan refugee family recently resettled in Bennington County, Vermont. Now, the Ethiopian Community Development Council’s Multicultural Community Center, in collaboration with Bennington County Open Arms and other volunteers, are working to help secure housing for the 100 additional families expected to arrive by the end of February. (Jim Therrien, Bennington Banner)
- Bethany Christian Services in West Michigan is hosting a virtual webinar next Tuesday to spread awareness about the "dire need" for Afghan refugees to find foster homes. West Michigan couple Silas and Coryn Mittelstaedt are fostering a 12-year-old boy: "…our foster son, he likes to tinker and
build things and it’s just great to see a kid start being a kid again." (13 On Your Side)
Don’t forget to check out our latest episode of Only in America, featuring Casey Verderosa from Ithaca Welcomes Refugees explaining how Ithaca, New York, became a hub of welcome for immigrants and refugees.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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