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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

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A new Wall Street Journal

editorial points out something not often mentioned regarding the
situation in Ukraine: "A Russian invasion of Ukraine would have
devastating humanitarian consequences, and one of them might be another
refugee crisis in Europe. Let's hope the Continent does better this
time."  

The largest number would flow into Poland - which, remember, was the
subject of a manufactured refugee crisis late last year. In an effort to
exert political leverage, Belarus' President Alexander
Lukashenko "created an artificial emergency by pushing [mostly Middle
Eastern and African] migrants across EU borders." The European Union
supported Polish efforts to push back.  

In this case, the numbers of refugees would be larger, but it's "no
surprise" that Poland is taking a different approach with
Ukraine. There are already more than a million Ukrainians in Poland,
more than 300,000 hold residence permits, and most are under 40. In
other worlds, "Migration has been a boon for the Polish economy." 

By all means, Poland and the EU should welcome Ukrainians fleeing war,
should it come to that. But the EU should also welcome those who are
fleeing other wars, even if they take place in lands off the Continent.
 

Welcome to Monday'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]

MPP DIFFERENCES - There are important distinctions between the use of
Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a.k.a. 'Remain in
Mexico,' under the Biden and Trump administrations, report Nick
Miroff and Arelis R. Hernández of The Washington Post
.
"The Biden administration has re-implemented the program with a narrow
scope and none of the zeal demonstrated by Trump officials," they write.
The biggest difference is the scale of the program: The Biden
administration "has sent back about 410 MPP enrollees, according to the
latest U.N. figures, equivalent to about seven asylum seekers per day
border wide, compared with 300 to 400 returned daily in summer 2019." 

EVACUATION HURDLES - As the U.S. looks to ramp up evacuation efforts
for Afghan allies still in Afghanistan, they face a lack of flights and
the need for a new U.S. reception center, report Jonathan Landay and Ted
Hesson of Reuters
.
They're also running up against challenges securing passports and
affordable housing. "We want to see enough resources applied to these
issues so that even if one area fails or falters for a moment, there are
options to make sure the pipeline isn't cut off," said Navy veteran
Shawn VanDiver, president of the #AfghanEvac coalition of advocacy
groups. For Afghans already in the U.S., there's also a need for pro
bono asylum representation for evacuees who don't qualify for Special
Immigrant Visas (SIVs) or humanitarian parole, reports Marco Poggio of
Law360
.
This is why we need an Afghan Adjustment Act

now. 

On the local welcome front (including this great op-ed from members of
Welcome.US for USA Today
): 

* Wolffork Baptist Church in Rabun Gap, Georgia, "joined about 50 other
congregations in the state to collect items and funds for welcome kits"
for Afghan evacuees. (Scott Barkley, Baptist Press
) 

* In Fort Collins, Colorado, Plymouth United Church of Christ and Heart
of the Rockies Christian Church spearheaded efforts to gather almost two
dozen volunteers for Afghan resettlement training with Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Services. (Carol Fouke-Mpoyo, United Church of
Christ
) 

* Jason Lief, an associate professor of Biblical and Theological Studies
at Northwestern College (and one of our mobilizers) is hosting a
conversation about supporting Afghan refugees in Sioux City, Iowa, at 7
p.m. CT today. If you're in the area, don't forget to check it out.
(Eventbrite
) 

[link removed]

COMPETES ACT - In a 222 to 210 vote (with support from one
Republican), the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES
Act last week. As Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for
American Policy writes in Forbes
,
this new bill includes more immigration measures for foreign-born STEM
students in the U.S. The expansion would also create a temporary visa
for entrepreneurs who qualify, exempt STEM PhDs from annual green card
limits, and provide immigration and human rights protection for
persecuted Uyghurs and Hong Kongers. The bill now needs to overcome
three challenges in the Senate, Anderson writes, including obtaining the
required 6o votes to overcome a filibuster. For the Council on National
Security and Immigration's take, see their statement here
. 

ROOM TO GROW - 2021 marked the slowest population growth in U.S.
history - and what growth there was remains mostly driven
by immigration, Miriam Jordan and Robert Gebeloff report for The New
York Times
.
"The movement of the baby boom generation out of the labor force amid a
plummeting birthrate has put into sharper relief the need to reverse the
decline in new immigration," they note, adding that the current labor
shortage is heightening calls for immigrant workers, especially in the
restaurant service and nursing industry. As we've noted
, America
has room to grow. And in a column for Bloomberg Opinion
,
Adrian Wooldridge lays out the enormity of the challenge and the
opportunity for immigration reforms to help fix the system. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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