Tuesday, March 1
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

So many important issues for President Biden to speak to in tonight's
State of the Union address. While immigration might have a lower profile
,
here are a few reasons why the president should prioritize the
issue:  

First, according to our new poll,

a majority of Americans show broad support for immigration reforms that
address the U.S.-Mexico border, Dreamers, and farmworkers. Of 1,044
registered voters, 79% overall support lawmakers working together on key
immigration reforms. Among Republicans, 76% show support for these
efforts, compared to 78% of Independents and 84% of Democrats. 

"Even when sorted by religious affiliation, there is a relatively small
gap in opinions on the urgent need for meaningful immigration reform
that achieves some of the goals of both parties," Baptist News Global
's
Mark Wingfield writes. "On most other social issues today, white
evangelicals remain outliers compared [to] the rest of the nation. Not
so on immigration reform." 

There isn't just broad public support for immigration
reforms - there's a dire need for them.  

Adequately addressing labor shortages, inflation, and our demographic
decline depends on an expanded approach to immigration, as Alana Semuels
writes for Time
.  

"[B]ecause of long-term demographic shifts, the U.S., like many other
countries, simply doesn't have enough workers to make and move all the
things that people want to buy anymore," Semuels writes. "Too many older
people have dropped out of the workforce, never to return, and too few
young people and immigrants are coming to replace them." 

Our new policy paper
,
published yesterday, highlights the role immigration continues to play
in shaping our economy, while also recommending ways immigrant workers
can help fill urgent labor needs. 

In this morning's Des Moines Register
,
Deacon Mark Prosser urges Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to approach
immigration with "a spirit of humility" in her response to the State of
the Union address. "At a tense moment for the world, Reynolds has a rare
and precious opportunity to return us to a more earnest, humane
political conversation - to lead us toward unity, including on
immigration. I hope she takes advantage of it." 

Welcome to Tuesday'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]
.  

**PROTECTING UKRAINIANS** - The support for Ukrainians fleeing
Russia's attacks is remarkable. In addition to European countries
throwing open their doors, "@SenatorDurbin says he and other senators
(likely bipartisan) are sending a letter to the administration soon,
requesting Temporary Protected Status for the roughly 29,500 Ukrainians
who are currently here on U.S. visas," The Washington Post's Seung Min
Kim tweeted
.
But, as The Post's

Anthony Faiola, Rick Noack, and Karla Adam report, the solidarity breaks
"with the continent's past resistance to asylum seekers from the
Muslim world and Africa and embracing hundreds of thousands of new
arrivals whom some leaders are hailing as culturally and ethnically
European." In the light of reports

of migrants from Africa and elsewhere blocked from fleeing Ukraine, I
wonder if the current crisis will open the world's eyes to refugees
fleeing conflict around the world. 

**SOUTH TEXAS** - President Trump's approach to immigration "has
been widely viewed as an appeal to white voters. But similar grievances
have resonated in the Rio Grande Valley in a profound way," reports
Jennifer Medina of The New York Times
.
In this year's midterm elections, "South Texas is the setting for the
only competitive House race in the state, and both parties now consider
Hispanic voters across the country a potentially decisive swing vote,"
she notes. "I want to bring God back into politics," said Pastor Luis
Cabrera of City Church in Harlingen, where he has been hosting
Republican leaders. He estimates that his church is around 96% Hispanic
and 100% Republican.  

**'OUR NEWEST NEIGHBORS'** - Nine hundred Christian leaders have
signed a letter spearheaded by the Evangelical Immigration Table urging
Congress to provide a permanent legal pathway for Afghan evacuees in the
U.S., reports Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global
.
"Without such changes to law, the majority of Afghans whom our
government is resettling using parole authority could end up with a
perpetual 'temporary' status that must be indefinitely renewed, at
significant cost, without the opportunity to apply for permanent status
that would affirm that they fully belong in this country," the letter
reads. Added Matt Zeller of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:
"Veterans have suffered a profound moral injury. We best heal from it by
helping the Afghans who now find themselves as our newest neighbors."
This is why Congress must pass the Afghan Adjustment Act

now. 

In local news: 

* More than 200 people - from city council members to school
representatives to the police chief - hosted a welcome event for
Afghan refugees in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, last weekend. (Will
Bauer, Nebraska Public Media
) 

* In partnership with Catholic Charities, "a myriad of Harrisburg-based
organizations and agencies are drawing together, collaborating to help
relocate Afghan refugees to new homes and services in the area."
(Deborah Lynch, TheBurg
) 

* SLO4Home, a new official partner agency of Church World Service, hopes
to raise $600,000 to help at least 10 Afghan families "connect with
caring people and obtain basic necessities and services" to resettle in
San Luis Obispo County, California. (The Tribune
) 

**2099** - "The government estimates that my family will finally get
our green cards in 2099," writes Shristi Sharma, a Dreamer who grew up
in Fairfield, Iowa, and attends college in North Carolina, in an op-ed
for The Des Moines Register
. Shristi's
parents are originally from India and brought her to the U.S. for better
opportunities when she was only five. Her parents arrived with temporary
work visas and applied for green cards in 2014 - but an outdated quota
system has left them in limbo. "When I turn 21, just two and a half
years from now, I'll no longer qualify for a visa as my parents'
dependent," Shristi writes. "If their green card doesn't come through
by then, I'll be forced to leave the country - even if I haven't
finished my studies."  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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