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This story is incredible. In just three days, Harvard students Avi Schiffmann and Marco Burstein launched Ukraine Take Shelter to help Ukrainians connect with host families offering refuge, reports Alaa Elassar of CNN. After launching March 3, within a week more than 4,000 people listed their homes to support Ukrainian refugees in need. "For me, I’m behind a computer across the world, which is what I’m good at, but it’s very disconnected sometimes," Schiffmann said. "To see so many people from countries in every corner of the world doing something to help these refugees, who need and deserve safety, is really inspiring." There are currently over one million users on the platform, which now includes over 25,000 listings, notes Elassar. For another remarkable story, see Jeff Gammage’s piece on New Jersey resident Dharmik Sheth, who dropped everything to go to Poland and support Ukrainian refugees. Over in Europe, Liz Alderman and Patricia Cohen of The New York Times report that Ukrainian refugees are being offered fast-track access to protection and employment — which is "happening with a speed and scope that is rare for the European Union." I hope the U.S. can work on a similar approach for Ukrainians and other displaced people around the world soon. For MSNBC, Lauren Leader of All In Together and Michelle Nunn of Care wrote a powerful op-ed on how Ukrainian women are the face of the current refugee crisis. Putting a finer point on the level of support for refugees, The New York Times published letters to the editor urging the U.S. to let more Ukrainians in. Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Don’t miss our latest statement on Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Illinois) recent response to the need for immigration reforms. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. And if you know others who’d like to receive the Notes, please spread the word. They can subscribe here. MPP DATA — Per Homeland Security data, Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) a.k.a. "Remain in Mexico" enrollments more than doubled in February to 897, compared to 399 in January, reports Julian Resendiz of Border Report. Still, the number of migrants expelled to Mexico to await asylum hearings are "nowhere near Trump-era program volumes," Resendiz notes. "By contrast, nearly 3,000 foreign nationals were placed in ‘Remain in Mexico’ during the first two full months of the program in 2019 in El Paso alone." Meanwhile, on Monday former Obama appointees including Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson urged the Supreme Court to end the policy, per Law360’s Max Jaeger. ‘TRYING TO GET REELECTED’ — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has falsely touted the success of his border crackdown, dubbed Operation Lone Star (OLS), report Lomi Kriel and Perla Trevizo of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, in partnership with Andrew Rodriguez Calderón and Keri Blakinger of The Marshall Project. Abbott’s claim of success "has been based on shifting metrics that included crimes with no connection to the border, work conducted by troopers stationed in targeted counties prior to the operation, and arrest and drug seizure efforts that do not clearly distinguish [the Department of Public Safety’s] role from that of other agencies," per their investigation. Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Featherston, a Texas Army National Guard veteran who helped oversee deployment to the border under OLS until his retirement in November, said he recalls commanders saying things like, "We’re going back to the border, the governor is trying to get reelected." ROHINGYA REFUGEES — On Monday, the U.S. called the violent repression of Rohingya refugees, the largely Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar, a genocide. The more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh welcomed the determination, Julhas Alam reports for the Associated Press. "It has been 60 years starting from 1962 that the Myanmar government has been torturing us and many other communities including Rohingya," said Sala Uddin, who lives in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong camp. While the declaration is a step in the right direction, it’s premature to tell if the development will "ensure the recognition of the Rohingya refugees, who have long been denied citizenship in Myanmar," said Imtiaz Ahmed, director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka. AFGHANS LEFT BEHIND — Rachel Martin of NPR News recently spoke to "Khan," a former Afghan interpreter still stuck in the country, and Matt Zeller, a U.S. veteran who is still working to evacuate Afghan allies like him. Khan had originally applied for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) in 2014. It took six years for Khan to get through the mountain of paperwork after applying for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) — but he never got his visa or a call from the government to leave, underscoring the bureaucratic red tape of the system. "I heard nothing … That makes you feel you will be shot and dead every day you’re living in Kandahar, where all the Taliban’s around you. That makes you feel you have no hope," said Khan. ICYMI: The Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe profiles Afghanistan’s last finance minister, Khalid Payenda, who is now an Uber driver in the D.C. area. Meanwhile, on local welcome:
Thanks for reading, Ali |
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