Formerly Noorani's Notes
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

THE FORUM DAILY

 

To our readers: We'd love your feedback on The Forum Daily (formerly
Noorani's Notes) via this survey
, which will be open through April
22. Thank you! 

I'm still at the Forum a bit longer. But since this newsletter has
always been a team effort (and it's a fantastic team) to curate the
day's news and reflect the Forum's perspective, we wanted to go
ahead and update the name now. Share
The Forum Daily
with your colleagues today.  

On to the news... 

With the U.S. committing to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
but no direct resettlement or visa routes, a growing number of
Ukrainians are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana "hoping for
new lives or temporary respite in North America," Kevin Sieff reports
for The Washington Post
. 

A list of Ukrainians seeking to enter the U.S., where they would be
granted humanitarian parole for one year, "is kept on a yellow legal pad
on a folding table inside a blue camping tent, a few feet away from the
multilane highway that connects Mexico to the United States" and is
"written in English and Cyrillic by volunteers, many refugees
themselves, waiting for their own numbers to be called." A small
encampment has now formed in Tijuana.  

"They said it could be two or three days," said sunflower farmer
Valentina Shymanservska, No. 884. Added home renovator Maxim Polosov,
No. 363, "I can't believe we're still waiting." 

(You'd think that by now our immigration and asylum system would be
more sophisticated than a legal pad.) 

Meanwhile, religious groups and pastors across the country are
mobilizing to support Ukrainian refugees, report Deepa Bharath and Luis
Andres Henao of the Associated Press
:
"In Southern California, pastors and lay individuals are stationing
themselves at the Mexico border waving Ukrainian flags and offering
food, water and prayer. Around the country, other religious groups are
getting ready to provide longer-term support for refugees who will have
to find housing, work, health care and schooling." 

On the local front, Kyle Dunphey of Deseret News

profiles Eva, a teen who fled Ukraine with her family and is now
"helping streamline the complex process many Ukrainians will soon
undergo to stay in the U.S." 

Finally, a big thank you to Stuart Anderson for his generous review of
Crossing Borders

in this morning's edition of Forbes
.
 

Welcome to Monday's edition of The Forum Daily, formerly
Noorani's Notes. 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 this newsletter, please spread the word. They can
subscribe here.  

TITLE 42 - The Los Angeles Times
'
Cindy Carcamo spoke with Ricardo Zúniga, the Biden administration's
special envoy for Northern Triangle countries, on the root causes of
migration from Central America and "how they are expected to result in
an uptick of immigration from the region." It's not just Mexican and
Central American immigration anymore, Zúniga noted, "because the
displacement caused by the pandemic is so widespread." Zúniga also
mentioned that State Department officials have been preparing to lift
the public health rule Title 42 for months, but he's concerned about
misinformation regarding the policy reversal: "They are going to be sold
an impression that now, 'The border is open. There are no more
restrictions. Title 42 is gone. You won't be returned,'" he said.
"And the question is how to make sure people understand and get the real
information ahead of time that the implications are real." 

LINCOLN - More than 30,000 immigrants and refugees call Lincoln,
Nebraska, home. Now the city and surrounding county have a new plan to
help newcomers integrate, Margaret Reist of the Lincoln Journal Star

reports. The Welcoming & Belonging Strategic Plan "identifies six action
steps that touch on equitable access, civic engagement, education,
economic opportunity, safety and health, and affordable housing, and
includes more specific recommendations to improve services." Said City
Clerk Soulinnee Phan, herself the daughter of Laotian refugees: "Giving
a chance to be able to have a new start and be a part of and live in a
community that cares and that is welcoming is one of the most powerful
things we can provide as Lincolnites." 

'RAMADAN IN A NEW COUNTRY' - To help Afghans celebrate Ramadan
this month, the United Church of Christ (UCC) produced a series of
webinars called 'Ramadan in a New Country' to educate Christians
about Islam's holy month, reports Emily McFarlan Miller of Religion
News Service
.
"This is going to be the first Ramadan that these Afghan refugees are
going to spend in a country that doesn't celebrate Ramadan, and
they've been through a lot," said the Rev. Irene Hassan, the UCC's
minister for refugee and migration services. "Imagine being in a country
that doesn't celebrate Christmas," Hassan explained to webinar
attendees this past weekend. "This will be a new world to them." So far,
between 75 and 100 UCC churches are sponsoring Afghan families, about
800 people total, per Hassan. 

Locally: 

* Elshan Moridiabadi, a chess grandmaster living in Durham, North
Carolina, gave Afghan refugee students at a Raleigh elementary school an
opportunity to learn chess online. "This is something that really gives
them a little familiarity with something that they love, as simple as
the game of chess," said Chris Cox, principal of Stough Magnet
Elementary School. (Rick Armstrong, WRAL
) 

* In partnership with The International Rescue Committee, a coalition of
"Arizona State students, Valley rotary clubs, and local businesses"
helped to furnish an Afghan family's new home in Phoenix on Saturday.
(AZFamily Digital News
) 

* Travis Heights Elementary School in Austin, Texas, is raising money
via a thrift store, with donations and proceeds going to Afghan refugee
children in need. (Asher Price, Axios Austin
) 

HEALTH CARE OPPORTUNITIES - A new fellowship for immigrant health care
workers, organized and funded by the city of Boston and the nonprofit
African Bridge Network, has been instrumental in helping hospitals in
the area fill vacancies, per Steph Solis of the Boston Business Journal
.
"By doing those fellowships or internships, they are giving us a chance
to actually integrate with the system, and I think that's really
great," said Christelle Etienne, originally from Haiti, one of the ten
latest fellows. "By us showing proof of concept here to the professional
fellowship, we hope it will begin to push the state and the different
industries to begin to really update their standards around
certification and to be adapted to a world that is now a lot more
globalized," said Yusufi Vali, director of the Mayor's Office for
Immigrant Advancement in Boston. 

Thanks for reading, 
 
Ali 

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from The Forum Daily

or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States