The Forum Daily, formerly Noorani's Notes
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THE FORUM DAILY

 

Deadline extended! We've been getting such great feedback on our Forum
Daily survey that we're extending
it through Friday (April 29). Thank you!
The bipartisan push for immigration reforms this year is gaining
momentum.  

Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington) and Salud Carbajal (D-California)
joined speakers representing Catholic, Dreamer, agriculture and border
perspectives and talked about the need for consensus-based solutions at
a press conference

yesterday convened by the Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus
.  

And Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) is planning to meet today with Sens.
John Cornyn (R-Texas), Alex Padilla (D-California), and Thom Tillis
(R-North Carolina) for "preliminary efforts to identify potentially
bipartisan immigration bills," as Roll Call's Suzanne Monyak tweeted
yesterday
afternoon. "I'm [not] ruling anything in or out," Durbin said. 

These are all good things.  

Welcome to Thursday's edition of The Forum Daily. 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.
 

**'IT WILL TAKE TIME'**- Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas testified at two congressional hearings yesterday concerning
the administration's plans to lift Title 42, Michelle Hackman and
Tarini Parti at The Wall Street Journal

report. The hearings came a day after the administration released a
detailed border strategy amid calls from both Republicans and Democrats
to keep Title 42 in place until a plan is set. "We started our planning
last September, and we are leading the execution of a
whole-of-government strategy," Mayorkas said. " ... A significant
increase in migrant encounters will strain our system even further, and
we will address this challenge successfully. But it will take time." 

**MOLDOVA** - More than 11 million people have been displaced since
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and no country has taken in more
Ukrainian refugees per capita than neighboring Moldova. But as a member
of neither NATO nor the E.U., as Ayman Oghanna reports for NBC News
,
Moldova "lacks the resources, space and support received by some of
Ukraine's other neighbors." It's also "terribly vulnerable to a
hostile Russia," from which it receives all of its gas and electricity.
But with an estimated 16% of the country's population now made up of
refugees, local support has been strong. "Most of the support was based
on volunteers, so it was really just Moldovans going there with food
carts, clothes, offering transport, accommodation and more," said Bea
Ferenci, a U.N. human rights adviser in Moldova. 

**TEXAS FACT CHECK** - A stellar team from ProPublica, The Texas
Tribune, and The Marshall Project has put together a list

of seven times Texas officials have "cited accomplishments that lacked
crucial context or did not match reality" when it comes to Gov. Greg
Abbott's (R) border initiative, Operation Lone Star. Among the
misleading claims: the percentage of migrants arrested at the border,
the number of gang members targeted and drugs seized, border security
spending, and more. Bottom line? Abbott and Co. have touted Operation
Lone Star as a major success, but the most expensive of the state's
border operations

isn't doing much for public safety or border security. Meanwhile, the
New York Post
's
MaryAnn Martinez reports that Abbott is seeking "contributions to
'Border Transportation Funding' by credit card or mailed check." But
"[h]is office did not respond to The Post's request asking why
donations are being sought." 

**NEW LIVES** - When refugees arrive in the U.S., it's not the end
of their resettlement journey - it's the beginning of a difficult
and uncertain adjustment, as Grace Segers details in the New Republic
.
From culture shock and separation from family to difficulties securing
employment or a driver's license, refugees face countless hurdles to
rebuild their lives. And for many Afghan refugees, these struggles are
compounded by a lack of permanent status in the U.S. "They don't know
if they have to apply for asylum, or if they have to apply to extend
their work permits, or if they are going to get green cards,"
said Maiwand Basiri, an Afghan parolee case manager. "These are the
questions that we face every day, and we cannot even guide them for
legal services because we don't even know what's going to happen to
their legal status in America." Yet another reminder that we need an
Afghan Adjustment Act
. 

In local welcome: 

* In honor of Ramadan, San Jose, California, resident Roohina Diwan "has
raised money for more than 200 hygiene kits for Afghan refugees in
Sacramento, and she will host four large iftars in her home for her
family and friends to assemble them." (Ada Tseng, Los Angeles Times
) 

* The United Religious Community of St. Joseph County, Indiana, and
faith partners including Catholic Charities and La Casa de Amistad have
welcomed 32 Afghan refugees to South Bend. The groups are assisting with
housing, health care and jobs, schooling and English language lessons.
(Paige Barnes, WSBT 22
)  

* Law students at the University of Arkansas are partnering with the
state's branch of Catholic Charities to offer legal assistance to four
Afghan refugees. (Chris Price, Arkansas Catholic
)
 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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