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

 

In hopes of entering soon, about 500 Ukrainian refugees are waiting in a
newly-minted migrant camp in Mexico City for U.S. legislative action on
the "Uniting for Ukraine" program, reports Christopher Sherman of the
Associated Press
.
The camp opened up last week, with 50 to 100 people arriving every
day. 

"We are asking the U.S. government to process faster," said Anastasiya
Polo, co-founder of United with Ukraine, a nongovernmental organization
which collaborated with the Mexican government to establish the camp.
She noted that within a week since the program was announced on April
21, none of the refugees were "even close to the end of the program." 

"These people cannot stay in this camp, because it is temporary," she
said, adding that over 100 of the camp's migrants are children. 

For The Daily Beast
,
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service told Scott Bixby: "While the new parole program for
Ukrainians is welcome progress, it is by no means a substitute for
rebuilding the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program." 

She's absolutely right.  

Meanwhile, The Atlantic's

Caitlin Dickerson dives deep into the humanitarian efforts and
challenges of admitting millions of Ukrainians to Poland, with photos by
Marcus Glahn. 

For more on Ukrainian refugees, see our latest "Uniting for Ukraine
"
explainer and resource on how private sponsorship programs for refugees

work. 

Welcome to Tuesday'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.
 

**FAITH ADVOCACY** - Megachurch pastors and other evangelical leaders
will be speaking on a virtual press conference today about the need for
immigration solutions this year. The leaders are among 185 participating
in more than 40 meetings with members of Congress and their staff today
and tomorrow. (Reporters, contact [email protected]
for details on how to join today's Zoom at
12:30 Eastern.) The efforts come on the heels of visits by more than 400
Hispanic Catholics last week, as Rhina Guidos writes for Catholic News
Service
.
"We come in prayer to ask members of Congress, Republicans and
Democrats, to work together to create solutions," said Auxiliary Bishop
Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington. "Immigration reform cannot wait any
longer." 

**EXTENSION** - Great news: Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) announced

that most immigrants will now get an extension for up to a year and a
half for their expiring (or expired) work permits, Michelle Hackman
reports for The Wall Street Journal
.
"The change will immediately help about 87,000 immigrants whose work
authorization has lapsed or is set to in the next 30 days," notes
Hackman.  "Overall, the government estimates that as many as 420,000
immigrants renewing work permits will be protected from losing their
ability to work for the duration of the policy." The policy will
officially go into effect on Wednesday. 

'INDEFENSIBLE' - Title 42 is "indefensible" and "needs to end,"
writes The Washington Post
's
Editorial Board. With the potential lifting of Title 42 later this
month, the Biden administration must continue to prepare for the
likelihood of an increase in migrants seeking asylum at the border with
sustainable border policy solutions
. But
here's the thing: "Notwithstanding the Biden administration's
floundering performance and mixed messaging on the border, the real
immigration policy failure has been Congress's ... Its proven
inability over decades to enact meaningful reform has left the nation,
and Mr. Mayorkas, to grapple with dysfunction." For additional context
on the history of Title 42, see our policy explainer
.

MIDWEST REVIVAL - Small Midwestern cities are some of the most rapidly
diversifying places in the U.S. - and it's a win for traditionally
conservative areas like Columbus, Indiana, Stephen Starr reports for Al
Jazeera
.
Columbus, home to manufacturers like Cummins and Toyota, "is drawing
immigrants to fill professional gaps and invigorate the region, even as
United States population growth overall has dropped to its lowest rate
since the Great Depression
."
Said City Councilor Elaine Hilber, whose parents came to Indiana from
Taiwan: "Columbus is just the right size ... You're able to make
things happen and get things done - to help people." 

KABUL TO OMAHA - Mujtaba Karimi, a former Afghan government official,
first heard of Omaha when an immigration agent told him it was where his
family was being resettled after fleeing the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
For the Flatwater Free Press
,
Andrew J. Nelson reports on the difficult transition that evacuees and
resettlement agencies faced when an increase of Afghans began arriving
in Nebraska last year. Despite the chaos of rapid resettlement,
Omaha's Refugee Empowerment Center has been working nonstop to meet
residents at the airport, help them learn basics like calling 911, and
provide cultural orientation such as obtaining driver's licenses and
learning English. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Biden administration called
on Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act

after the number of Special Immigrant Visas fell by 91% from July to
September, per Drew F. Lawrence of Military.com
.
 

Elsewhere in local welcome: 

* For Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the month of
Ramadan, many Houston Muslims are donating to local organizations
supporting Afghan refugees as a form of zakat, "the giving of alms to
those in need." (Sam González Kelly, Houston Chronicle
) 

* To celebrate the ending of their first Ramadan in America, "over 300
members of Minnesota's Afghan community joined neighbors and
supporters to break fast together at The Blake School in Hopkins." (Aala
Abdullahi, Sahan Journal
) 

* The City of South Bend and La Casa de Amistad in Indiana recently
partnered up to provide legal support for Afghan refugees, including the
City committing to "$100,000 for translation [and] interpretation,"
among other legal services. (Gemma DiCarlo, WVPE 88.1 Elkhart/South Bend
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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