Only 1,984 total refugees were resettled in April, "a decrease from March as the system continues to flounder at Trump-like levels."
More than halfway through Fiscal Year 2022, we’ve only resettled 18,414 refugees total — nowhere near the refugee ceiling the administration set at 125,000.
After the administration committed to resettle 100,000 Ukrainians, the U.S. resettled just 125 in April and 12 in March. The good news: The Uniting for
Ukraine program has had 14,500 applications in just 10 days.
As for Afghan refugees, there is a "small but very notable increase" in their resettlement this month.
To be blunt, the administration needs to walk the talk and accelerate these processes. They are saying the right thing, but painfully slow in terms of execution.
Welcome to Friday’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.
TITLE 42 IMPACT — In a Senate panel Thursday, DHS acting assistant secretary for border and immigration policy Blas Nuñez-Neto told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) that lifting Title 42 will result in a decrease of border crossings, per Nick Miroff of The Washington Post. This is a stark contrast to the administration’s predictions that there will be an increase of border crossings following the policy lift. As Miroff explains, "the point Nuñez-Neto was making is a more nuanced one that has been shared quietly among migration analysts and some CBP veterans. Because the Title 42 ‘expulsion’ process
carries no legal consequences, many adult migrants are attempting to cross again and again until they can successfully sneak past U.S. agents." See our Title 42 infographic for more details on the impact of this border policy. (FWIW, advocates have not been quiet about this. The
administration has just failed to adequately explain the situation.)
‘BROKEN IMMIGRATION SYSTEM’ — In the absence of immigration reforms, immigration judges have immense power over court decisions, which has resulted "in a profusion of complex and often-contradictory court rulings," Jasmine Aguilera reports for TIME Magazine
"[b]ecause Congress has failed to act meaningfully since the 1990s to reform the U.S. immigration system, immigration policy has been increasingly shaped by court challenges." (Take Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for example, who has filed 11 immigration-related lawsuits against the Biden administration). "This is a manifestation of our broken immigration system," said Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law at Cornell University.
VALUABLE LESSONS — We can learn from the welcome and evacuation efforts for Afghan and Ukrainian refugees to build a better refugee resettlement system, writes David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, in an op-ed for TIME Magazine. Among his recommendations: "lock in the innovation that underpins Operation Allies Welcome as part of a reset of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program." We can learn from refugees
themselves, too: 98-year-old Leonid Stanislavskyi recently fled Ukraine, resettling in South Florida — and is now the world’s oldest competitive tennis player, reports Tom D’Angelo of Palm Beach
Post. Lastly, this Mother’s Day weekend, Jill Biden is traveling to Romania and Slovakia to "[meet] Ukrainian refugees, most of whom are women and children," per Darlene Superville of the Associated Press. Talk about inspiration and resilience.
- With the help of staff at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, 20 Afghan students at Heights High School and their families are acclimating to life in the U.S. (Adam Zuvanich, The Leader)
- Sacramento-based Asian Resources, Inc., founded by two former refugees, is providing an on-the-job training program by matching refugees like new Afghan arrivals with employers in the region. "Since we already face the
challenge, we can guide them how to get start, so it won’t delay their settlement in the U.S.," said Chong Vang a company founder and former refugee from Laos. (Van Tieu, ABC10)
- Five young Afghan women shared their stories journeying from Kabul to Tempe, Arizona, after they got "an opportunity to study at Arizona State University as part of a resettlement program in partnership with the International Rescue Committee." (Milken Institute)
DREAM ACT — As a tribute to Utah’s late Sen. Orrin Hatch — the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator in history — Congress should pass the DREAM Act, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) in 2001, writes Glori H. Smith, Ph.D., a retired Utah school teacher, in an op-ed for the Deseret NewsSens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney to support the DREAM Act in 2022.
‘WE FEED PEOPLE’ — Earlier this week, I had the good fortune to attend a screening of Ron Howard’s new documentary about our friend Chef José Andrés and the heroic work of World Central Kitchen. The trailer for the film is out now, and the full documentary starts streaming on Disney+ on May 27. It is a beautiful film — particularly when they
interview farm workers who put food on our table but, at the height of the pandemic, depended on WCK for their own food. Drop it in your queue. And, yes, when I met Howard, I told him, "There is always money in the banana stand." (Only one more week of these terrible jokes from me.)
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