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

 

In a 368-57 vote Tuesday, the House passed a $40 billion Ukraine package
to provide military and humanitarian aid for Ukrainians, per Zoë
Richards of CNBC
.  

Meanwhile, $10 billion in Covid relief funding remains delayed because
the GOP "won't allow it without a prior vote on blocking a repeal of
the Title 42 immigration ban," Alayna Treene notes for Axios
.
It's an approach supported by a growing number of Democrats, per
Politico
's
Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett. 

In spite of a flurry of energy from Democrats and Republicans, the
funding package did not include an Afghan Adjustment Act
.  

"No AAA is a massive, missed opportunity for Congress to get something
positive and bipartisan done, but glad that refugee benefits for
Ukrainian parolees WAS included," the Forum's Danilo Zak wrote on
Twitter
.
"Also in the bill: $900 mil for Refugee and Entrant Assistance; $350 mil
for Migration and Refugee Assistance." 

Welcome to Wednesday'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
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RESETTLEMENT WOES - Per a Monday DHS announcement, an estimated 6,000
Ukrainians of the 19,000 who applied for the "Uniting for Ukraine"
program have officially been welcomed into the U.S., reports Quinn Owen
of ABC News
.
Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are still adjusting to life in the U.S. while
concerned for the families they had to leave in Afghanistan, report Ben
Fox, Jacquelyn Martin, and Julie Watson for the Associated Press
.
"My wife is alone there," said Hasibullah Hasrat, his voice breaking.
"My son cries, asks where I am, when am I coming. And I don't know
what to say." Added Gulsom Esmaelzade, another Afghan refugee: "We
don't have anything back at home in Afghanistan and here we also
don't have any future." Passing an Afghan Adjustment Act

would secure their futures.  

On the local front: 

* With the help of their son, daughter-in-law, and parish, longtime
Catholic Charities volunteers Ellen and Peter helped buy 20 new washers
and dryers for Afghan families in need in Northeast Wisconsin. (Michele
McCormack, WFRV
) 

* Syracuse City School District teacher Zac Lois, who helped organize an
event to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with Afghan refugees, called it "an
excellent opportunity for local resettlement agencies and veterans'
organizations to welcome Afghans to Syracuse who served as interpreters
for U.S. forces and Afghans who supported the U.S. over the past 20
years." (JeanneTyler Moodee Lockman, CNY Central
) 

DRAGNET - According to a two-year investigative report
by Georgetown University's Center on
Privacy & Technology, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has
built a surveillance database that accesses the personal details of
nearly every person in America. In their effort to target undocumented
immigrants, Ed Pilkington of The Guardian

reports that ICE bypassed 'sanctuary' laws in cities and states,
operating in secret and with minimal public or Congressional oversight.
The agency now has access to DMV data for three of every four adults
living in the U.S., utility data, and more - which it leverages for
deportations. "I was alarmed to discover just how easily federal
immigration agents can pull detailed records from the most intimate
corners of all our lives," said Nina Wang, a policy associate at the
Center on Privacy & Technology and co-author of the report. "In its
attempts to target an ever-growing number of people for detention and
deportation, [ICE] has reached into the private homes and lives of
almost every person in America." I'm sure Tucker Carlson will cover
this story very closely. 

A FAMILY'S QUEST - The San Francisco Chronicle
's
Deepa Fernandes tells the story of Jean-Simon Colas and his 7-year-old
son's quest to seek asylum and reunite with their family in California
- for the second time in less than a year. (Colas and his son Jeffly
were two of over 10,000 Haitian nationals expelled last year under Title
42.) In their second attempt, the pair made it to the Mexican border
town of Reynosa, which attorney Jennifer Harbury described as a
"humanitarian horror show" because of the dangers migrants face there.
After joining thousands of other migrants waiting at the U.S.-Mexico
border and spending their first night on the streets, Colas and his son
were able to cross into Texas and finally make it to California. "I am
so so happy," Colas told The Chronicle. While Jeffly was excited to see
his mother and sisters, "he is not 100%," Colas said. "He has been
suffering." 

MENTAL HEALTH - A new study
found
that the Hispanic population continues to have access to a limited
number of Spanish-language mental health services, despite having grown
nearly 5% between 2014 and 2019, reports Cara Murez of HealthDay News
.
According to the study, "the availability of Spanish-language services
declined in 44 states, including those with the fastest Hispanic
population growth: Oklahoma, North Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky and Maine."
Said study co-author Martha Rojo, a clinical assistant professor in the
College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences: "Depression, anxiety or mental health overall, they're
difficult topics. It's important to have a provider that not only can
speak your language but understand the culture in order to really
improve health outcomes." 

COMPETITION BILL - This week, both the House and the Senate are
expected to convene for the first conference committee this Congress to
try and find "compromise between their two versions of a sweeping
competitiveness bill," report Haley Byrd Wilt and Harvest Prude of The
Dispatch
.
As they note, the House bill's

immigration policies on global talent for immigrants in STEM fields are
at stake. On Monday, twelve members of the Council on National Security
and Immigration (CNSI ) and a network of 37
former national security leaders sent a letter

to Congress urging them to "keep the House's immigration provisions,
arguing the policies will help America compete with China in science and
technology."  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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