With the anniversary near, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and others reflected on the withdrawal, evacuation, and resettlement efforts in a press conference Thursday, urging the U.S. and Congress to "fulfill its moral and legal obligation to protect the tens of thousands of Afghan allies and their families stranded in Afghanistan," reports Brooke Anderson of The New Arab. 

"For the past year, IRAP, and our colleagues from the Evacuate Our Allies coalition have done everything possible to convey this urgency to the Biden administration, while offering concrete and actionable steps they can take today to make pathways to safety work for Afghans at risk," said Sunil Varghese, policy director of IRAP. "...What we are seeing are small improvements, improvements that can make all the difference for an individual, but that are not nearly commensurate with the size and gravity of the task." 

As NBC News’ Julia Ainsley reports, there are still tens of thousands of Afghans who want to leave Afghanistan, including our allies who are forced to live in hiding. "After Americans left Afghanistan, I passed one year of my life like a prisoner. No work. No food," said a former Afghan interpreter for a U.S. army captain. 

These reflections come as the Refugee Processing Center released refugee data for July, with just 2,589 total refugees resettled. As our policy expert Danilo Zak points out, with only two months left in the fiscal year, we’re on track to resettle 21,228 total refugees — which isn’t remotely close to the refugee ceiling President Biden set of 125,000 last September. If these low refugee resettlement numbers continue, Zak warns, it will be the third lowest total in the history of the resettlement program. 

On the local welcome front: 

• The Oregon Department of Human Services’ Refugee Program recently provided $2.8 million for nonprofits and community groups helping with Afghan resettlement efforts. (Mike Sunnucks, Herald and News) 
• A youth refugee soccer camp in Abilene, Texas, including some newly arrived Afghans, has started a new business: selling camper-designed soccer balls around the world. Rwanda Children and Zambia Medical Mission are helping to distribute the balls abroad. (Heather Claborn, KACU) 

Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Becka Wall, the Forum’s digital communications VP. This week we’re trying a slightly different format — let us know what you think! If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

Today’s top news stories: 

• For The Atlantic, Caitlin Dickerson thoroughly investigates the history behind Trump administration’s "zero tolerance" policy, which separated more than 5,500 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Last week, 450 faith leaders and groups signed a family reunification letter, pushing for more funding and support from Congress to help families who were previously separated at the border.  
• NYC Mayor Eric Adams condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for sending some migrants to the city against their will, reports POLITICO’s Erin Durkin. Meanwhile, the brunt of Abbott’s efforts to continue busing thousands of asylum-seeking migrants from Texas border towns to D.C. and New York City, is falling on volunteers, reports Benjamin Wermund for The Houston Chronicle. 
• Although the order to officially end Migrant Protection Protocols, a.k.a. the "Remain in Mexico" policy, reached district courts on Saturday, it is still unclear "if, when and how the program will once again be terminated," per Kate Morrissey and Ana Ramirez of The San Diego Union-Tribune. 
• More than a million applicants may not live to see their green cards, visas, work permits, and naturalization petitions processed or approved, due to decades-long backlogs exacerbated by pandemic-related delays, reports Andrea Castillo for The Los Angeles Times.  
• The recent gun-violence bill, which combined goals from several leaders on both sides of the political spectrum, should be used as a road map to tackle and pass meaningful immigration reform, write C. Stewart Verdery Jr., former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security and R. Gil Kerlikowske, former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in an op-ed for The Seattle Times. 
• In recent weeks, dozens of immigrants, U.S. citizens, and activists have joined a multilingual postcard-writing campaign spearheaded by South Florida’s Miramar Circle of Protection, urging Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to extend Temporary Protection Status to Nicaragua and other Central American countries, per Syra Ortiz-Blanes for the Miami Herald. 

Thanks for reading,  

Becka