Tuesday, September 13
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THE FORUM DAILY

This is just a great story, with great photos: Companies large and
small, from an aerial firefighting company to Amazon, Walmart and Uber,
are hiring recently resettled Afghans, reports Jessica Donati of The
Wall Street Journal
,
with photos by Louise Johns. 

Former Afghan air force pilot Samimullah Samim is one of them. He is the
first Afghan pilot now flying in the U.S., conducting aerial
firefighting missions in Montana, Idaho and nearby states. The nonprofit
Operation Sacred Promise has supported about 260 Afghan pilots,
including Samim, who fled to the U.S. with their families.  

An International Rescue Committee survey of Afghan arrivals found that
manufacturing, retail and food services are the primary sectors in which
they've been hired. Some companies are actively welcoming and
assisting new arrivals. 

Meanwhile, in an op-ed for The xxxxxx
,
Kate Kovarovic explains that as Kabul fell, Afghans and evacuees used
their phones to contact their networks in the U.S. to plead for help.
Kovarovic is a volunteer with Task Force Nyx, which supports and
advocates for at-risk Afghans seeking safety. 

"Many of us would quickly become de facto case managers, helping Afghans
secure food and safe housing while simultaneously navigating an unkind
and perilous immigration system," Kovarovic writes. "The text messages
we received every day - and continue to receive even now, a year later
- convey the despair of people being hunted."  

Kovarovic notes the toll not just on allies but also on volunteers, and
she advocates for more access to mental health care for both.   

In The Detroit News
,
another Task Force Nyx member, Erin Piper, shares the challenges and
highs of advocating for an Afghan friend and his family, and connecting
with others doing similar work. She concludes, "Do not forget Afghan
families like my friend's, who worked alongside our military and
simply want safe futures for their children. We owe them our friendship
and our advocacy, until every family is safe - wherever they call
'home.'" 

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP. If you have a story
to share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected] . 

'DEPORTING U.S. CITIZENS BY PROXY' - In mixed-status families,
deportations can force U.S. citizen family members to decide whether to
self-deport or remain in the U.S. and be separated from their families,
write Tran Dang of the Rhizome Center for Migrants and Tony Payan of
Rice University in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News
.
"Besides an untold number of U.S. citizens now living in Mexico with
their deported spouses, the Mexican school system reports that as many
as 550,000 children in its classrooms are U.S. citizens," they write.
"Co-deported Americans" face significant challenges in Mexico - and
people who return to the U.S. later also face challenges. "[A] faulty
immigration system is deporting U.S. citizens by proxy, and is creating
a potential underclass of workers and citizens who will be ill-fitted to
claim their place in the American landscape when they return," Dang and
Payan write. 

'PUBLIC CHARGE' RULE - Immigrant advocates are applauding the
Biden administration's recent rollback of the Trump administration's
"public charge" rule
,
reports Stella M. Chávez of KERA
.
"Programs like SNAP, WIC, the Child Tax Credit, Section 8 Housing and
other non-cash federal programs and also any similar programs at a local
or state level will never affect a person's immigration status," said
Adriana Cadena, director of Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.
"The important thing here is that immigrant communities who need to use
these services can do so without fear of affecting their immigration
status." 

**AT SEA, ALONG THE BORDER** - Six migrants, including two children,
have been reported dead in the central Mediterranean Sea due to
dehydration amid their voyage, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday, per
the Associated Press
.
The victims are likely Syrian and were brought to Italy by that
country's coast guard. This year alone, more than 1,200 people have
died or are missing at sea in the central Mediterranean crossing from
North Africa to Europe. On our own border, the 748 migrant deaths this
year have set a record, as Priscilla Alvarez of CNN

reported last week. Our policy expert Danilo Zak's new explainer

outlines causes and policy solutions so we can "bring safety and
humanity to the world's most lethal land border." 

REFUGEE OLYMPIC SWIMMER - Yusra Mardini - a refugee swimmer from
war-torn Syria who made it to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio as part of
the inaugural IOC Refugee Olympic Team - is now the subject of a new
movie, The Swimmers, per International Olympic Committee News
.
"This movie is really important to me and my sister, because we want to
share our story with the world and show that refugees still have dreams
and can reach their goals even if they go through rough journeys," said
Mardini. "This film gives me the opportunity to continue to raise
awareness of the difficulties and dangers faced by refugees and make
people understand that becoming a refugee is not a choice." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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