Only In America With Ali Noorani

It’s our final episode! This week, we look back at our favorite memories, clips, and episodes from the podcast. Featured guests include  Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, Pati Jinich, Nafy Flatley and many others. We hope you enjoy this look back at a great pod. Thank you to all our guests and everyone who helped make this happen!   Please visit our Facebook and Twitter for more stories and information about the National Immigration Forum.  

It’s another virtual road trip – this week to Ithaca. And don't forget your mittens because it's cold out there! This week we are joined by Casey Verderosa from Ithaca Welcomes Refugees. She details their origin story, the organization’s current challenges, and what she hopes for Ithaca and IWR in the future.   Check out their page to learn more about how to help IWR and some great merch!  

President Biden inherited an emaciated resettlement and asylum program from former President Trump, whose administration enacted blatantly anti-immigrant, anti-refugee and anti-asylum policies throughout its four years. This week we look at the path forward for those affected by America’s archaic immigration system - and what you can do to help make changes for immigrants and their families in our communities.    We hear from Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Taif Jany Director of Policy and Practice at RCUSA, and Lacy Broemel, a Policy Analyst at the International Refugee Assistance Project.   If you liked what you heard here, please be sure to check out the full conversation on our Facebook page.

It’s President Biden’s one-year anniversary in the White House. This week we look at the progress for immigration advocacy and how that bodes for those still hoping for reforms now.   We speak with Kristie De Pena, Vice President for policy and director of immigration at the Niskanen Center, and Danilo Zak, Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Forum.    Also be sure to check out the Forum’s recent white paper, One Year In: The Biden Administration’s Treatment of Vulnerable Migrants for a rundown of the progress we’ve seen – and the work that still has to be done.  

The supply chain has now become a big part of our national discussion. And a large, cheese-sized hunk of those goods are related to dairy farming. But without immigrant employees, like many agribusinesses, dairy farms across the country wouldn’t be able to function. This week, we take a look at America’s dairy farms and how they’re embracing their immigrant workforce. We speak with Ohio Dairy Farmer, Kathy Davis, and Mercedes Falk, the president of Puentes, a non-profit helping farmers and immigrant workers bridge cultural and language gaps.

A record number of people have been attempting to cross the US-Mexico border this year, many of them children. There are reports of a backlog of thousands of people willing to take a chance. And those turned back usually wait a bit in Mexico and try again. So how does the number of people attempting to cross the border this year compare to previous years? What are these individuals and families facing? And what approaches can we take immediately to start addressing these issues? This week, an on-the-ground look at the U.S.-Mexico border as we speak with Joanna Williams, Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative, Linda Chavez, a former Reagan White House official and Danilo Zak, Policy & Advocacy Associate at the Forum. Here’s Linda’s recent piece for The Bulwark, and our explainer on the border situation.

For Luma Mufleh, soccer has always been a passion. This week we hear how she combined that love for the pitch with providing education to young refugees in Ohio and Georgia. We also hear from educators and students at Fugees Academy about why this school is so important for both its students and the refugee community at large. You can learn more about Fugee Academy at their website.

  President Biden’s decision this week to raise the refugee ceiling to 62,500 came after a broad range of voices urged the administration to reconsider their initial decision to keep the ceiling at the historically low 15,000 set by President Trump.    Ali speaks with Edafe Okporo, a global gay rights activist and executive director of the RDJ Refugee Shelter in Harlem, New York, about his experience with the US  asylum system and how he is trying to help other asylees. We also hear from Jenny Yang, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief, about the growing need for refugee resettlement. 

We are back! Thank you for joining us after our brief break.   Not all heroes wear capes, but this one does wear a Captain America costume. Vishavjit Singh is a writer, artist, creator of Sikhtoons, and Sikh Captain America. He uses his powers of building bridges and storytelling to fight intolerance and have difficult conversations to create understanding. He tells us his origin story and about his new animated film, “American Sikh”, an animated short about seeking acceptance in an intolerant world.  You can donate to his Kickstarter here.  

The Olympics are a unique opportunity to celebrate both individual victories and our collective unity.  And this week we went for the gold! Ali speaks with former Olympian and refugee Makorobondo “Dee” Salukombo about learning to love running and his work starting Project Kirotshe a program that pays children in Congo’s school fees as they train and run races throughout Eastern Africa.   Check us out on Twitter and Facebook for more great stories from our podcast.  

The new film “The Infiltrators” tells the true story of young immigrants who are detained by the Border Patrol and thrown into a shadowy for-profit detention center. This week we chatted with the filmmakers, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra. Both received MacArthur fellowships and join us to talk about their story, the making of the film, and their future projects. 

It’s Part 2 of our visit to the Fugees Academy in Ohio. This week, we hear from students and faculty about what it was like at the school after the 2016 election, their advice for those new to the U.S., and what they look forward to for the future (spoiler: 9th grade is hopefully better than 8th).   Please visit their website to learn more about the Fugees Academy  

For Luma Mufleh, soccer has always been a passion. This week we hear how she combined that love for the pitch with providing education to young refugees in Ohio and Georgia. We also hear from educators and students at Fugees Academy about why this school is so important for both its students and the refugee community at large.   You can learn more about Fugee Academy at their website.

It’s a bigoted ideology that has led to hate and violence – and to U.S. laws and fringe political movements. But why does it continue to shape immigration policies and pop up in cable news and social media? This week we speak to Alan Cross, a Southern Baptist pastor, and author who has written extensively on the role of the church in race relations.   Be sure to check out our in-depth explainer and resource page about the ‘Great Replacement’ theory’s origins, its misconceptions, and the ways we can push back against it.

This week, we bring you the story of a diverse coalition made up of former presidents, business coalition leaders, and many more working together to help Afghan evacuees. In the last episode of our “Welcoming Afghans” series, we talk to Nazanin Ash, CEO of Welcome.us and Nadia Hashimi a member of the National Welcome Council at Welcome.us.   You can find out how Welcome.us is helping individuals and families at their website.

Picture this: two veterans helping Afghan evacuees find safety and build new lives in Ohio using mostly social media and fundraising sites. In one of the most moving and engaging episodes we’ve had yet, Matt Carpenter and Rick Stockburger detail their mission to help 150 people evacuate Afghanistan this fall. They also detail what some of these evacuees are facing coming to the US as well as stories of working and fighting alongside Afghan nationals in the hopes of building a more democratic Afghanistan.  You can watch the full conversation on our YouTube page.  To donate to their efforts to evacuate our Afghan allies, visit https://gofund.me/b2d2405b 

Veterans Day is a day to celebrate the military men and women who have served and are serving in the Armed Forces – and their commitment to the effort to welcome Afghans to America is no exception. In this week’s episode, we look at how the military community has stepped up to the challenge of welcoming new arrivals – and how these connections, along with new legislation, can set Afghans up for success.    We speak this week with Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U-S Army Reserve. Also included in this week’s episode are Nazanin Ash, the CEO of Welcome.us, and Nadia Hashimi, a pediatrician, novelist, and member of the Welcome.us coalition.    You can find out how Welcome.us is helping individuals and families at their website.

Through digital and in-person efforts, countless people around the U.S. continue to help Afghan evacuees resettle in their new community. This week we bring you stories from two local organizations helping in a big way.   In this third part of the series, we speak with Debra Lang, Executive Director of KindWorks, and Russell Smith, CEO of Refugee Services of Texas.     Find out more about how these two organizations are helping resettle Afghan individuals and families on their sites.  

This week, the story of one organization in Ohio that is showing up in a big way for Afghan evacuees: The International Institute of Akron has been welcoming immigrants and refugees to Akron for over 100 years, but recent changes in the refugee ceiling – and then the military withdrawal from Afghanistan this year – has changed their work in big ways.    In the second part of our multi-part series about helping Afghan evacuees, we speak with Madhu Sharma, the Executive Director of The International Institute of Akron.  Find out more about how The International Institute of Akron is helping Afghan individuals and families at their website. 

Thousands of Afghan evacuees are still unmoored months after the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan. Many remain on military bases in the U.S. and across the world. Their stories don’t end with evacuation - in fact, it’s just the beginning of a resettlement process that requires a formidable amount of planning, resources, and cooperation across communities. This multi-part series looks at the stories of those helping these evacuees.    In our first episode, we speak to Bri Stensrud, Director of Women of Welcome about the incredible response and outpouring of support from their community to help Afghan refugees. Specific information about outreach and ways to help Afghan refugees can be found here.