Migration
Fig. 1. Unattributed and undated photograph, via the British Broadcasting Corporation, August 12, 2020,[1] fair use.
A lot is going wrong here and I’m covering a couple issues.
First, Afghan refugees who have settled in Erie, Pennsylvania, may have to travel—it’s 14 hours of driving time—to Arlington, Virginia, for asylum hearings. They may also need to supply interpreters who are not themselves applicants for asylum:[2]
The interpreter cannot be someone with an application in front of [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]. I have to go and find another interpreter, which, as you can imagine, who’s a Dari interpreter in Erie, PA, who does not have an application in front USCIS?[3]
Second, as to the evil some Republican governors are committing, there is a new blog post entitled, “‘Pull’ and ‘Push’ factors in migration.”
Baylee DeMuth, “An unnecessary hurdle? Erie Afghan refugees could face 14-hour trip for asylum interviews,” Erie Times-News, September 15, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2022/09/16/asylum-interviews-erie-pa-afghan-refugees-possibly-in-arlington-virginia-buffalo-new-york-pittsburgh/65554136007/
Lisa Kashinski, Sue Allan, and Gary Fineout, “GOP governors put focus on migrants with Martha’s Vineyard transport,” Politico, September 15, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/15/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-immigration-florida-00056870
Alexander Thompson et al., “‘At first they were surprised, just like us.’ Martha’s Vineyard responds to surprise arrival of planeloads of migrants,” Boston Globe, September 15, 2022, https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/09/15/metro/marthas-vineyard-responds-surprise-arrival-planeloads-migrants/
Gig economy (neoliberal wet dream)
‘Rideshare’ driving
Fig. 1. Uber driver Boubacar Sow drives in New York. Photograph by Kevin Hagan via the Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019,[4] fair use.
Levi Sumagaysay, “FTC sends a warning to Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other ‘gig-work’ companies,” MarketWatch, September 16, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftc-sends-a-warning-to-uber-lyft-doordash-and-other-gig-work-companies-11663279622
Queen Elizabeth
Ryan Deto, “Carnegie Mellon professor speaks out after controversial tweet about Queen Elizabeth II,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 15, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/cmu-professor-speaks-out-after-controversial-tweet-about-queen-elizabeth-ii/
Stephen Reicher, “I’m an expert in crowd behaviour – don’t be fooled that everyone queueing in London is mourning the Queen,” Guardian, September 15, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/15/crowd-behaviour-london-mourning-queen
- [1]British Broadcasting Corporation, “English Channel migrants: Where they’re from and what they’re escaping,” August 12, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53721146↩
- [2]Baylee DeMuth, “An unnecessary hurdle? Erie Afghan refugees could face 14-hour trip for asylum interviews,” Erie Times-News, September 15, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2022/09/16/asylum-interviews-erie-pa-afghan-refugees-possibly-in-arlington-virginia-buffalo-new-york-pittsburgh/65554136007/↩
- [3]Michael Barron, quoted in Baylee DeMuth, “An unnecessary hurdle? Erie Afghan refugees could face 14-hour trip for asylum interviews,” Erie Times-News, September 15, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2022/09/16/asylum-interviews-erie-pa-afghan-refugees-possibly-in-arlington-virginia-buffalo-new-york-pittsburgh/65554136007/↩
- [4]Eliot Brown, “Uber Wants to Be the Uber of Everything—But Can It Make a Profit?” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-wants-to-be-the-uber-of-everything-11556909866↩