A path to legal status for unauthorized immigrants is Hispanics’ top immigration policy goal ahead of the 2020 elections, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center. More than half of those surveyed said a path to citizenship was “very” important, while strong majorities of both Republicans and Democrats called it at least “somewhat” important to them. More than eight in ten Hispanics hailing from both parties also favored Congress passing a law granting permanent legal status to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Meanwhile on the campaign trail, President Trump continues to run on his platform of turning America into a “fortress” against immigration, writes Nick Miroff for The Washington Post. “Trump policies and practices have attacked virtually every facet of the immigration system: effectively dismantling asylum protections at our southern border, imposing wealth restrictions on immigrants who are spouses and family members of citizens, burdening businesses that legitimately depend on skilled immigrant workers and threatening mass deportations regardless of how long or deep a person’s ties to country and community are.”

Welcome to the Wednesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

BORDER CROSSINGS – Attempted unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell for the eighth straight month in January, Stef W. Kight reports for Axios. The drop follows a Trump administration decision to begin deporting Central American migrants seeking asylum at the border to countries that are not their homes: “So far, 536 Honduran and Salvadoran asylum-seekers who reached the U.S. have been sent to Guatemala … and more than 75% have been women and children.”

FLORIDA-VERIFY – As the Florida legislature considers forcing all public and private employers to use E-Verify, State Sen. David Simmons (R) has proposed changes that exempt farmers and agricultural workers from the mandate, News Service of Florida reports. The bill, which is currently a top priority for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), would be among the strictest in the nation. Critics argue that requiring the use of the federal database to check legal eligibility of potential employees would be a bureaucratic burden on businesses. And keep in mind that last year the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that “Florida contractors said they anticipate the acute shortage of construction workers.”


“ESPECIALLY AT THE CHURCH” – The Trump administration’s expanded travel ban is sparking anxiety and prolonging family separations for the community of refugees from Myanmar living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reports Kristi Eaton for NBC News. Myanmar is among six nations — along with Eritrea, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan and Tanzania — that will face new restrictions starting Feb. 22. Suan Mang, who opened a restaurant catering to persecuted Zomi refugees from Myanmar living in Tulsa, said the community has been supportive in helping him and his fellow refugees start over. “A lot of the Zomi population is around here,” he told NBC. “Whenever we need help, we can go to the community and ask for help, especially at the church.”

MARRIAGE STATUS – A federal judge in Maryland ruled that immigration officials cannot arrest, detain or deport immigrants seeking legal status based on their marriages to U.S. citizens, reports Regina Garcia Cano at the Associated Press. The ruling came in a case “filed by six couples accusing immigration officials of luring families to marriage interviews in Baltimore, only to detain the immigrant spouse for deportation.”

TOP MODEL – South Sudanese refugee-turned-model Adut Akech is taking the fashion world by storm, Elisa Lipsky-Karasz writes in a profile for The Wall Street Journal Magazine. Akech, who spent her early childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya before relocating to Australia, was recently named a 2019 model of the year by the British Fashion Council and is dedicating her success to raising awareness for other refugees: “I want to tell them there is nothing to be ashamed of. I want to educate people [that refugees] are ordinary people.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali