With more cases of the coronavirus being reported, it is worth repeating that President Trump’s treatment of immigrants could make the situation worse, the editorial board of The New York Times writes, pointing out that doctors have expressed concerns that the “public charge” rule could pose a threat to public health.

“The rule could deter millions of noncitizens — even those who were not technically subject to its provisions — from using programs like Medicaid, WIC and SNAP or from seeking medical care of any kind, lest they imperil their immigration status. That kind of avoidance would make those groups less healthy and thus more susceptible to the vagaries of, say, an infectious disease outbreak.”

Importantly, this is not all coming to light now — we’ve known it for a while: “When it first proposed the new rule, officials at the Department of Homeland Security noted that it could very well lead to worse health outcomes for immigrants, especially infants, children and women who were pregnant or nursing.”
Welcome to the Monday edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
ARIZONA AND THE WORLD – In the 20th century, battles “between capitalism and communism, free markets and welfare, defined politics” – but the battle defining politics today is immigration, and Arizona is at the eye of the storm, writes Eric Kaufmann, author of “Whiteshift,” in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic. As right-wing parties appeal to patriotism and anti-immigration sentiment, left-wing parties point to openness and diversity – and the polarization is reflected in immigration debates in Arizona and across the world. Important point: “Increasingly, it is psychology rather than self-interest that predicts voting. Do you view change as stimulating or as loss? Is difference interesting or disorderly?”

EUROPE, AND THE WORLD – With the refugee crisis in the Syrian city of Idlib intensifying, Ian Bremmer breaks down the situation in Time. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to send more refugees to Europe, which could lead to the EU’s second refugee crisis in five years. But it’s not just in Europe where sensitivities around allowing refugees is high, and thus impacting decision-making — it’s also in Turkey. “70.5%: That’s the number of Turkish voters who believe people seeking asylum are hurting their country’s economy, which helps explain Erdogan’s increased desperation on the refugee front.”

DNA – The Trump administration will begin taking DNA samples from migrants who are held in detention or who cross the border “for use in a federal criminal database, a significant expansion of immigration laws that is certain to raise privacy concerns,” reports Michelle Hackman in The Wall Street Journal. This new rule, which will likely face court challenges, is set to take effect in April and would “require immigration officers to collect cheek swabs from what could amount to hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants taken into federal custody each year, including migrants at the border and people asking for asylum.”

TOUGH EXAMS – Lucio Delgado was excited to receive the results of his citizenship test — which he felt he had aced — only to learn that as a blind man, he had failed the reading portion of the test which was not available in Braille, Jacey Fortin reports for The New York Times. “I thought, ‘Well, I doubt I am the only blind immigrant or immigrant with disabilities who has been denied his or her naturalization request due to a mistake,’” said Delgado on the decision to share his situation publicly. Ultimately, that decision worked: “CBS Chicago first reported on his story last week. And this week, an agent with Citizenship and Immigration Services called Mr. Delgado to make another appointment.”

BIRTH FACTS – Some fact-checking: The Trump administration proposed a new rule in January to limit “birth tourism” — where women visit the U.S. specifically to have a U.S. citizen child — but the statistics used in the conversation around this policy appear to be wildly off, per the Niskanen Center. The restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) had estimated that 33,000 women came to the U.S. to have a child between July 1, 2016, and July 1, 2017. But using CIS’s own method, Niskanen looked into the data and estimated the real number to be fewer than 2,000 — about one-twentieth of the CIS estimate. Numbers aside, “[i]nhibiting travel and commerce — not to mention making consular interviews deeply intrusive on a gendered basis — by imposing restrictions on pregnant women is an alarmist reaction to a small issue.”
THE TRADE – A new documentary series, “The Trade,” explores the immigration crisis on the U.S. southern border, and NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro talked with producer Monica Villamizar for Weekend Edition. “‘The Trade’ follows the lives of migrants and smugglers, victims and survivors, border officials and the undocumented living in the United States. The filmmakers gained incredible access in Honduras and Mexico and with U.S. law enforcement to tell this story of human trafficking.” I’m planning to watch!
Thanks for reading,
Ali