Later this morning, the Forum is hosting a press call with public health, faith, law enforcement and business leaders to urge the Trump administration and Congress to protect the health and well-being of immigrants and refugees when addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Immigrants have a key role in keeping the public safe, working as health care providers, domestic workers, cleaners, agricultural workers and more. We will discuss the state of immigrant detention, the importance of access to health services and economic relief regardless of immigration status, and the need for continued visa processing for immigrant workers.

For media interested in joining, please contact Magen Wetmore.

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

CANCELED CLEANINGS – As more American families worry about money and social distancing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, immigrant housekeepers — many of them undocumented — are losing work with no help from the federal government in sight. “Unlike their employers, undocumented workers cannot collect unemployment or benefit from a government bailout,” Miriam Jordan and Caitlin Dickerson write for The New York Times. “They are part of the bustling informal economy, typically paid cash and off the books for the essential work they do. Without paid sick leave, remote work capability and access to jobs, they become uniquely vulnerable.” The economic domino will fall the hardest on the most vulnerable.

VULNERABLE – As the COVID-19 crisis spreads across the country, local stories are emerging of how immigrant and refugee communities are impacted. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jeremy Redmon takes us into the home of the Rivera family and the life of Rigoberto, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient. While no one in the family has symptoms now, “We are just trying to protect ourselves,” Rigoberto says. “We wear face masks and are keeping our distance.’” (Your friendly reminder that the Supreme Court is due to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients like Rigoberto this spring.)

PEPPER SPRAYED – Guards have reportedly pepper sprayed “about 60” immigrants at South Texas Detention Center after they “refused to return to their beds” after learning from the media of the continued spread of the coronavirus, Silvia Foster-Frau reports for the San Antonio Express News. “These are people sitting, trapped, at the government’s expense without access to proper medical care, so they’re freaking out,” said Andrés Perez, an immigration lawyer for the San Antonio-based firm Perez & Malik. Perez and another immigration attorney say that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has now removed news access at their facility.”

SLOW GROWTH – The latest Census Bureau data show that U.S. population growth is facing lows not seen for a century as “a drop in births and an acceleration in deaths put the country closer than ever to an overall decline.” Sabrina Tavernise writes for The New York Times: “Experts said that if one of the more dire projections of coronavirus-related deaths holds true, the country could face its first yearly drop in population, particularly if immigration continues to fall. … Experts point to what they say is a perfect storm, in which the three forces that make up a country’s population growth — births, deaths and immigration — have all gone off-kilter.”

IMMIGRANT DOCTORS – The federal government is not fully utilizing immigrant doctors who have registered with the Pentagon’s Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, reports Alex Horton in The Washington Post. “Six recruits with relevant training — a pulmonary specialist, an epidemiologist and two internal medicine practitioners, among others — are frustrated that the glacial pace of security checks has slowed their chance to serve at a crucial moment ... At least several dozen physicians are still waiting for their checks to finish. They busy themselves with menial tasks at their reserve units, where they have limited duties…”

JUDICIAL OUTRAGE – Immigration judges are slamming the Department of Justice for re-opening New York’s Varick Street immigration court a day after it was closed due to coronavirus contamination, reports Priscilla DeGregory in the New York Post. The National Association of Immigration Judges said in a tweet: “With NY the epicenter of the virus, DOJ is failing to protect its employees and the public we serve.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali