Containing the spread of COVID-19 through testing is a challenge — especially within immigrant communities where people may be reluctant to seek treatment due to the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, reports Usha Lee McFarling in STAT. “I have one family where one person is very sick with pneumonia and the whole family has probably been exposed [to the coronavirus], but they say, ‘We’re afraid to get the test. We’ll be deported,’” said Edgar Chaves, a family practitioner in Los Angeles.

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

STEPHEN MILLER – While attention is diverted by COVID-19, the Trump administration is moving to implement immigration policies in line with Stephen Miller’s hardline agenda, including keeping unaccompanied migrant children in the custody of border patrol for a longer period of time and fingerprinting all adults of households who step forward to care for them. With a new leader at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in place, Dan Diamond at Politico reports that “[t]he moves are being overseen by a team of loyalists to President Donald Trump, including two former campaign staffers who were installed in their new roles after the White House last month abruptly reassigned the office’s director.” An official told Diamond, “It’s a team of people with very little management experience and an agenda that isn't going to end well given the current laws.”

SOUTH DAKOTA – The Smithfield pork factory in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has long been a “beacon of American prosperity” for tens of thousands of employees from around the world — and then coronavirus struck, with more than 640 cases and at least one death linked to the plant, Caitlin Dickerson and Miriam Jordan report for The New York Times. In fact, the plant has become “the nation’s largest single-source coronavirus hot spot. Its employees now make up about 44 percent of the diagnoses in South Dakota, and a team of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has traveled there to assess how the outbreak spiraled out of control.” But with the facility now closed, employees worry about their future: “‘I can’t wait to go back to work for the simple reason that this is the only thing that supports my family,’ said Achut Deng, a Sudanese refugee who in six years worked her way up from a ‘wizard knife’ operator paid $12.75 an hour to a shift lead making $18.70.”

CALIFORNIA – Undocumented immigrants make up 10% of California’s workforce and yet they will not receive any direct funds from the $2 trillion federal stimulus package, which is why California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $125 million fund to assist them, reports Lisa Fernandez at KTVU. Eligible immigrants “will be able to receive up to $1,000 per family and $500 per individual, Newsom said.”

NEW YORK – During the last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) quietly released 20% of immigrants detained in the New York City region, WNYC’s Matt Katz reports for Gothamist. “The releases are significant because detention centers in the two states [New York and New Jersey] are a hotspot for the virus, accounting for about a third of positive ICE detainee cases in the country. Thirty-five detainees at the three county jails in New Jersey and the private detention center in Elizabeth have, or have had, the disease, according to local officials. That’s more than the number of criminally-charged inmates at those facilities who have tested positive.”

A CRY FOR JUSTICE – As Christians from around the world celebrated Easter in a different way last weekend, a group of reverends and bishops reflect in an op-ed for the San Bernardino Sun on how their “hearts are particularly troubled by the danger faced by our fellow human beings who are suffering in immigration detention centers, prisons, and jails.” Minerva G. Carcaño, Dr. R. Guy Erwin, Mark W. Holmerud, and Dr. Andrew A. Taylor write that those who are incarcerated cannot practice social distancing and many have chronic health conditions. “Effective and compassionate alternatives can help keep immigrants and employees safer during this pandemic.”

CHRISTIAN PRESS COVERAGE – As Bekah McNeel writes for Christianity Today, this is a precarious moment for those held in detention while seeking asylum: “Not only do they worry about their health while living in close quarters, they are concerned about what the crisis means for their prospects of a future in the U.S. With just a year to apply for legal status, the clock could run out while they are waiting for legal clinics to reopen to help them file their paperwork.” Meanwhile, Samuel Smith at the Christian Post reports on influential evangelicals who signed a letter urging the release of some detained immigrants. The letter “[states] that while it may be necessary to continue detaining individuals who’ve been convicted of violent crimes and pose a threat to public safety, data obtained by Syracuse University suggests that the majority of individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent years have no criminal conviction on record.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali