Following his announcement on Twitter late Monday night, President Trump yesterday explained that his order to suspend immigration will bar new immigrants seeking to move to the United States for 60 days while still allowing temporary foreign workers, Michelle Hackman and Rebecca Ballhaus report for The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Trump said Tuesday that the order was still being written and would include certain exemptions but that he would detail them Wednesday. Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he would sign the order later in the day.”

The Journal’s editorial page weighs in, calling the move “Trump’s Immigration Distraction,” and immigration historian Carly Goodman writes for The Washington Post that “President Trump’s immigration suspension has nothing to do with coronavirus.”

As I told NPR’s Joel Rose, at a time when Americans are fearful for their physical or their economic security, Trump is preying on that fear by directing people to blame the other.

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

DECLINE – Last month, the number of immigrants in the U.S. saw its biggest one-month decline in nearly 20 years, reports Youyou Zhou for Quartz. “The US’s foreign-born population shrank 1.9% in March 2020, according to data from the US Census Bureau. … Many foreign nationals studying or working in the US found ways to return home before borders closed. Seasonal workers abroad—who are facing visa delays, high travel costs, and little to no US health insurance coverage—did not enter the country as planned.”

DACA DATABASE – Despite promises by the Trump administration in September 2017 to keep the personal information of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), new emails obtained by Dara Lind at ProPublica reveal that the agency already had access to databases of information on Dreamers — including home addresses. “The internal emails make clear that an immigrant targeted by ICE could easily be located based on what they told the government when applying for protection. … The Trump administration has said that [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] will generally not proactively share information for enforcement purposes — but it has not said what ICE agents can do with the databases they already have access to.”

TULSA HEROES – Tian and Liying Qi — Chinese-born members of the South Tulsa Baptist Church — have been leading efforts in their community to arrange mask donations to health care workers in Tulsa and around the world since early January. The church’s lead pastor, Eric Costanzo, writes in Tulsa World, “At a time when anti-Asian sentiments have disappointingly reemerged, Tian and Liying stand out as light in darkness. They have helped meet critical needs, both physical and spiritual, in our community, country, and around the world. They have allowed love, not fear, to drive their actions.”

SCHOOL LESSONS – Families across the country are homeschooling their children — and it’s proved an even greater challenge for low-income immigrant households where families don’t speak English at home. For The New York Times, Rikha Sharma Rani writes that in some states, including Nebraska, “some districts are airing classes on their local public broadcasting stations, including instruction in Spanish. Guilford County School District in North Carolina established an information hotline staffed with interpreters who speak seven languages.”
DACA STUDENTS – The Trump administration is prohibiting undocumented college students — a group that includes more than 100,000 DACA recipients — from receiving emergency federal assistances like food, housing, and child care, Michael Stratford reports in Politico. The COVID-19 stimulus package “gives $6 billion to colleges to dole out to students for expenses stemming from the disruption on campuses caused by the pandemic. But Education Department officials in new guidance said the money can go only to students who qualify for federal financial aid — U.S. citizens and some legal permanent residents.”
IOWA OUTREACH – Access to COVID-19 information and services for immigrant populations in the Midwest continues to be a challenge. Melody Mercado at Iowa’s WHO-TV reports: “According to Rafael Morataya, executive director of the Center for Worker Justice, immigrant workers are being left in the dark when it comes to their rights, and it’s not just the Latino population. ‘The reality is that we have people from Congo, Sudan, we have people from Bosnia, Somalia, and people from all over the world are here,’ said Morataya.”

MARYLAND’S FIRST LADY – Yumi Hogan, wife of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and an immigrant from South Korea, was responsible for leading the state’s successful efforts to secure 500,000 sorely needed COVID-19 test kits, reports Kate Bennett in CNN. “She not only used her native language to help secure the tests but also helped negotiate the deal. ‘We convened countless calls, nearly every night, sometimes it seemed like all night,’ said Hogan of the 22 days he and the first lady worked in conjunction with the Korean government to land the mother lode of hard-to-come-by coronavirus test kits.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali