Writing for USA Today, Mirtha Santana of the RiseBoro Community Partnership in Brooklyn shares the story of her father Perfecto Santana, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who recently passed away. After arriving in the U.S. undocumented and working as “a delivery guy, a factory worker and a dishwasher,” Perfecto went on to secure legal status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, and later became a U.S. citizen and teacher.  

“All of this happened because of the political will of a few and the support of many brave Americans who understood that this country is rich enough, great enough and generous enough to welcome immigrants,” Santana writes, calling for a “fair, clear, humane path to legal residency” for the undocumented. “I believe in the higher ideals of this country, those taught to me by my father; America welcomes everyone because the pie is large enough, and we all have a chance to succeed.”  

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

“ON THE SAME TEAM” – Americans should be applauding immigrants who are on the frontlines of the coronavirus response and are a “key ingredient” to defeating the pandemic and emerging stronger economically, writes Laura Collins, director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, in an op-ed for the San Antonio Express-News. “Immigrants and native-born Americans have always been on the same team, driving American innovation and economic growth,” Collins writes, warning that the Trump administration’s immigration suspension must not become permanent. The George W. Bush Institute is a founding member of the #AllofUS campaign, which brings together more than 30 organizations and individuals — including the Forum, Chef José Andrés, World Relief, the Emerson Collective and more — in a bipartisan campaign to ensure we work as one united nation to overcome COVID-19.

EXCLUDED – A federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that U.S. citizen children of undocumented parents have been unjustly excluded from the $2 trillion CARES Act, reports Marisa Peñaloza for NPR. Mary McCord, a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center and the lead attorney for the suit, said millions of children are being “treated as second-class citizens” because they’ve been deemed ineligible for CARES Act benefits. “These children have no say in who they’re born to, and yet they’re being treated differently than other U.S. citizen children. And that’s why so many of the other public benefits programs still do cover U.S. citizen children, because otherwise it would be discriminatory.”

CORONAVIRUS LAG – With schools across the country turning to online instruction, children of immigrant families are especially vulnerable to “coronavirus lag,” or falling behind in school, Olivia P. Tallet reports for the Houston Chronicle. “For many immigrant pupils … whose families face economic hardship and often lack technology, online instruction can be a challenge,” writes Tallet. “The distance learning also presents language barriers for many immigrant parents who are now expected to become homeschool educators.” The pandemic has also added to a “heightened hostile environment for immigrants,” whose children are now more likely to fall off their teachers’ radars.

STRANDED – Dozens of Rohingya refugees who were stranded at sea off the coast of Bangladesh will now be quarantined on a remote island to protect the country’s sprawling refugee camps from the spread of COVID-19, report Rebecca Wright and Salman Saeed for CNN. Following a violent military crackdown in Myanmar, “Bangladesh has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled on humanitarian grounds, but they are not afforded any rights there and are confined to refugee camps.” It is still unclear whether the refugees will be allowed into the country’s mainland following the coronavirus quarantine period.

WHAT WE OWE – Instead of sacrificing undocumented immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, America should be protecting them by allowing them to work here legally and creating a path to citizenship, write Saket Soni, director of the Resilience Force, and Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, in an op-ed for CNN. Millions of undocumented immigrants “need what they also deserve: the right to stay and keep working. But at the bare minimum they need more than what they have gotten — which is close to nothing. Undocumented immigrants and their mixed status families have been cut out of nearly all the federal economic response to date. And undocumented workers who would like to stay home and help flatten the curve are unable to do so without risking financial ruin.”

PULITZER – Congratulations are in order for Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times, who won a Pulitzer Prize in audio journalism this week for her outstanding reporting for the This American Life podcast episode “The Out Crowd.” This must-listen offers a frontline look at the impact of the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy on both migrants and immigration officials, and includes interviews with asylum officers who revealed their concerns about enforcing the policy.

Stay safe, stay healthy,

Ali