President Trump announced on Saturday that he will extend and expand the foreign worker restrictions put in place in April due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Anita Kumar for Politico.

“Trump will expand on the executive order blocking most people from receiving a permanent residency visa, or green card, by including most guest workers who come to the United States for temporary or seasonal work. … The new order is expected to continue to have broad exemptions, including for health care professionals and those entering for law enforcement or national security reasons, which will be expanded to include those with economic interests.”

NPR’s Deborah Amos looks back at the 1918 flu pandemic to illustrate how, historically, “immigration crackdowns aren't unusual when the country faces a crisis.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has issued at least 47 immigration-related policy changes, affecting almost every facet of our immigration system.

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

SPECIAL DELIVERY – With personal protective equipment in high demand during the pandemic, refugees in Greece’s Moria refugee camp sent thousands of masks to churches in South Carolina, reports Nic Jones for WLTX. “After finishing up making masks for the camp, refugees decided they wanted to make masks to send to people in different countries who have helped them in the past. … A note from the refugees is included with the boxes and says, ‘These were handmade by refugee volunteers in Lesvos, Greece. We sent them to you for your safety and health. We are all one people and must protect one another.’” Robbie McAlister — a former pastor and alum of Columbia International University, which also received some of the masks — helped facilitate the distribution. “A refugee who has nothing, is actually helping us in the West, who are typically viewed as having everything. They’re really trying to give back because they realize many of us have gone to help them,” McAlister told CIU.

VISA GRANTED – After years of waiting and contending with immigration “roadblocks,” an interpreter who helped the U.S. military in Afghanistan finally had his visa approved and arrived in Massachusetts this week, Brian MacQuarrie writes for the Boston Globe. “[Sibghatullah] Nooristani said he is fortunate to have left the dangers of his homeland behind, a danger he has known firsthand for much of his life. … ‘Thousands of interpreters remain stranded and in danger,’ Nooristani said. ‘When U.S. forces left Afghanistan beginning in 2011, the Taliban’s priority was to get the interpreters.’” With continued support from veteran Marc Silvestri, who served with Nooristani in Afghanistan, he’s excited to begin a new life.

UNEMPLOYED – A new study from the Center for an Urban Future has found that the coronavirus pandemic has left half of New York City’s immigrant population unemployed. For many of these workers, this economic stress is compounded by their ineligibility for public benefits, Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Christine Chung report for The City. “That means that food stamps, rent subsidies, cash assistance, unemployment insurance and stimulus checks are out of reach for most of New York’s estimated 350,000 undocumented workers and their families in the event they lose work. Meanwhile, the pandemic has laid bare existing struggles with language and technology access for the city’s immigrants, which created barriers in access to care such as telemedicine and crisis hotlines, the study found.”

ONE IN FIVE – Research from the Urban Institute found that in 2019, the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule caused one in five immigrant families with children to deny themselves critical resources like public health coverage and food assistance out of fear that it could hurt their chances of obtaining a green card or adjust their immigration status. “Although the public charge rule excludes benefits used by children as a factor in their parents’ public charge determination, reluctance to participate in public programs out of fear or confusion about immigration consequences could make it even harder for immigrant families with children to address their basic needs,” write Jennifer M. Haley, Genevieve M. Kenney, Hamutal Bernstein and Dulce Gonzalez. “This could place immigrant families’ health and well-being at risk, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic and recession.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali