Nearly 2,200 Central American migrants who have been awaiting their U.S. immigration hearing dates in Mexico have turned instead to the U.S. State Department’s “Assisted Voluntary Return” program, per Mica Rosenberg, Kristina Cooke and Daniel Trotta at Reuters. The $1.65 million program offers migrants transportation back to their home countries. Extensive wait times and dangerous living conditions in Mexico have left many with a difficult decision to make.
Nicolas Palazzo, an attorney at the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center based in El Paso, told Reuters, “How can it be a voluntary decision (to return home) given the conditions they face in Mexico? It’s a choice between two hells.”
Welcome to the Thursday edition of Noorani’s Notes.
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PATRIOTIC – When it comes to better understanding the realities faced by military members with undocumented family, Cesar Vargas, a former DACA recipient and now a new member of the U.S. Army Reserve, offers the commander in chief some advice: “Talk to your soldiers … These are soldiers who are incredibly patriotic, who love this country just as I do, but who have families whose parents are undocumented." CBS News’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez describes how Cesar’s mother, Teresa Galindo, may finally be able to adjust her immigration status and visit her parents’ graves because she may “be among the last beneficiaries of the ‘Parole in Place’ program.”
FLORES – Maria Sacchetti at the Washington Post digs into the details behind the administration’s efforts to abandon the Flores Settlement Agreement, which would “eliminate a 20-day cap for detaining migrant children and create a new licensing regime that would make it easier for federal officials to expand family detention nationwide.” Gretchen Frazee at PBS adds, “The new rule is expected to take effect in approximately 60 days unless a judge intervenes. Groups that advocate on behalf of migrants have already filed a motion to hold the government in contempt based on a draft of the rules that [were] published last year.” Find our take here.
REJECTING REFUGEES – A potential Trump administration policy could give states and cities the power to decide if they’ll participate in resettling refugees. Julia Ainsley at NBC News reports on the draft executive order: “If a state or local jurisdiction does not agree to take in refugees, the federal government will have to find another location, according to the draft. An exception to this rule would be made in the case of resettling spouses or children of refugees already settled.” Beyond the morally questionable motivations of this idea, consider the losses incurred by communities whose politicians decided to forgo the economic contributions of refugees.
BIRTHRIGHT – Once again the White House is signaling a potential push to end birthright citizenship, reports Jeff Mason at Reuters. “The Constitution’s 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War to ensure that black Americans had full citizenship rights, granted citizenship to ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States.’ It has since routinely been interpreted to grant citizenship to most people born in the United States, whether or not their parents are American citizens or legally living in the United States.” The administration appears very aware of an important date on the horizon and is spending a lot of time energizing a slice of the public around it.
VETO – North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that would have forced local law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, per Tina Terry at WSOC. In a statement, Cooper wrote, "This legislation is simply about scoring partisan political points and using fear to divide North Carolina. As the former top law enforcement officer of our state, I know that current law allows the state to jail and prosecute dangerous criminals regardless of immigration status.”
DACA UNCERTAIN – As the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) heads to the Supreme Court later this year, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warns that the “skies are darkening” for the program, with Chief Justice John Roberts likely providing the swing vote. “Despite his occasional tendency to break from traditional ideological expectations, Roberts remains predominantly conservative in his rulings. And core conservative ideology tends to support broad executive powers – and oppose judicial second-guessing of executive-branch policymaking – which would seem to favor the administration's efforts to repeal DACA.” Congress has used court proceedings to justify its inaction, but those days may be numbered.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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