"I'm not giving up on this."



	Democrats see immigration reform as a top priority for a Biden administration should Joe Biden win the presidency and successfully swing the Senate, reports Alexander Bolton for The Hill. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Illinois) noted that immigration would be the “first issue raised” if the Democrats are successful in November, while Biden has already vowed to send legislation creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers and undocumented immigrants to Congress “on day one” of his prospective presidency.

	Yet even if Democrats do not take back the Senate, some Republicans have also indicated a willingness to work with a Democratic administration on immigration reform, Bolton writes. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), a member of the “Gang of Eight” who negotiated a bill to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants in 2013, said that the legislation could serve as a “template” for future work. “I want to solve a broken immigration system,” Graham said. “I’m proud of the efforts of the past. I’m not giving up on this. God knows we need a better immigration system, and the 11 million, we’ll treat them fairly.”  

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

	900 – More than 900 workers at private immigrant detention centers across the country have now tested positive for COVID-19, reports Daniel Gonzalez for the Arizona Republic. CEOs of four private, for-profit companies revealed the numbers in a congressional oversight hearing yesterday “amid mounting complaints that private companies have failed to adequately protect staff and detainees from the coronavirus.” Earlier this week, a 51-year-old Mexican immigrant held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Florida died after testing positive for COVID-19, Adolfo Flores and Hamed Aleaziz report for BuzzFeed News. The man’s death highlights the “inherent problems within jails — such as a lack of necessary space to accommodate proper social distancing guidelines — that put people in danger.” There are currently 883 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among ICE detainees, BuzzFeed News reports.

	BLACK LIVES MATTER – As the Trump administration continues to restrict immigration and asylum — including halting family reunification and diversity visas — Come Nzibarega, a World Relief employment specialist and refugee from Burundi, reflects on what Black Lives Matter means in an America where “African individuals have been systematically excluded from entry” in an op-ed for USA Today. Nzibarega writes that immigration policy changes from the White House, often “implemented under the pretext of COVID-19,” have “resulted in a sharp reduction to the number of Black people allowed to immigrate to the U.S. It’s hard not to wonder if the disparate racial impact is intentional. … I hope and pray that we will not just proclaim that Black Lives Matter, but insist upon public policies that demonstrate we really believe it, too.”

	TURNOVER – According to a new report from TRAC — the nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center at Syracuse University — the turnover rate for U.S. immigration judges is the highest it’s been since recording of this kind began in fiscal year 1997. As more judges retire and resign than ever before, hiring is also up, which means more cases are being heard by judges with less experience. “Even with mentoring, new judges appointed without any background in the intricacies of immigration law face a very steep learning curve. And without adequate mentoring, there is a heightened risk that some immigrants' cases could be decided incorrectly.”

	BACKLOG – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is set to run out of funding by the end of summer, is asking Congress for a $1.2 billion bailout to offset financial hardships incurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With thousands of applicants in limbo, the Boston Globe editorial board is urging Congress to act quickly — and to use the emergency funding as an opportunity to break through the backlog: “While Congress may not be inclined to clean up the mess from the Trump administration’s persistent weaponization of the immigration bureaucracy to serve its political purposes, it could save the agency from its dire straits while also implementing the accountability and oversight controls that it has lacked.”

	GROWING SLOWLY – A new report from Pew Research Center finds that Hispanics have accounted for more than half of U.S. population growth since 2010. A surprising statistic: While half of the U.S. Hispanic population lives in the border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico, the report found that North and South Dakota have seen the fastest-growing Hispanic population of any state since 2010 (129% and 66% increases, respectively). Overall, however, “the number of Hispanics is growing more slowly than it previously did, due to a decline in the annual number of births to Hispanic women and a drop in immigration, particularly from Mexico. From 2015 to 2019, the Hispanic population grew by an average of 1.9% per year, down significantly from a peak of 4.8% from 1995 to 2000,” writes Jens Manuel Krogstad. 

	Thanks for reading,

	Ali