The U.S. has “chronically fallen short of its promise of safety” for asylum seekers for decades, an exhaustive San Diego Union-Tribune analysis led by Kate Morrissey and Lauryn Schroeder finds. Looking at 10 years of court outcomes, Morrissey and Schroeder point to systemic biases within the asylum system based on factors such as an asylum seeker’s nationality, place of arrival, judge assigned, and legal representation.

“[A] detained asylum seeker in Texas was 9.3 times more likely to be ordered deported than a non-detained asylum seeker in New York. Nationwide, asylum seekers who remained in custody were ordered deported at a higher rate — in 74 percent of cases — compared with 44 percent for those who were never detained.” Additionally, “Asylum seekers who did not have representation were ordered deported in 60 percent of cases in the Union-Tribune analysis, compared with 42 percent for those with legal help.”

The investigation concludes that “[w]ith few exceptions, most of the changes to the system since it was created have made the process more difficult for asylum seekers, particularly for those who come to the border.”

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

TURN THE SWITCH – This weekend, the House passed emergency legislation to fund U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — a move that, if supported by the Senate, would delay the agency’s plans to furlough nearly 70% of its staff at the end of this month. While funding for USCIS has bipartisan support, the path for legislation in the Senate remains unclear, reports Michelle Hackman for The Wall Street Journal. “You can’t turn the switch on and off at an agency like this. You’re going to have a backlog of legal immigration cases, a backlog at the border,” said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska). As a reminder, approximately 1,100 USCIS employees in Nebraska would be furloughed if funding does not come through.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS – Foreign-born voters make up nearly 10% of the electorate — a record percentage — and could prove to be a key constituency this November, reports Stef W. Kight for Axios. According to new analysis of Census data from New American Economy (NAE), battleground states like Texas and Florida may see sizable swings, even beyond metro areas. “Immigrants also are moving to less-expected places such as Twin Falls, Idaho (8.5%) and Cass County, North Dakota (6.8%).” Said NAE Director of Quantitative Research Andrew Lim: “I think for many years past it was just regarded as a big city issue … That is clearly no longer the case.”

WISHFUL THINKING – The Trump administration claims that the U.S. has been more generous to Venezuelans escaping the authoritarian regime of President Nicolás Maduro than Latin American countries have been — but the U.S. is still refusing to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, an irony that columnist Andres Oppenheimer points out in the Miami Herald. When it comes to Trump’s claims, Oppenheimer argues, quite the opposite is true: “According to a new report from the 34-country Organization of American States (OAS), 85 percent of the 5.2 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees who have left the country in recent years have been allowed to stay in Latin American and Caribbean countries.”

“THE PAIN HAS NEVER LEFT” – Authorities have opened a grand jury investigation into a 2018 hate crime committed on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts in which a racial slur was emblazoned on the front door of the African Meeting House, a centuries-old former church and symbol of Nantucket’s Black history. The move is an encouraging sign after what some say was a halfhearted original investigation, but it doesn’t atone for the long history of systemic neglect and abuse against the island’s growing population of color, Dugan Arnett writes for the Boston Globe. “Today, as an influx of immigrants arrive from places such as Jamaica, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, roughly 30 percent of the island’s 11,000 full-time residents are of color, and 11 percent are Black,” Arnett reports. In the two years following the hate crime, the initial outcry faded as no charges were filed or arrests made — “[f]or the growing number of island residents of color, however, the pain has never left.”

A BETTER LIFE? – Our friends at Feet in 2 Worlds, a project of The New School that trains and supports immigrant journalists, last week aired the first episode of their new podcast, “A Better Life?”, which explores how the pandemic — and America’s response to it — has shaped and reshaped immigrants’ lives. Featuring reporting from journalists from immigrant communities, the stories highlight the tough questions immigrants are faced with during this time — including whether they should ride out the pandemic in a country using the crisis to attack immigration or go back to their home countries. “We can learn a lot when we step aside and let immigrants tell their own stories,” said Zahir Janmohamed, co-host of the podcast. Tune into the first episode here.

Thanks for reading,

Ali