Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes.
Questions abound as tent courthouses for migrants are set to open along the Texas border in Brownsville and Laredo, reports Molly Hennessy-Fiske at the Los Angeles Times. The tent courts – which were built at a cost of $25 million over the summer – are expected to be entirely devoted to hearings for migrants who have waited in Mexico under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program. What isn’t clear: Since the tent courts are built on Homeland Security land, “the public and the media could potentially be prevented from observing the hearings.”

Meanwhile, the Reuters team of Mica Rosenberg, Kristina Cooke and Reade Levinson report on how the court system along the border is failing at nearly all levels.

For reporters: As the president convenes a Situation Room meeting today on the refugee admission cap, join our press call at 11am EST that will include:
• Ryan Crocker, Diplomat in Residence at Princeton University and Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon
• Leith Anderson, President of the National Association of Evangelicals
• Gideon Maltz, Executive Director of the Tent Partnership for Refugees
• Arooj Nirmal, a former refugee who lives in Spokane, Washington, and is waiting to reunite with her husband
To join, please contact Dan Gordon for details.

Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

RELIEF, FOR NOW – California federal judge Jon Tigar has blocked a Trump administration rule that prohibits “migrants who have resided in or traveled through third countries from seeking asylum in the U.S.,” Priscilla Alvarez at CNN reports. The Monday order blocks the rule nationwide, instead of only in the states falling under the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction. This is likely heading to the U.S. Supreme Court (where DACA will be heard later this fall).
CHOBANI AND WALMART – Major brands – including Chobani, Walmart, Driscoll’s, Ben and Jerry’s, Marriot, Uber, Lyft, Tysons, Target and others – are teaming up to provide services including free legal aid and English classes to immigrants, reports Laura D. Francis in Bloomberg Law. The move is part of the Corporate Roundtable for the New American Workforce (an initiative of the National Immigration Forum): “We’re at a ‘moment in time when companies are really willing to really press into this much more’ and emphasize the benefits of hiring and developing immigrant workers, said Jennie Murray, director of integration programs at the National Immigration Forum.”

HONDURAS SAFE THIRD? – The Honduran government “is not considering a so-called safe third country designation for migrants seeking refuge in the United States,” Reuters reports. (It was previously reported in Univision that an agreement was struck between Honduras and the U.S., designating Honduras as a safe third country for Cubans and Nicaraguans.) We now know there’s pressure: The White House has directed the Department of Homeland Security “to secure ‘safe third country’–style agreements with Honduras and El Salvador by Oct. 1.,” reports Hamed Aleaziz in BuzzFeed News.

TRUMP’S METRIC – The number of migrants attempting to enter the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped for the third straight month in August, Josh Wingrove at Bloomberg reports. Roughly 64,000 migrants were apprehended or denied entry in August, down from 82,000 in July. “Migration over the southern U.S. border tends to drop in August due to high summer temperatures. A senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said in July that it wasn’t yet clear what share of the drop from May’s high can be attributed to Mexico’s actions, and how much is seasonal.” As Trump road tests his immigration re-election message (North Carolina’s special election provided an early test), this is the number he is watching. By trapping migrants south of the border through agreements and fear, the goal is to claim credit for driving down the numbers.
CREDIBLE FEAR – A Utah immigration activist in who spent years volunteering to help newcomers –and who has a social security number and a work permit – is hoping “credible fear” will save her from deportation, The Washington Post’s Lateshia Beachum reports. In a complicated case stretching over years, immigration activist Cecilia Figueroa-Figueroa may be forced to return to Guerrero, Mexico, a place that saw roughly 977 murders in the first five months of 2019 – and “a place the State Department has designated as a ‘do not travel’ area because of crime.”
Thanks for reading,
Ali