Despite COVID-19 ripping through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, infecting more than 6,400 inmates and killing eight, immigrants are being held in ICE custody for longer than any other time in the past decade, according to a Reuters investigation led by Mica Rosenberg and Kristina Cooke.

Their analysis of ICE data reveals that despite pandemic-related emergency regulations that have led to the expulsion of nearly 150,000 migrants at the border since March and a reduction in detention center populations, “the average amount of time immigrants spent in U.S. detention almost tripled to three months this September compared to September 2016, before President Donald Trump took office. Detainees in September 2020 were being held nearly double the amount of time as in September 2019.”

Congressional funding for ICE, which is based on the previous year’s average detention numbers, may also play a role in elongated detention times: “Because of the Trump Administration’s severe practices at the border, the total number of detainees in ICE custody is far below budgeted levels,” said Kevin Landy, a former ICE detention official. “This creates an incentive for DHS to limit discretionary detainee releases and slow down asylum processes, to keep its detained population as high as possible.”

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].

CAMEROON CRISIS – More than 200 asylum seekers who fled dangerous conditions in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo may be deported as early as this morning back to countries “where they believe they will be immediately arrested and killed,” reports Kate Morrissey for the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Some detainees say they were forcibly coerced into signing deportation paperwork, and concerns over the possibility of falsified travel documents have also arisen as advocates and attorneys campaign to stop the deportations.” Dianne Solis reports on the Texas angle to this story for the Dallas Morning News, where detainees are being held in Prairieland. “‘We ran from our countries to be protected here,’ said Giscard Nkenglefac, a 34-year-old Cameroonian detainee who tried for political asylum. ‘Now, when they are deporting us, our lives will be at risk.’” I remember meeting asylum seekers from Cameroon last time I was in Juarez. I still think about the stories they told.

WESTERN VOICES – Refugee advocates from Idaho and Washington state are speaking out about the Trump administration’s record-low refugee cap for fiscal year 2021, Orion Donovan-Smith reports for The Spokane Spokesman-Review. In fiscal year 2020, the state of Washington welcomed 885 refugees and Idaho welcomed only 201 — down from 3,233 and 1,115 in fiscal year 2016, respectively. “‘As a country and as a culture, for centuries we’ve welcomed people who have yearned for peace and safety and a better life for themselves and their families,’ said Tara Wolfson, director of the Idaho Office for Refugees, a nonprofit responsible for refugee services in the state. ‘People who arrive here benefit, but our communities have also benefited tremendously through refugee resettlement,’ Wolfson said, citing refugees working in essential roles in health care and Idaho agriculture.”
HAITIAN TPS – As part of a series for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Erin Pierce profiles Marleine Bastien, founder and executive director of the Miami-based nonprofit Family Action Network Movement (FANM), to shed light on COVID-19’s impact on Florida’s community of frontline workers with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Bastien tells Pierce that the families she works with “have to worry about where their next meal is going to be and how they are going to pay their rent. As though that wasn’t enough, they have to think about the threat of deportation — Haiti TPS work permits and documents are only valid until January 4, 2021, which is around the corner.”
FATIGUE – Years into the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, undocumented immigrants who sought sanctuary from deportation are feeling the strain on their relationships with the churches they’re living in, Jeff Gammage reports for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Call it sanctuary fatigue: Desperate migrants, churches, and supporters joyfully join in protective alliance, only to find a year or so later that all are tired, stressed, and frustrated.” Physical proximity, cultural differences, and changing expectations all test these relationships, Gammage writes, noting most of the 40 people currently in sanctuary across 16 states have been there for two to three years. Even so, churches are staying the course: “We’re going to commit to this,” said Rev. Katie Aikins of Tabernacle United in Philadelphia. “We have to kind of trust the process.”
MILITARY NATZ – Writing for the San Antonio Express-News, Air Force veteran and National Commander of the American GI Forum Larry Romo argues that immigrants serving in the military are vital to U.S. national security and should be given a path to citizenship. “Immigrants have been serving in the U.S. armed forces since the Revolutionary War and make up more than 20 percent of Medal of Honor recipients. Crucially, immigrants also have lower attrition rates than other recruits and are less likely to leave early in their service,” Romo writes. “Making it easier for immigrants who serve to obtain citizenship is a good policy. It’s time to recognize the contributions of immigrants in our military and to encourage, not discourage, them from joining the ranks.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali