While his wife works on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic as an ICU nurse, Pakistani immigrant Amir Ali is being held in detention awaiting deportation for the fourth time since 2004 despite his clean record, a decade-plus of living in the U.S., ailing health, and two young children at home in California, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS News.

He worries about what his absence will mean for his family: “My wife works in a COVID ICU and she is dealing with anywhere from 10 to 12 patients every day that she goes to work. So her concern is we don't have a support system. If she gets sick, what will happen to our kids?”

Back at home, concerned about her husband and family’s health, Ali’s wife Urooj Alavi  is pleading with ICE to keep her family together: “During these challenging times, it is very important for families to be together. ICE can honor a first responder who is a law-abiding U.S. citizen and release Amir.” She says she “does not want more parades, fly-overs or signs” to honor her work on the front lines. “She wants the U.S. government to release her husband from immigration detention and allow him to stay in the U.S. with their children.”  

Welcome to Friday’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].

PRESSURE RISING – After months of plummeting migration due to pandemic-related restrictions, Central American migrants are restarting their journeys north in an attempt to escape dire economic situations in their home countries. Their renewed attempts have resulted in nearly 55,000 expulsions or apprehensions at the southwest border in September — a 238% spike compared to April of this year, report Laura Gottesdiener, Lizbeth Diaz and Sarah Kinosian for Reuters. Said 21-year-old Enoc de Jesus Ramirez, who joined a caravan after losing his job in Honduras: “Every day the situation grows worse here.” As I told Julián Aguilar of the Texas Tribune, even though migrants from Central America are aware that their chances of gaining admission to the U.S. are slim, there is something significant happening in Central America and Mexico that is forcing them to make the move. 

IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS – Despite being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, immigrant-owned businesses — which employ more than 8 million workers and generate in excess of a trillion dollars in sales — have not received substantial assistance during the pandemic. “Unfortunately, immigrant small business owners have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, as a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a third had reported significant losses. This is compounded by the fact that many owners are uncertain about their eligibility for government assistance programs,” writes Rhett Buttle in Forbes. As I told Rhett, eligibility is only half of it: Language barriers or a fear of jeopardizing long-term immigration and naturalization prospects can discourage immigrant business owners from applying for assistance in the first place. It’s going to take all of us working together to support these business owners to ensure Main Streets across America continue to thrive.

DACA FACT CHECK – In last night’s Town Hall event, President Trump blamed the administration’s changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on the pandemic. But as moderator Savannah Guthrie pointed out, the DACA program was curtailed by the Trump administration — and long before the pandemic, Los Angeles Times White House reporter Eli Stokols noted on Twitter. It’s worth noting that while the administration has made dozens of changes to immigration policy since the pandemic began, its attempt to rescind DACA dates back to September 2017. Our “Stories from the Heartland” series reveals just how deeply Dreamers have been affected by the president’s repeated attacks, even though the Supreme Court has allowed the program to survive — for now.

GLOBAL TALENT – It’s not just the lack of pandemic relief that’s hurting immigrant innovation and prosperity in the U.S.: President Trump’s tightening of restrictions on H-1B visas is suppressing economic growth by discouraging migration and starving the talent pool, writes Jay Srinivasan, an Indian-born immigrant entrepreneur who launched atSpoke — a company that streamlines IT and HR services — for TechCrunch. “By making America less welcoming, President Trump’s order will take a toll on American businesses’ ability to attract and retain the world’s brightest young people,” Srinivasan writes, noting that immigrants start businesses and create jobs at much higher rates than native-born citizens. “The true legacy of Trump’s executive order is that it will be far harder for American businesses to compete for global talent in years to come — and that will ultimately hamper job creation, slow our economy and hurt American workers.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali