NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

A federal judge in New York City ruled over the weekend that acting
Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was unlawfully appointed and that
his suspension of protections for DACA recipients is therefore invalid,
Dennis Romero reports for NBC News
. Though the Supreme Court
ruled in June that the Trump administration could not end DACA, Wolf
"nonetheless suspended DACA pending review" in July. Meanwhile, Judge
Nicholas Garaufis pointed to a report from the Government Accountability
Office finding that Wolf was the beneficiary of an "invalid order of
succession," While Wolf was nominated for DHS secretary this summer, he
has yet to be confirmed by a Senate vote.

We're kicking off our Leading the Way
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by midnight ET to join the following day's program - we're hosting
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Welcome to Monday'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]
.

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**125,000** - President-elect Joe Biden announced Thursday that his
administration will raise the refugee admissions cap to 125,000
following successive years of drastic cuts under the Trump
administration, Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins report for
Religion News Service
.
"The United States has long stood as a beacon of hope for the
downtrodden and the oppressed, a leader of resettling refugees in our
humanitarian response," Biden said in a prerecorded video for the Jesuit
Refugee Service. "I promise, as president, I will reclaim that proud
legacy for our country. The Biden-Harris administration will restore
America's historic role in protecting the vulnerable and defending the
rights of refugees everywhere and raising our annual refugee admission
target to 125,000." As a reminder, the Trump administration set this
fiscal year's cap at 15,000
.

**UNITED**-

****Democrats and Republicans have an opportunity to unite the country
by working together on bipartisan immigration reform, writes Matthew
Soerens, U.S. director of church mobilization at World Relief, in an
op-ed for The Hill
.
Since President-elect Biden has already said immigration reform is among
the priorities for his first 100 days in office, "Republicans must come
to the table because it is the right thing to do, and it is in their own
interests." Such a move would improve the party's standing among not
only Latino voters but also white evangelicals who are "horrified by the
separation of families." Soerens points out that white evangelicals want
Dreamers to be able to stay in the U.S. and support a path to
citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they meet certain
requirements. "Biden, who will be our second Catholic president, said he
seeks to restore the soul of the United States, which John Kennedy
famously described as a nation of immigrants. Republicans and Democrats
should work to make it a reality and forge a consensus on this issue
that honors the law, keeps families together, and affirms the dignity of
all citizens."

**LIFTING US UP**-

****In a piece for the Kansas City Star
,
Arash Ferdowsi - the co-founder of Dropbox and son of Iranian
immigrants - calls on his home state and the nation as a whole to
recommit to welcoming immigrants. "I am incredibly fortunate that Kansas
welcomed my family," writes Ferdowsi, whose company now employs 2,300
and generates $1.7 billion in revenue. "Feeling fully American - and
feeling that others saw me as American - gave me the courage to pursue
my dreams and the confidence I needed to start Dropbox and create
thousands of jobs." Ferdowsi also notes that 44% of Fortune 500
companies were founded by immigrants or their children. "I want future
generations of immigrant families to get the same opportunity - so
that they can build bright futures here and lift us all up along the
way," he concludes.

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**'FIGHT TOGETHER'** - La Morada, a family-run Mexican restaurant
in New York's South Bronx, has been serving as a soup kitchen during
the pandemic by making around 650 meals a day for New Yorkers in need.
"The Mexican owners of the restaurant are activists who speak up in
defense of immigrants without authorization to live in the U.S. - a
sign, 'No Deportations,' hangs behind the door," Claudia Torrens
reports for the Associated Press
.
After getting sick themselves early in the pandemic and being forced to
close down for a month, the owners' requests for federal small
business loans were rejected due to their immigration status: Yajaira
Saavedra, who co-owns the restaurant with her parents, is a DACA
recipient and her parents are undocumented. Without federal help, local
residents, organizations, churches and nonprofits have stepped in. "It
is mostly the community pitching in and friends and allies just saying,
'We are going to do this, we are going to fight together and
survive,'" Saavedra said.

**"UNDOING"**-

****How exactly will President-elect Biden approach a post-Trump
Department of Homeland Security? The New York Times'

Zolan Kanno-Youngs interviewed 16 current and former homeland security
experts involved with Mr. Biden's transition, describing "an agenda
that aims to incorporate climate change in department policy, fill
vacant posts and bolster responsibilities that Mr. Trump neglected,
including disaster response and cybersecurity." However, Kanno-Youngs
points out, "undoing Mr. Trump's immigration policies will initially
dominate."

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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