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 convening this week, and it’s not too late to join us. Register for free by midnight ET to join the following day’s program — we’re hosting conversations from 3-5 p.m. ET daily this week. In total, you’ll hear from 39 speakers across 13 conversations on the post-election path forward, American identity amid polarization, the new economics of immigration and more. 

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].

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.

‘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