NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Yesterday, Stuart Anderson writes for Forbes
,
"U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White heard arguments focused on a
single question: Did the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
Department of Labor (DOL) have 'good cause' to bypass standard
rulemaking procedures and publish emergency regulations to restrict H-1B
visas?" The case, U.S. Chamber of Commerce et al. v. DHS et al.
, focuses
on two Trump administration regulations that could impact hundreds of
thousands of H-1B holders. The plaintiffs in the case - businesses and
universities led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - argued that no good
cause exists for the emergency rules, and advocated for the court to
vacate the H-1B restrictions that would force many of their valued
employees to leave the U.S.

The Department of Labor's own estimates find their rule "would cost
employers $198 billion over 10 years, making it potentially the most
expensive regulation imposed on businesses in modern U.S. history."

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]
.

[link removed]

**ENTRY FEE** - A new Trump administration rule issued yesterday
"could require tourist and business travelers from two dozen countries,
most in Africa, to pay a bond of as much as $15,000 to visit the United
States," Ted Hesson at Reuters
 reports.
"The U.S. State Department said the temporary final rule, which takes
effect Dec. 24 and runs through June 24, targets countries whose
nationals have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and
B-1 visas for business travelers." Fifteen of the 24 countries that met
the "overstay rate" of 10% or higher in 2019 were African countries. But
as Hesson points out, many of these countries send relatively few
travelers to the U.S. in the first place.

**HOPEFUL** - President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration
offers hope for refugee advocates who have seen the refugee resettlement
program decimated under President Trump's leadership, Danae King
writes in the Columbus Dispatch
.
"Refugee advocates are hoping Biden will talk to Congress on Day One of
his presidency, relaying to them his new goal for resettlement and
starting the program on a path to rebuilding." Meredith Owen, interim
director for policy and advocacy at Church World Service
, told the Dispatch that there are currently
117,945 refugees in the U.S. resettlement pipeline, and only 2,557 of
the 38,000 refugees already approved are ready to migrate to the U.S.

**BACK TO DETENTION**- As COVID-19 cases surge again, U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in California are pushing for
the detention of more immigrants in California's largely for-profit
run detention centers, Andrea Castillo reports in the Los Angeles Times
.
"COVID-19 infections have been reported at each of the private
facilities, including an outbreak of more than 150 people at Otay Mesa,
which at one point was the largest in the country and led to the first
coronavirus-related death in ICE custody." After the agency disregarded
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and failed
to cooperate with local public health authorities, "advocates are urging
California leaders to stop transfers from state prisons and jails to ICE
custody and exercise public health oversight."

[link removed]

**'RESTORE TRUST'** - President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Antony
Blinken to lead the State Department and Alejandro Mayorkas to lead
Homeland Security, Michael Crowley and Jeanna Smialek report for
The New York Times
.
"Mr. Blinken is widely viewed as a pragmatic centrist on foreign policy
who, like Mr. Biden, has supported past American interventions and
believes the United States must play a central leadership role in the
world." Mayorkas, who would be the first immigrant and Latino to lead
DHS, will have the tall task of "[restoring] trust in the department
after many key Democratic constituencies came to see it as the vessel
for some of Mr. Trump's most contentious policies, such as separating
migrant children from their families and building a wall along the
southern border." Thanks to Nick Miroff at the Washington Post for
resurfacing this great clip
of
Blinken explaining to Sesame Street's Grover the importance of
welcoming refugees. Our take: These are very smart choices
.

**'THIS WAS MY DREAM'** - Nail salons in New York City, long
powered by immigrant women, "are on the verge of collapse" as a second
wave of COVID-19 grips the city, Juliana Kim reports in The New York
Times
.
"Some nail salons have had a difficult time persuading customers that it
is safe to come in. Others especially those in Manhattan business
districts, have yet to see regular customers come back because many of
them had left the city or are working from home." Luis Gomez, the
organizing director of the New York Nail Salon Workers Association,
pointed out that the workforce "is primarily immigrant workers living
paycheck to paycheck, supporting children and in many cases sick and
aging family members in their own countries ... we anticipate that many
workers will fall even deeper into poverty." Said Juyoung Lee, who moved
to New York City from South Korea three decades ago and saved up for her
own salon after more than 20 years: "Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be
busy. I'm waiting. ... This was my dream."

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

50 F Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20001

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes
or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 50 F Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20001, United States