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].

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."

‘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