NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first 2021 edition of Noorani's
Notes. I hope you found peace and joy over the holidays.

On the eve of the Georgia runoff elections - both tight races that
could determine which party controls the Senate moving forward - the
increasing electoral influence of Latino and Asian American communities
is playing out in real time.

Emily Wilkins at Bloomberg

reports that Georgia Republicans "are seeking to persuade and turn out a
diverse voting bloc that largely supports Democrats but has been
receptive to some GOP messaging" - in particular, Latino communities.

Daniel Garza, president of the Libre Initiative, told Bloomberg that
after decades of ignoring Latino voters, Republicans are shifting the
Democrats' historical advantage with better targeted messaging. "It is
just now in the past few years where the numbers cannot be ignored,"
said Garza. "Latinos are very much defining races across the country."

Meanwhile, Georgia's increase in Asian American voters "was so
significant in the general election that they could play a decisive role
in the two Senate runoff races this week," Matt Stevens reports for The
New York Times
.
The growing voting bloc is indicative of a larger national trend:
November's general election illustrated that parties "must go after
nonwhite voters with the same nuanced approach and level of urgency that
has generally been reserved for white voters in swing states."

"The real victory," Stevens writes, "would be for voters of color to be
pursued with the same vigor as white voters, who are routinely grouped
into subcategories based on where they live, or their income or
education level."

Today we're doing something a little different and focusing on things
to watch for in the new year. We'll incorporate some stories that
emerged over the break, and we'll try to reserve some space for those
in the days ahead as well. If you saw a story we should consider, please
send it to me at [email protected]
. We'll be back with our regular
news updates tomorrow.

Our first podcast series of the new year will focus on what we want to
see in 2021 and opportunities for change and reform. Keep an ear out for
the trailer this Wednesday, and if you're new to "Only in America,"
catch up on past episodes here
.

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**DACA AND DREAMERS**- A Super Ball would get tired watching Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) bounce around the courts and (so
far) dodge the Trump administration's efforts to end it. The latest,
as Julián Aguilar previewed Dec. 18 in the Texas Tribune
, was a
Dec. 22 hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Texas, in a
case about the legality of the program. Hanen could issue a ruling any
day. Our take
:
Congress can and must end the whiplash for DACA recipients, other
Dreamers and the native-born Americans who love and depend on them. (The
same goes for recipients of Temporary Protected Status [TPS], by the
way.) Encouraging bipartisan reform should be among the top priorities
for the incoming administration
.

**THE BORDER AND INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT** - When it comes to crafting
border and enforcement policy, balancing both security and compassion is
the challenge facing President-elect Joe Biden and his team. The need is
urgent, as conditions at the border and in immigrant detention centers
put migrants' health and safety at risk - and degrade human dignity.
(Just one example: Hannah Dreier's heartbreaking story in The
Washington Post

last week about a detainee who wanted to be deported as COVID-19 raged
in his detention center.) Congress and the administration can keep us
secure without sacrificing our humanity: Set security and enforcement
priorities; don't overcriminalize migrants; invest in personnel,
technology and necessary physical barriers wisely; listen to and
cooperate with local law enforcement; and listen to people who live and
work in border communities. For starters.

**REFUGEES...**- Increasing refugee resettlement from the current
administration's historically (and shamefully) low cap of 15,000 is
high on Biden's immigration to-do list. As former Trump administration
Homeland Security official Elizabeth Neumann wrote in a Dec. 24 op-ed
for Fox News
,
a significant admissions increase done right will make us safer,
although it will require substantial investment in our decimated
resettlement infrastructure. Neumann, currently the Forum's senior
adviser on national security, recently wrote a paper

on the subject - be on the lookout for other papers from us focusing
on national security and immigration early in 2021.

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**...AND ASYLUM SEEKERS**- The Trump administration has effectively
ended asylum as we know it, and is (again) turning a blind eye to human
dignity in the process, as Sarah Towle documented last week in the
Boston Globe
.
The new administration should consider how it can process asylum seekers
securely, lawfully and humanely. On the subject of Central American
migration, we have some suggestions
.

**LEGAL IMMIGRATION**- President Trump continues to use the pandemic
as cover for legal-immigration restrictions, as we've been tracking
since last spring
.
Just as many of these policies were set to expire last week, he extended
them through March, as Jason Hoffman reports for CNN
.
But even as we continue to battle the pandemic, Congress and the
incoming Biden administration should look for ways to honor the
commitment of immigrants who are standing with native-born Americans and
working to keep us safe, healthy and fed amid the pandemic. (One
opportunity: The new Congress should resurrect the bipartisan Healthcare
Workforce Resilience Act
.)
Longer-term, reforming our legal immigration process will be crucial
when it comes to the future of a stable workforce, not to mention
helping ease the pressures and challenges spelled out above. Keep an eye
out early this year for more of the Forum's thinking on legal
immigration and reform.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a brighter 2021.

Ali

 

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