"Come Jan. 20, Republicans should focus on practical immigration solutions that will benefit all Americans."

That’s the message from Mario H. Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, in an op-ed for Morning Consult. Noting that the nation’s support for immigrants and immigration is at historic highs and cuts across party lines, he points to bipartisan reform as a win-win: "While Republicans should not automatically accept all of Biden’s immigration proposals, GOP lawmakers who care about having a voice in forging solutions for the good of the country have many reasons to engage in good-faith efforts to work toward legislative solutions, especially to help fight COVID-19."

Meanwhile, our friends at Rational Middle are out with a broader policy solution to consider: The ID & Tax Proposal, part of their immigration documentary series. It’s a different vibe than my current binge, Netflix’s Kim’s Convenience, but still well worth your time.

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].

"TO SERVE EVERYBODY" — The political conversation around immigration is leaving local law enforcement officials in the lurch, reports Ed Crump of ABC11 in North Carolina. Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue, a member of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force, is concerned not just with an increase in hate crimes toward immigrants in his community, but with the challenge that immigrants may not report crimes because they fear deportation — which ultimately weakens community safety for everyone. "Larger conversations about policy shouldn't affect how people are protected in their communities," he told ABC11. "We're here to serve everybody."

MORALITY, CIVILITY, ECONOMY — Immigrants are essential to the Texas economy and the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, writes FWD.us Texas State Director Zaira Garcia in an op-ed for the Austin American-Statesman. As just one example, more than 30,000 recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are working on the frontlines of the pandemic in Texas alone. "It’s time for a renewed focus on immigration reform that prioritizes morality and civility while expanding opportunities to strengthen our economy," Garcia writes.

MEXICO’S APPEAL — For immigrants who work on the frontlines of the pandemic, the effects of COVID-19 have hit especially hard. As Maanvi Singh reports in The Guardian, the addition of these new challenges on top of years of anti-immigrant policies has led many immigrants in California to return to Mexico. "Things aren’t perfect in Mexico," said Javier Lua Figureo, who moved back to Michoacán three years ago after 12 years in California. But he said that with better access to social services like health care and unemployment benefits amid the financial strain of the pandemic, "in comparison to what it was in the U.S., the situation for us in Mexico right now is much better."

LONG WAIT FOR CITIZENSHIP — The long wait continues for immigrants who are eligible to become American citizens, Daniel Shoer Roth reports in the Miami Herald. Security protocols require a biometric services appointment, hundreds of thousands of which have yet to be rescheduled following cancellation during the pandemic. Overall, about 1.3 million applicants were waiting for these appointments as of mid-December, according to the Department of Homeland Security. On the bright side, some immigrants will be able to bypass these appointments: "[W]hen authorized by law, [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] will be reusing previously collected biometric data to conduct background and security checks — therefore some immigrants will be able to skip the biometrics appointment."

REMAIN IN MEXICO — Tens of thousands of asylum seekers have been forced to wait on the Mexican side of the border under the Trump administration’s "Remain in Mexico" policy — some for more than a year. Monica Campbell reports for PRI’s The World that tensions are rising: In recent days, asylum seekers who are tired of waiting, including many from Cuba, protested at the border. President-elect Joe Biden faces challenges as he looks to change the policy, walking back a promise to change it on "day one." The balance his administration needs to strike: Returning humanity to asylum policy while finding other ways to address Central American migration. We say it’s possible.

Thanks for reading,

Ali