NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

 On the campaign trail, President Biden pledged to create a task
force on day one of his presidency to reunite all migrant families
separated at the border under the Trump administration. But a formal
announcement of the task force will likely be delayed, report Julia
Ainsley, Jacob Soboroff and Geoff Bennett of NBC News
. 

The administration was expected to announce the task force and other
immigration-related actions at the end of this week. "But other key
details are still being worked out, such as what factors may disqualify
families from being reunited and whether those who do qualify but have
been deported will be given special protections, such as humanitarian
relief, to come to the U.S." 

Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke at Reuters
 break down
the slate of executive orders expected soon: In addition to the
reunification task force, the administration plans to undo some of
Trump's asylum restrictions, take actions to address the root causes
of migration (for more on this, listen to our latest Only in America
 episode),
review the legal immigration system and begin the process of rescinding
previous regulations and proclamations, and lay out principles for a
revamped refugee policy. 

Buckle up. None of these changes can, or will, happen quickly or
easily.  

Welcome to Thursday'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]
. 

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**8 GRANDCHILDREN** - Felipe Ortega is an undocumented immigrant
with no criminal record. He has lived and worked in the U.S. for 30
years and has eight U.S. citizen grandchildren. On Inauguration Day,
he was deported to Mexico for a 15-year-old outstanding
deportation order - around 24 hours before President Biden issued
policy changes that could have spared him, report Mica Rosenberg,
Kristina Cooke, and Jose Luis Gonzalez at Reuters
. Biden's
actions, and the Ortega family's experience, "[show] how, without a
long-term fix from Congress, the fate of millions of immigrants can
change dramatically with the flick of a presidential pen."
BuzzFeed News
' Hamed Aleaziz,
per usual, has the skinny on the new administration's approach to
immigration enforcement: According to a draft memo from U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), "groups of people ICE
officers would focus on include those suspected of being a national
security threat, recent border crossers, and those who have been
released from jail after being convicted of an aggravated felony." In
other words, not those like Felipe Ortega.  

**'LIVES DERAILED' **- Their hopes and dreams were
American, and some had lived here for many years, but over the past
decade more than a million undocumented immigrants "were either
deported or chose to go because they saw no future for someone who was
undocumented in the United
States." In a moving opinion piece for The New York Times
, Haverford
College Professors Anita Isaacs and Anne Preston and photography
editor Patrick Montero, co-directors of the Migration Encounters
 project, share the stories and
portraits of some of the 430 former immigrants now living in Mexico
City that they've interviewed for the project. Among them is
26-year-old Luisa Rodriguez, who lived in the U.S. for 12 years:
"There is a stigma with coming back ... It feels pretty awful because
you came back from a place where you weren't considered American either,
so where does that leave you?" As Isaacs and Preston write, "[t]he
contributions of immigrants, and the human toll of anti-immigrant
policies, should take center stage as we renew our national conversation
on immigration."  

**EQUITABLE ACCESS** - COVID-19 vaccines have brought a sense of
hope to many Americans, but that hope is "not necessarily shared by a
vital segment of the population: noncitizens," write Rep. Raúl M.
Grijalva (D-Arizona), Medha D. Makhlouf, Dr. Megan L. Srinivas, and
Gilberto Lopez in an op-ed for The Hill
.
"The CDC and the Biden-Harris administration have promised no-cost
vaccines for 'Americans.' But who does this include?" The op-ed
authors point out that ensuring equitable vaccine
access for  noncitizens, many of whom work in essential industries,
is "a matter of keeping society functioning during this national
emergency, ending the risk of contagion as soon as possible, and
protecting the personal and economic liberty of the American people." 

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**10 MORE** - In a column for the Arizona Republic
, Elvia
Díaz makes the case for bipartisan immigration legislation and
explains how Biden could get Republicans on board for his proposed
immigration legislation (the incoming bill needs the support of 10
Senate Republicans, in addition to all Democrats, in order to
pass).  The business case for a legislative solution is easy to
make: "It's a great thing to access hard working and talented people
who can work in different companies," said Glenn Hamer, head of the
Arizona Chamber of Commerce. "[S]mart and sensible people ... know the
economy benefits when millions come out of the shadows and when American
companies are able to tap into talented and skilled workers around the
world," Díaz concludes. "Aren't there at least 10 Republican
senators smart enough and brave enough to do the right thing?" 

**CONTRIBUTING** - Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgette
Bisoka, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has
lived in Idaho since 2012, "believes her family and other refugees
face deeper challenges than some U.S. residents who aren't
immigrants." She spoke to Rachel Spacek of The Idaho Press
 about what
refugees are facing: Language and translation barriers, navigating
unemployment claims, lack of access to resources and more. While
organizations like Boise's International Refugee Committee
have helped to translate CDC materials for refugees, it's still a
challenge to get the info to those who need it most. Despite their
barriers, refugees continue to make vital contributions to their
communities: "They are your nurse, your doctor, and are in charge
of cleaning and keeping our factories going, driving buses and more,"
said Tara Wolfson, director of the Idaho Office for Refugees. "They
have kept going to make sure that we can continue to move forward in our
community." 

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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