Tomorrow, President Biden is expected to announce a task force to reunite migrant families separated at the border under Trump administration, reports Sabrina Rodriguez of POLITICO. Immigrant advocates and attorneys warn, however, that both undoing Trump’s family separation policy and starting a reunification process won’t be easy.  

Of the more than 5,500 families that were separated under the Trump administration’s "zero-tolerance" policy, the parents of more than 600 children still have not been located. In addition to the task force, "Biden is also expected to announce executive action focused on refugee resettlement and asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border."  

In related news, POLITICO’s Marianne Levine reports that the Senate will postpone a final vote to confirm Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, because of inclement weather. The vote, originally scheduled for this afternoon, will be held tomorrow. (As we've noted previously, confirming Mayorkas would be a step towards smarter immigration policy.)  

Welcome to Monday’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]. 

TPS EXTENSION — Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syrians by 18 months after consulting with interagency partners and assessing Syria’s current situation, reports Homeland Security Today. The move "enables over 6,700 eligible Syrian nationals (and individuals without nationality who last resided in Syria) to retain their TPS through September 2022 and allows approximately 1,800 additional individuals to file initial applications to obtain such status." (Our TPS factsheet breaks down what this means for recipients and for the U.S.)  

BN(O) — The U.K. "is preparing to welcome potentially tens of thousands of migrants from Hong Kong" after Sunday marked the opening of a new visa for residents for the former British colony following a sweeping national security law imposed by China, report James Griffiths and Sarah Faidell for CNN. After the law was imposed, the U.K. government announced that Hong Kongers with British National (Overseas) passports, introduced in the final years of British rule over Hong Kong, could earn British citizenship. "Under the new program, those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members will be able to travel to the UK to live, study and work, becoming eligible for settlement in the UK in five years, and citizenship 12 months after that." The number of eligible people could be as high as 3 million, but the impact of the policy remains murky: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday that China "will no longer recognize BN(O) passports as travel documents or identification proof, ‘and reserves the right to take further measures.’"  

"A MEAL AROUND A TABLE" — Evangelical leaders anticipating President Biden’s announcement on refugee resettlement plans say that more facts can improve public acceptance of the resettlement program, reports Holly Meyer of the Nashville Tennessean. Under the Trump administration, the refugee program’s historically bipartisan support diminished and became more politically polarizing — a shift that will take effort to undo.  One way to improve perceptions of refugees? "Proximity changes things," said Nate Bult of Bethany Christian Services. "Those one-on-one conversations [with refugees], having a meal around a table and viewing someone not as a refugee, but as a person — a human created in the image of God ... It's really those individual interpersonal moments that, that can change the public perception of refugee resettlement." 

BORDER DEATHS — Not only was last summer the hottest on record, but also a major part of the deadliest year on record for migrants crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S., reports Samuel Gilbert of The Guardian. According to Humane Borders, remains of 227 migrants were found along the border in 2020. The Trump administration’s harsh approach, including the "zero tolerance" family separation policy, also played a role in the high death toll, often  pushing people to cross in more remote, dangerous areas. "We need to be especially mindful of how various policies serve the same purpose … to deter migration by making it more deadly," said Texas community organizer Norma Herrera.  

DEPORTED — Rosa, a survivor of the August 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, was deported Wednesday for two outstanding citations from 2015 following a traffic stop for a non-working brake light, reports Patricia L. Garcia of KTSM-TV El Paso. Rosa and her sister had assisted investigators on the Walmart case, providing important information about the attack. "Rosa is a survivor of one of the most horrific events to ever take place in El Paso. She came forward and presented herself to both El Paso police and FBI officials to give a statement of what she saw on that fateful day," said Anna Hey of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services. "This decision amounts to a re-victimization of this young lady, who only came forward to help build the case against the shooter in the racist attack." 

DUE PROCESS — In addition to "Remain in Mexico," advocates are calling on the Biden administration to end expedited removals of asylum seekers under the Trump administration’s Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) policies, reports Fernie Ortiz for Border Report. Critics say PACR and HARP "deny asylum-seekers access to legal counsel when they’re screened by border authorities, and it often leads to quick deportation without granting them asylum claims or scheduling future court hearings." A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that under PACR and HARP pilot programs, DHS denied 69% of asylum claims between October 2019 and March 2020. "This report proves what we have warned from the start … that asylum-seekers forced to go through the Trump administration’s pilot programs do not and will not have a meaningful opportunity to truly seek asylum in the United States," said Andre Segura, legal director for the ACLU of Texas.