LEGAL IMMIGRATION — Noting that "President Biden’s most important legacy for the future of the U.S. economy and population may be a welcoming immigration policy," our friend Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) summarizes a bevy of new research on the importance of legal immigration for Forbes, including a research paper written by NFAP’s Madeline Zavodny and the Forum’s new Room to Grow analysis.  Zavodny’s paper speaks to how international migration can play a larger role in contributing to U.S. employment growth in both urban and rural communities, while the Room to Grow analysis from myself and colleague Danilo Zak suggests that setting immigration levels based on the Old-Age Dependency Ratio (OADR), or the ratio of working-age adults to adults at retirement age, is the best way to build an immigration system that meets our nation’s demographic needs. (We’ll be discussing the paper with our friends from Cato and Niskanen at 2:30 p ET today — register for the virtual event here.) Speaking of legal immigration: For the final episode in our Only in America series on the new administration’s first 100 days, I talked to  FWD.us President Todd Schulte about undoing harmful Trump-era policies, and why a broader vision for a legal immigration system is vital for our nation’s future.  

CARRIZO SPRINGS — The Biden administration will open an overflow facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, for migrant children apprehended at the US-Mexico border, reports CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez. The facility, which can accommodate around 700 children, "comes amid an increase in apprehensions of unaccompanied children on the Southwest border, fueled in part by deteriorating conditions in Latin America and a perceived possible relaxation of enforcement, and reduced capacity limits at other facilities due to Covid-19." As of Thursday, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had some 4,730 children in their care, with case managers working to place them with a parent or relative in the U.S. As we mentioned in yesterday's Notes, the new administration also announced it will not expel unaccompanied children. Alvarez notes that while Biden’s actions are a welcome step, many migrants in desperate situations still face uncertainty: "In the absence of information over when border policies will be pulled back, immigrant advocates and attorneys, who work directly with migrants along the southern border, have been scrambling to get clarity to advise people, many of whom are in life or death situations."  

BACKLOG — The Biden administration faces a backlog of 380,000 people waiting to immigrate to the U.S., a staggering figure which immigration experts warn "could burden the [visa application] system for years," reports Caleb Hampton of The New York Times. Luwam Beyene, a permanent U.S. resident and mother of two, is struggling to provide for her family as her husband’s application process remains stalled in Ethiopia: "He was near the finish line, awaiting only an in-person interview with a consular officer, when the pandemic temporarily shut down U.S. consulates last spring. ‘They froze everything and we never heard from them again,’ Ms. Beyene said." President Biden has indicated he will lift his predecessor’s suspension of most legal immigration, but Hampton explains that staffing shortages at U.S. consulates worldwide, COVID-19 restrictions and other limitations further complicate the issue. 

'ROGUE AGENCY’ — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces "multiple allegations of human rights abuses and allegations that it has disproportionately targeted black migrants" amid new claims of abuse and the continuation of deportations in defiance of Biden administration orders, reports Julian Borger for The Guardian. In affidavits published by a coalition of immigrant rights groups, Cameroonian asylum seekers "said they were tortured by being forced to approve their own deportations." ICE has also been deporting people who do not meet new DHS criteria: Paul Pierrilus, a financial consultant from New York State, was deported to Haiti on Tuesday despite having never visited the country or holding Haitian citizenship. "Unfortunately, Paul’s story is not uncommon," said U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-New York). "Black immigrants have been disproportionately targeted and deported by our racist, inhumane immigration system, particularly in recent weeks." 

‘RIGHTING THE WRONGS’ — Faith-based groups are applauding President Biden and sharing their hopes for his administration’s family reunification task force, reports Emily McFarlan Miller for Religion News Service. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, which along with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has assisted the government in reuniting more than 1,100 families amid the family separation crisis, called the task force "a monumental first step in addressing the imperative question of how we make these families whole again" in a statement from President and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah. Nathan Bult of Bethany Christian Services added that making these families whole again is "not just about reunifying families or, you know, providing relief from deportation, but it’s also about righting the wrongs and making sure that they can start a new life on the right foot."