NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

According to internal memos and emails obtained by The Washington Post
,
new agency rules at U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) point to a more focused use of immigration
enforcement resources, report Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti.  

In an email to senior staff, Acting ICE Director Tae
Johnson said immigrants "should be considered public safety threats
if they have an institutional record of violent behavior,
well-documented gang affiliations or aggravated felony
convictions." Note, however, that these draft guidelines are awaiting
approval by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas.  

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]
.  

[link removed]

**REFUGEES** - Faith-based resettlement groups say that rebuilding
the U.S. refugee program in a post-Trump era will take time and
money, Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins report for Religion
News Service.
 A
recent executive order
 positions
the Biden administration to raise the refugee ceiling from 15,000 to
125,000, but the shift will be gradual: Demetrio Alvero, director of
operations for Episcopal Migration Ministries, welcomed the new
administration's change in direction. "But Alvero doesn't expect the
actual numbers of refugees physically resettled in the country to change
much this year. Instead, he described the numbers Biden has discussed as
'an aspirational goal and a signal to all the agencies - the
resettlement agencies, as well as the governmental ones - we have a
policy shift.'" 

**"WAIT AND SEE"** - Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on
Saturday that the Biden administration is taking steps to
end Trump-era "safe third country" agreements with El Salvador,
Guatemala and Honduras that require migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
to first apply for protections in those countries, reports Sabrina
Rodriguez of POLITICO
. Solutions
are sorely needed as "[n]ew families every day have been collecting
in Mexican border towns," Miriam Jordan and Max Rivlin-Nadler write
for The New York Times. In El Paso, one of the largest cities along
the border, community organizations are preparing for new challenges,
KFOX El Paso
's Keenan
Willard reports: "I'm still in a 'let's wait and see,'
posture," said Ruben Garcia, director of the migrant shelter
Annunciation House. "Garcia said he wouldn't know how to adapt to
safely take in large numbers of migrants during the pandemic until the
future of border policy became clearer." 

**BORDER UNDER BIDEN** - In a three-part series
 titled "Border Under
Biden," Arizona Public Media and High Country News reporters Ariana
Brocious, Alisa Reznick and Jessica Kutz explore the "implications for
Donald Trump's border wall now that President Joseph Biden has taken
the helm." The series highlights Tribal leaders, Borderlands
communities, and environmentalists combatting the destruction of
sacred lands and ecological damage caused by Trump's signature
project. Vicki Gaubeca, the Tucson-based director of the Southern
Border Communities Coalition , is
urging the Biden administration "to shift away from a
decades-old 'disastrous law enforcement-only
approach' ... toward 'a human-rights-first approach that expands
public safety, protects human rights, and welcomes residents and
newcomers at the border.'" 

[link removed]

**UNCERTAINTY** - Juana Luz Tobar Ortega fled violence in
Guatemala and has lived in the U.S. for decades. José Chicas has
lived here for a similar amount of time, and his wife and children are
U.S. citizens. Both Juana and José spent much   of the past
three years living in sanctuary in North Carolina churches - but in
the wake of the Biden administration's deportation moratorium and the
legal challenge currently blocking it, they're uncertain of their
future, report Aaron Sánchez-Guerra and Virginia Bridges for The
News and Observer
. While José left
sanctuary while the moratorium was briefly in place, Juana and another
undocumented immigrant, Eliseo Jiménez, said their lawyers warned
them the moratorium "wasn't enough to guarantee their safe departure."
Said Juana: "We're asking for clarity from the president if we are
going to continue in the same situation, if he will let us go or if he
will give us some kind of legal status so that we can get out of this
nightmare that we're living."  

**ATDS** - Following President Biden's executive orders addressing
family separation and asylum seekers, around 100 activists from
Pennsylvania and other states convened Wednesday in
Washington, D.C. calling on the administration "to do away with
another immigration policy: one that keeps immigrant families together,
but in detention," reports Anthony Orozco for WITF
. According
to Biden's official immigration platform
, he wants to "end prolonged
detention and reinvest in a case management program." As a reminder,
there are effective and affordable alternatives to detention
(ATDs) which have
proven effective at a fraction of detention costs. 

**JABS FOR ALL** - As the
U.K. accelerates its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the
British government wants to make it clear to
the country's estimated 1.3 million undocumented residents that
immigration status will not be a barrier to
receiving the vaccine, AFP
 reports. "Coronavirus
vaccines will be offered to everyone living in the UK free of charge,
regardless of immigration status," said a government spokeswoman.
However, officials "also fear large numbers within black African and
south Asian communities could also be reluctant to take part in the
vaccine drive, partly because of mistrust."  

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

50 F Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20001

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes
or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 50 F Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20001, United States