NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Did you know an immigrant who is not yet a citizen can protect our
nation as a member of the military, but in many states cannot serve and
protect their community as a police officer?  

Well, the fine people of Utah are doing something about that.  

On Wednesday, the Utah House of Representatives approved a bill
that would help noncitizens become police officers "so long as they are
lawful residents, have been in the United States for at least five years
and have legal authorization to work," reports Taylor Stevens of The
Salt Lake Tribune
.  

"We have a lot of people that are here legally but are not U.S. citizens
that would love to have the opportunity to be in law enforcement or a
dispatcher," said state Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield), the bill's
House sponsor.  Though the bill passed with a unanimous vote, "the
House later recalled the bill for an amendment from Rep. Ryan Wilcox
that removed the requirement that a noncitizen be a 'permanent'
legal resident," notes Stevens. The amended version passed and will now
go back to the state Senate before heading to the governor's desk for
approval. 

Good on you, Utah.  

Welcome to Friday'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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**DEL RIO** - Along the U.S.-Mexico border, aid organizations and
government officials are working to manage a rise in the number of
families crossing the border, The Wall Street Journal
's
Alicia A. Caldwell reports. The Val Verde Border Humanitarian
Coalition  in Del Rio, Texas, typically
assists around 25 migrants a week - in the last week of January 341 
passed through, "quickly overtaxing the organization's resources and
leaving it nearly out of supplies, said its director of operations,
Tiffany Burrow." In addition, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection "recently opened a 160,000-square-foot tent complex along
the border in Texas's Rio Grande Valley to process and house the
growing number of new migrants." Some migrants shared that they are
entering the U.S. "in anticipation of less harsh treatment under the
Biden administration,"  Caldwell adds. 

**ON THE MOVE AGAIN** - In 2020, a shelter in southern Mexico
known as "The 72" hosted 3,000 migrants. In just the first six weeks
of 2021 that number is already at 1,500, Isabel Mateos and
María Verza report for the Associated Press
. 
Reasons for the recent surge vary: Hope in the new Biden administration,
borders reopening, two major hurricanes in November havocking Central
America, and "desperation deepened by the economic impact of the
pandemic." Mexico "has so far said it will continue enforcing an
'orderly' migration, which in practice has meant trying to contain
migrants in the south since Trump threatened tariffs on all Mexican
imports in 2019. ... authorities had made 50 raids on freight train
lines since Jan. 25 in southern and central Mexico, detaining nearly
1,200 migrants." 

**THE JOY** - After fleeing gang threats in Honduras - and
being kidnapped for ransom in Mexico while waiting for asylum
- a father and son have finally been allowed to enter the U.S.,
reports Miriam Jordan of The New York Times
. José and his 4-year-old
boy, Santiago, waited almost two years under Trump's Migrant Protection
Protocols (MPP), a.k.a. the "Remain in Mexico" policy, to cross the
border. José, among the first to be admitted to the U.S. under the
Biden administration's rolling back of the policy, told the Times:
"We just entered. Thank God, we made it. I don't have words to express
the joy that I feel now, to be able to join my family."  

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**GOOD AND BAD** - Stuart Anderson unpacks "the good and the bad"
of the Biden administration-backed immigration bill introduced
yesterday in a column for Forbes
,
focusing on the impacts for companies and employment-based immigrants.
The good: The bill's employment-based green card reforms "may allow
America to retain talented people who otherwise might grow so frustrated
they decide to leave the United States for Canada or return to their
home country." Plus, the bill would end limits to the number of
visas allowed for spouses and children of family- and
employer-sponsored immigrants. Among the downsides? "The bill would
allow the secretaries of Homeland Security and Labor to 'temporarily
limit' employment-based immigrants from entering the U.S.," a
provision Anderson warns is "ripe for abuse." For a broader look at the
bill, Reuters
 has
a summary of the overall toplines. 

**AMERICAN ATTITUDES** - In a new report
 released 
Thursday by the American Immigration Council's Center for Inclusion
and Belonging, authors Nichole Argo, Ph.D., and Kate Jassin, Ph.D.,
assess what immigration issues Americans hold most sacred - and why
that matters. Their findings stem from a nationwide survey of 1,370 U.S.
citizens last March assessing their stances on 14 main issues prominent
in the national immigration debate. Their conclusion? "People with
sacred, opposing stances can work to discover core underlying values
that both sides hold in common - and those values or perspectives can
then be affirmed. If this common ground is found, a new dialogue can
begin." 

Thanks for reading,

Ali

 

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