MILLER — Former Trump adviser and notorious immigration hardliner Stephen Miller discussed President Biden’s immigration overhaul with Republican House members at a meeting yesterday, Meridith McGraw and Gabby Orr reported for POLITICO earlier this week. Miller — "whose opposition to nearly all forms of immigration earned him the admiration of Trump and the enmity of many others" — discussed the issue
with the Republican Study Committee as they organize their opposition to Biden’s immigration plans. Todd Schulte,  president of FWD.us, put things in perspective: "There is absolutely no public opinion in the world that says Stephen Miller and Donald Trump’s immigration plans are a net positive for the Republican Party. The human consequences of those policies have been terrible and the political consequences for the [R]epublican [P]arty have been flat out terrible." (Case in point: At the meeting, Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) challenged Miller "on how Republicans can attract Latino voters given the ultraconservative policies he is advocating," per POLITICO’s Olivia Beavers and Melanie Zanona.) 

BORDER CHALLENGES — The Biden administration is facing dual challenges as it deals with an increase of migrants at the border while simultaneously untangling Trump's draconian policies, The Washington Post’s Maria Sacchetti and Nick Miroff report. "[B]ecause the Trump administration issued a public-health order effectively blocking migrants from crossing into the United States, Biden inherited an infrastructure ill-prepared to handle a big influx in the middle of the pandemic," they write. "Federal agents have taken into custody more than 70,000 migrants a month for each of the past four months, the most for that period in at least 10 years." Additionally, "the number of minors in federal custody has more than tripled to 7,000, prompting officials to reopen an overflow shelter in Texas to house them — even though the shelter is not state-licensed, as required — until officials can place them with a parent or guardian in the United States." (More on that below.) 

‘KIDS IN CAGES’ — With President Biden reopening holding facilities for child migrants, the terms being used to describe the practice (i.e. the accuracy of "kids in cages") are being challenged on both sides of the political spectrum, reports Aaron Blake of The Washington Post. Blake emphasizes an important distinction: "Trump’s policy on children at the border wasn’t controversial merely because it resulted in children being held at the border, which is a long-standing reality and is what will happen at this facility. It was controversial because it forced children to be separated from their parents." In contrast, Blake writes, the Biden administration isn’t forcing separations, and "whatever one thinks about how these children are handled once they’re taken into custody ... it bears little resemblance to what happened under Trump." Something to keep in mind: As the Post’s Silvia Foster-Frau reported earlier this week, questions over transparency remain, and "people should take note of how these emergency shelters are often located in far-flung locations away from public view." (Aura Bogado’s reporting on this is a must-read.) 

SPEAKING OF SEPARATION — As the debate over child detention continues, the parents of 506 children separated under Trump’s "zero-tolerance" policy have yet to be found. But Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff NBC News report some good news: The pro-bono lawyers and immigration advocates spearheading family reunification efforts reported Wednesday that in the past month, they’ve located the parents of 105 separated children. However, "lawyers said the parents of about 322 of the 506 children are believed to have been deported, making it more difficult to find them." ACLU Immigrant Rights Project Deputy Director Lee Gelernt, who represents the separated families, said the Biden administration’s recently formed reunification task force "should commit to bring the deported parents back to the U.S. under special protections to reunite with their children." 

COMBATTING MISINFORMATION — This week on Only in America, Ali talks to Valentina Pereda, a communications expert and documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Valentina is currently working to tracks and combat misinformation in the Latino community, particularly around COVID-19. Be sure to take a listen, and consider sharing the vaccine PSAs Valentina helped produce.