NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Edward Alonso-Castillo, an NYC small business owner and father of
three, was hospitalized this week and "is 'at high risk of health
complications including another stroke, blood clots and even death' if
he doesn't get the care he needs" - yet he remains in U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, Nicole Acevedo
reports for NBC News
.  

New ICE guidelines under the Biden administration direct the agency to
focus on security threats, those convicted of "aggravated" felonies and
those who have recently crossed the border - in other words,
Alonso-Castillo should no longer be a priority for detention or
removal. However, ICE still has a standing order of removal against
him after arresting him on his way to work in January for being
"unlawfully present." 

"Just like Alonso, there's many other immigrants that have faced the
same things, where they shouldn't have been detained, but were
detained," said Luba Cortes, an immigrant defense coordinator
at Make the Road New York . "So, that
really makes us question what's happening with this new
administration. We want to hold this new administration accountable, as
well." 

Aloso-Castillo's case highlights just one example of the health
concerns that come with immigration detention.  In the U.K., a
COVID-19 outbreak at former army barracks now housing asylum seekers
spread after authorities were warned in September that the facilities
"were not suitable as accommodation for large numbers of people during a
pandemic," POLITICO
's
Cristina Gallardo reports. 

And following a devastating winter storm in Texas, Adolfo Flores and
Hamed Aleaziz at BuzzFeed News
 share
stories from ICE detainees who went days without regular access to
drinking water. "I understand this entire situation in Texas is very
unusual and extreme and everyone is doing the best they can,"
said Allison Herre, managing attorney for the legal services provider
Proyecto Dilley. "But [ICE] still has a responsibility to maintain the
safety of all residents in their care and they do have the discretion to
release them if they so choose to if they can't provide for their
safety." 

Welcome to Friday's edition of Noorani's Notes. I'm Joanna
Taylor, communications manager at the Forum and your guest host for the
next few NN editions. If you have a story to share from your own
community, please send it to me at [email protected]
. 

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**DREAM UPDATE** - Today at 11:30 ET, Sen. Dick Durbin
(D-Illinois) will give an update and answer questions on the DREAM
Act
 he
recently introduced with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). In
partnership with co-hosts ABIC  and
United We Dream  (plus a number
of co-sponsors including the Forum), the event will draw attention to
the broad support for DREAM legislation, which champions an 8-year
pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and DACA-eligible young
people. Register for the briefing here.
 (Speaking
of bipartisan support for reform: ICYMI, the Immigration Partnership
& Coalition Fund hosted a bipartisan virtual summit
yesterday calling for
an immigration overhaul this year.) 

**CAPACITY** - Long-term facilities for unaccompanied migrant
children are nearing maximum capacity, reports Nomaan
Merchant of the Associated Press
. The U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday that it would
expedite minors' release to relatives in the U.S.
and "authorized operators of long-term facilities to pay for some of
the children's flights and transportation to the homes of
their sponsor." Merchant points out that while HHS "drastically cut"
its capacity amid the pandemic, Border Patrol agents are apprehending an
average of more than 200 unaccompanied minors a day. This has led
to hundreds of children being held in Border Patrol stations, which are
not equipped for long-term care - including some who have been
held for longer than the official 72-hour limit, per Stef W. Kight
and Jonathan Swan at Axios
.  

**MILITARY** - The Justice Department is scheduled in March to
defend a Trump-era policy "that makes it more difficult for immigrant
soldiers to become U.S. Citizens, despite President Joe Biden
directing his administration to ease paths to naturalization for those
who serve in the military," reports Tara Copp for McClatchy DC
. "Obviously, we
would hope that [the Biden administration] would review it and revoke
it," Scarlet Kim, one of the attorneys representing military service
members in the case, said of the policy. "From our perspective, it's
completely at odds with Biden's public pronouncements about reviewing
naturalization policy." Copp notes that the policy "led, in some
cases, to yearslong delays for immigrant service members who were
unable to perform their assigned military duties because of a backlog in
additional security vetting ... or found their citizenship status in
limbo for years." 

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**BACK HOME** - After more than three years living in
sanctuary in Maplewood, Missouri, Alex Garcia, a Honduran-born father
of five who is married to a U.S. citizen, left the Christ Church United
Church of Christ on Wednesday, reports Nassim Benchaabane for
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
. Former
ICE prosecutor Javad Khazaeli, who is now a civil rights and
immigration attorney, told the Post-Dispatch: "After many conversations
with ICE, they explicitly told me that Alex is not a priority; that they
will not be using federal resources - because it's a waste of
resources - to try to rip a family apart when they can focus on people
who are really hurting our communities."  

**WEEKEND WATCHLIST** - First-time screenwriter Danny
Kravitz landed a star-studded cast and a box office success with a
plotline "that stems from the realities of controversy over how to
handle individuals seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border," reports
Stephanie Haney of WKYC Cleveland
.
Kravitz's
first major motion picture, "The Marksman," stars Liam
Neeson and "highlights the human element at the center of American
immigration policy, the competing interests at play, and how for the
most vulnerable among us, it can be a matter of life and death." The
film is set to be available on streaming platforms soon. 

Have a great weekend,  

Joanna

 

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