NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

 On Tuesday, former U.S. ambassador Roberta Jacobson, the White
House's lead adviser on the border; Juan González, the National
Security Council's senior director for the Western Hemisphere; and
Ricardo Zúñiga, the newly named Special Envoy for the Northern
Triangle, had a high-level meeting with Mexico Foreign Affairs
Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to discuss "humanitarian actions to spur, in
the short term, an inclusive economic development in northern Central
America," according to a statement released by the Mexican government,
reports Christopher Sherman at the Associated Press
.  

"Both sides they were focused on protecting the human rights of
migrants, but ensuring a safe and orderly migration. Ultimately, they
want to reduce the push factors driving migrants from their
countries." 

Part of the U.S. delegation is expected to hold more meetings in
Guatemala today. 

Speaking of meetings, border experts discussed "solutions, not slogans"
to address conditions at the southern border during a
media roundtable
 hosted by the Forum
and the Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) Tuesday,
along with other leading partners. A recording
 of
the conversation is available (and full video of the event will be
posted soon).  

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of Noorani's Notes. I'm
Joanna Taylor, communications manager at The Forum and your guest
editor today. If you have a story to share from your own community,
please send it to me at [email protected]
. 

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**CBP DATA** - After analyzing monthly data from U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) from 2012 to present, Tom K. Wong, Gabriel De
Roche and Jesus Rojas Venzor of The Washington Post
 "found
no crisis or surge that can be attributed to Biden administration
policies." Instead, data show that "the current increase in
apprehensions fits a predictable pattern of seasonal changes in
undocumented immigration combined with a backlog of demand because of
2020's coronavirus border closure." In fact, the seasonal increase
under the Trump administration in fiscal year 2019 was 31%, "a bigger
jump than we're seeing now." They end on a crucial note: "Focusing
on month-to-month differences in apprehensions is misleading; given
seasonal patterns, each month should be considered in relation to the
same month in previous years. Knowing those patterns, policymakers may
be better able to plan, prepare and to manage the border." 

**DEFINING THREATS** - The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS)'s October 2020 release of its inaugural Homeland
Threat Assessment identifies "illegal immigration" as one of the
seven major security threats facing the U.S. - an incorrect
assessment, Elizabeth Neumann writes in an op-ed for The Dispatch
. In a
nutshell, "DHS failed to provide facts to back up this assertion and
instead focused on why increased migration flows, like what we see
currently at the U.S. southern border, happen," she writes. "The agency
did not make the case that migration actually leads to
harm." Identifying 'illegal immigration' as a threat "implies
an undocumented immigrant poses security concerns on par with North
Korea, ISIS, or the Sinaloa Cartel. This kind of false narrative is a
distraction and will only get in the way of Congress passing meaningful
and necessary immigration reforms this session." (For more on this, see
Elizabeth's recent paper on the subject, "Immigration is Not a
Security Threat
." 

**ASYLUM IN JAPAN** - A new amendment "would make Japan's strict
immigration policies even stricter" by removing an existing provision
that suspends deportation orders for asylum-seekers who are appealing a
decision or reapplying for recognition, reports Jesse Chase-Lubitz
of Foreign Policy.
Chase-Lubitz
notes that despite having the third-largest economy in the world, Japan
has only granted asylum to fewer than 1%
 of
refugees and asylum-seekers who applied in 2019. "With the law's
revisions, asylum-seekers could apply only twice before receiving a
deportation order, with penalties imposed upon refusal," and the new
amendment "does not add a limit to the indefinite period of detention
for asylum-seekers who have been issued deportation orders, despite
condemnation from the United Nations and from human rights
groups." A group of Japanese immigration lawyers told Foreign Policy
that the changes "would in effect criminalize refugees for their
otherwise lawful execution of their rights to apply for refugee
asylum. It would criminalize their effort to avoid being returned to
the site of deadly persecution." 

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**ICE ACCOUNTABILITY** - California District Judge Terry J. Hatter
Jr. has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to
explain how and why Martin Vargas Arellano, who had severe pre-existing
conditions, died on March 8 from COVID-19 complications while in ICE
custody, reports Jennifer Doherty of Law360
. "Based
on the notice of death, it appears that the government actively
concealed the seriousness of Mr. Arellano's condition, and his
subsequent death, from his counsel and the court by reporting that Mr.
Arellano was released from detention on March 5, 2021," per Judge
Hatter. ICE also allegedly "failed to notify Arellano's family,
lawyers or Judge Hatter as his illness progressed and when he
died," Doherty notes. "To clarify the circumstances of Arellano's
death, Judge Hatter directed the government to describe in writing the
progression of Arellano's sickness and the medical care he received by
noon Tuesday." ICE and GEO Group, the contractor which owns and
operates the Adelanto facility where Arellano was detained, declined
to comment on the order (and as of this morning, there are no reports
on the court-ordered written statement.) 

**ICE IN MARYLAND** - According to documents from the Howard County
Office of Law, Maryland's Howard County has ended a 26-year
contract
 with ICE that
allowed immigration detainees to be housed at a local facility,
Ana Faguy reports for The Baltimore Sun
. The
eight ICE detainees currently in the detention center must be removed
"no later than May 18." The news comes less than a week after
Maryland Del. Vaughn Stewart's "Dignity Not Detention Act
," which
would close Maryland's three ICE facilities and prevent new ones from
opening, passed the Maryland House. "Folks have been fighting for
this for years," said Liz Alex, chief of organizing for the advocacy
group CASA .  "[This is] really responding to
a sustained public outcry. We don't want our local budget to be
balanced on the back[s] of immigrants." 

Thanks for reading,  

Joanna 

 

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