A promising development: On Wednesday, a group of bipartisan senators discussed immigration reform for the first time this Congress, report Sabrina Rodriguez, Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine of Politico.
Addressing the increase in asylum seekers and unaccompanied children at the border was front and center. "You’ve got people all over the map, but I think if we really want to get something done then I think we’re going to have to try to show we’re working on what’s happening at the border right now," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
"It was a good first discussion," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina). A follow-up meeting is in the works.
The meeting came as President Joe Biden assigned Vice President Kamala Harris to lead a key component of the response to the border situation: Coordination with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Harris will work to address root causes of migration and strengthen diplomatic ties, report Jonathan Lemire, Nomaan Merchant, Lisa Mascaro and Aamer Madhani of the Associated Press. A delegation of White House
officials and members of Congress traveled to the southern border Wednesday to tour a facility for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas.
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. I’m Dan Gordon, Vice President of Strategic Communications 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].
MORE TEXAS SHELTERS — The Biden administration plans to open a second facility to house unaccompanied minors in Carrizo Springs, reports Celine Castronuovo of The Hill. The facility reportedly can house up to 500 children, with the potential to expand. The existing facility in Carrizo Springs has room for as many as 700 children ages 13 to 17. At Politico, Benjamin Din reports that the Department of Health and Human Services has asked the Department of Defense to use military Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland and Fort Bliss in Texas to house migrant children temporarily. The Pentagon is considering the request. Utilizing Department of Defense bases — and convention centers, as planned in San Diego, per the Union-Tribune — are important steps in the short-term.
HUMANITY — The journey of a 7-year-old girl alone across the U.S.-Mexico border "illustrates the extraordinary risks taken by migrant parents to get their children across the border, even if it means abandoning them for the most perilous part of the trip," reports Adriana Gomez Licon of the Associated Press. The girl says her father traveled with her for 22 days from Honduras. Apparently, after the pair
were expelled from the U.S. under pandemic-era policy, the father sent his daughter to cross without him. What the girl and her father might have been fleeing is the subject of an important op-ed in the Washington Post: León Krauze emphasizes "the very concrete context of human suffering" that is sometimes missing from coverage of the situation at the border. "If the alternative was famine, gang violence, kidnapping, rape or sexual slavery, wouldn’t you bet it all on the journey north?" Krauze writes.
HUMANITY, CONTINUED — In Forbes, Stuart Anderson speaks with Dree Collopy, chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) National Asylum and Refugee Liaison Committee and author of the book "Asylum Primer." Read it through, but a key point comes early on: "Nothing any U.S. president says is going to stop people from fleeing violence. Doing so is akin to
telling someone to stay in a burning house," Collopy says. Another Q&A, this one in The New Yorker [paywall], delves into the humanitarian issues at the border. Isaac Chotiner speaks with Neha Desai, director of immigration at the National Center for
Youth Law. "First and foremost, this entire issue needs to be seen through the lens of the fact that these are children fleeing for their lives," Desai says. " … I think what is most striking to me is the bravery and resilience of these children."
ROSA — The Rev. Rich Nathan, founding pastor of Vineyard Columbus in Ohio, brings both a biblical and personal perspective to the need for a solution for Dreamers in a Columbus Dispatch op-ed. Nathan tells the story of Rosa, a congregant who "worked hard to learn English and became an excellent student" and now is a medical assistant with a Christian nonprofit. "Through no fault of their
own, these Dreamers were brought to this country as children," Nathan writes. "The Bible sets forth this principle of justice: children should not suffer for the sins of their parents! Dreamers work hard for a better life here; they deserve the opportunity to achieve one."
STOPPING HATE — On a special episode of Only in America this week, Ali speaks with John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, in the wake of last week’s shootings in Atlanta — part of a tragic rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country. Yang shares what he’s hearing from organizers and partners on the ground, and how we can use this as a moment of change.
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