NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

New research
 from National
Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) economist Madeline
Zavodny shows that enrolling more international students "does not
crowd out U.S. students at the average American university and leads to
an increase in the number of bachelor's degrees in STEM majors awarded
to U.S. students."  

As Stuart Anderson writes in his latest Forbes
 column,
the study also finds "a drop in international students will not mean
more seats are available for U.S. students since, with limited
exceptions, there is plenty of capacity at U.S. colleges and
universities." 

Zavodny concludes that "any international students are potential
STEM professionals and their presence prompts more U.S. college
graduates to become potential STEM workers as well, two important
benefits of U.S. universities admitting international students." And as
Anderson points out, those benefits rely on more welcoming U.S.
immigration policies.  

The research further supports what we see time and time again when
looking at the economics of immigration: In higher education, as in many
other industries, there is not a trade-off between native-born
Americans and their foreign-born counterparts.  

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of Noorani's Notes. I'm
Joanna Taylor, Communications Manager at the Forum and your NN host this
week, filling in for Ali. Seen a story you think we should include?
Send it to me at [email protected]
. 

[link removed]

**OUR HEMISPHERE** - Border challenges won't be fixed at the
border, former Obama official Cecilia Muñoz said in an interview
with NPR
' s Rachel
Martin. "This is a refugee crisis in our hemisphere, and you're never
going to be able to fix a refugee crisis with the measures that we take
at the border." The solution? Longer-term investments in regional
development - and updated immigration laws. Sustainable improvements
will take time, Muñoz notes, but "[a]t the end of the day, this is our
hemisphere. We live in it and we are reaping the effects of
disinvestment over a long period of time. We are seeing the effects of
failing to fix our own immigration laws over a long period of time. They
haven't been updated since the '90s, and had we done that we wouldn't be
seeing nearly the scale of problem that we're seeing
now." Related: Ali recently spoke to Michael Bluhm with The Signal
 [paywall] about
what's driving migrants to the U.S. and the practical solutions
needed in Congress to address these challenges.  

**VOLUNTEERS** - Faith-based agencies like Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service (LIRS) are calling for volunteers and donations as
they care for the hundreds of children arriving
at the U.S.-Mexico border each day, report Emily McFarlan
Miller and Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service
. Trump's
anti-immigrant policies, coupled with pandemic-related
restrictions, left the organizations with dramatically reduced
resources and capacity, leaving them unable to prepare for an increase
in unaccompanied children and making volunteers "crucial to fill their
shortfalls." While the challenges for these groups are formidable,
leaders see it as a step towards more humane policies: "The Biden
administration has recognized the humanitarian imperative to allow
children into the country rather than sending them back to the same
dangers they fled," said LIRS President and CEO Krish
O'Mara Vignarajah. 

**INTEGRATION POLICY**- As the U.S. immigration debate focuses on
what's happening at the southern border, what's missing is a
broader conversation about "how newcomers should be integrated into
American life," writes Francisco Lara-García in an op-ed for The Los
Angeles Times
. "For
a nation obsessed with the politics of immigration and the effects
immigrants have on society, the U.S. puts very little effort into
integration policy," Lara-García writes. "[A]ny help we offer
newcomers is patchwork at best; it varies from hostility in some locales
to decent programs in others." Developing a national integration policy
(Lara-García notes that the Biden-backed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021
 includes
provisions for this) "could begin to remedy our laissez-faire approach
to inclusion" and help newcomers put their skills and education to
better use. Ultimately, he concludes, policymakers must look beyond
determining whether and how to let people into the country, but "how we
want immigrants to interact with American society once they are here." 

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**MIDWEST FARMER OF THE FUTURE** - When you think of a Midwestern
farmer, you more than likely picture a middle-aged white man growing
commodity crops like corn or soy. But the Midwest farmer of the
future, Andrew Hazzard writes for Sahan Journal
, looks
different. Hazzard profiles Rodrigo Cala, 47, a Mexican immigrant
who "has turned his 46-acre vegetable farm in western Wisconsin into a
showcase for sustainable, small-scale farming." Not only is organic
farming good for the soil and for consumers, Cala notes, but it's also
an accessible way for emerging farmers to enter a stable, growing
market. While small-scale organic farming presents an opportunity for
immigrants and people of color to take ownership in an industry
historically dominated by white farmers, Hazzard points out
that immigrant farmers also fill key gaps in an aging
workforce. "They are helping the community to survive," Cala said. 

**CHRISTOPHER** - Ten-year-old Christopher Garcia left his home in
San Pedro Sula, Honduras unaccompanied three months ago "at an age when
street gangs that dominate his neighborhood had started to recruit
him." Christopher left his family and headed north in the hopes of
reuniting with his great-aunt, a U.S. citizen living in North Carolina,
carrying her phone number written on the back of his birth
certificate. In a  Los Angeles Times
 piece with
photographs by Carolyn Cole, Molly Hennessy-Fiske details
Christopher's journey and his U.S. family's struggle to locate him
once he was taken into custody at the U.S. border. According to
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), it takes at minimum a month for federal
caseworkers to vet family and other sponsors allowed to claim migrant
children, and up to four months if a sponsor can't be
identified.  Christopher's great-aunt has been trying to claim him
since the Border Patrol contacted her on March 25, Hennessy-Fiske
writes, but "[a]s of Saturday, more than a week after he crossed the
border, she said Christopher remained in federal custody." 

Thanks for reading, 

Joanna  

 

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