NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

According to an internal government assessment as well as interviews
with migrants, the increase in the number of unaccompanied
minors apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border "has been partly fueled by
a new Mexican law that curbs detentions of children headed to the U.S.
border," reports Lizbeth Diaz for Reuters
. "More
than two dozen adults or unaccompanied minors in Mexico who spoke to
Reuters said they believed the new measures would help them or their
offspring get to the United States and escape the poverty and violence
blighting much of Central America." 

So, what does the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border really
look like? BuzzFeed News
 photo
editor Pia Peterson has compiled photographs that "show the dire
conditions immigrants face" as thousands brave harsh journeys for a
chance to enter the U.S. For more insight on the other side of the
border, listen to Carrie Kahn at NPR
's
coverage of migrants passing through parts of
the Mexico-Guatemala border.  

I also collaborated with my good friend, Kurt Ver Beek, president and
co-founder of Association for a More Just Society
(ASJ-Honduras), to write an
op-ed for the Boston Globe
detailing how
the Biden administration can "restore the confidence of Central
Americans in their governments, and the confidence of Americans in their
border." 

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of Noorani's Notes. If you have
a story to share from your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected]
.    

[link removed]

**SOUTH CAROLINA I** - On Monday, South Carolina Gov. Henry
McMaster (R) issued a statewide executive order banning foster care
and group homes from taking in unaccompanied migrant children who
arrived at the southern border, reports Jeffrey
Collins for the Associated Press
. Ted
Goins, president and CEO of Lutheran Services Carolinas,
responded
with a letter
 to
the governor "respectfully disagree[ing]" with the order
and asking McMaster to revoke the ban, reports Mandy Matney
of FITSNews
. "We
are saddened that responding to a humanitarian crisis seems to have
become politicized," the letter reads. "The strong support throughout
the state that we have had for this ministry would suggest that many
South Carolinians appreciate our efforts to help these children, many of
whom have been through unspeakable trauma." 

**REFUGEES CAN'T WAIT** - NPR
's Mary
Louise Kelly talked to World Relief 's Jenny
Yang about the Biden administration's delay in accepting more
refugees into the U.S. despite campaign promises to increase
admissions: "We actually haven't heard specific reasons as to why the
president has not signed the revised presidential determination," Yang
said. "One of the reasons given was that they still haven't finalized
the number yet, which is startling for us because the 62,500 is a number
that the president's staff had themselves defended before Congress. ...
And we need to do the work now to start actually rebuilding back the
program."  

**OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER** - In an op-ed for Baptist News Global
,
Chris Conley, an attorney and First Baptist Church member in Athens,
Georgia, writes that the U.S. "cannot now close our border to those
fleeing the horror we helped create." Treating Central America's
struggles with violence and poverty as theirs alone obscures the U.S.
role in much of Central America's instability, Conley writes. He
points out that until a few years ago, "United States-supported
right-wing governments continued to engage in corruption that would make
the mafia blush, and which continues to wreck the entire nation with
poverty, crime and death."  

[link removed]

**SOUTH CAROLINA II**- More news out of South Carolina, per Olivia
Parsons of WSPA 7 News
:
A proposed bill, currently in the state Senate, would allow thousands
of students with DACA to obtain professional licenses, which are
essential for professions ranging from nursing to real estate to
cosmetology. "This is not a political issue. This is a
workforce issue and this is a matter of just practicality," said
Republican state Rep. Neal Collins, the bill's sponsor. Added Meghan
Smith, Director of College and Career Readiness at Spartanburg Academic
Movement: "Our entire state benefits when we have a fully-staffed
profession, especially the critical ones." According to the University
of South Carolina
,
the state is dealing with a major nursing shortage. Good stuff, Rep.
Collins.  

**WILTON'S STORY** - Wilfredo Miranda at El País
 traces
the story of Wilton, a 10-year-old migrant from Nicaragua whose
experience crying and asking for help from a U.S. Border Patrol
officer was captured via viral video. Miranda reports that Wilton and
his mother, who were fleeing domestic abuse, made it to
the U.S. border together but were promptly sent back to
Mexico under Title 42
, where
they were kidnapped and held for ransom. Wilton was released and taken
across the border without his mother after his uncle in
Miami paid $5,000. He is now at a shelter for unaccompanied minors
in Brownsville, Texas, while his mother is being held in an
unidentified location. 

**URGENCY** - On Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats  "showed a
willingness to debate legislation to address a rise in violence against
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders," reports Todd Ruger at Roll
Call
. Ruger
notes that the partisanship of recent years has prevented floor action
even for popular legislation, but Democrats cited the urgency and
straightforwardness of the bill, introduced by Sen. Mazie K.
Hirono (D-Hawaii), as reason for bipartisanship. Republicans said
they'd vote to allow debate on the bill, leaving it to Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Kentucky) to negotiate how to navigate floor votes on
amendments. "As a proud husband of an Asian American woman, I think
this discrimination is a real problem," said McConnell. Sen.
Hirono made the priority clear: "We want to make sure that everyone
understood there's a cause and effect here, but I'm open to
eliminating that so that we can get to the real issue, which is the rise
in hate crimes against AAPIs and what can we do about it." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

50 F Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20001

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Noorani's Notes
or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 50 F Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20001, United States