The Census Bureau reports that over the past decade, the U.S. population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790.
According to demographers, the "lower birthrate, combined with the decline in inflows of immigrants and shifting age demographics — there are now more Americans 80 and older than 2 or younger — means the United States may be entering an era of substantially lower population growth," report Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff of The New York Times,
As we predicted back in June of 2019, President Trump's (ultimately unsuccessful) efforts to include a citizenship question in the census ended up hurting red states. Todd J. Gillman of the Dallas Morning News reports that both Texas and Florida received "a smaller apportionment bounty than projected," pointing out that both states have "significant Hispanic populations" that may have been turned off by the administration’s efforts to document citizenship.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. As we approach President Biden’s 100th day in office, check out our new Score Card evaluating the administration’s progress on the list of immigration priorities we laid out in November. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
THAT’S A LOT OF ASPARAGUS — "We can’t get the labor," said Shay Myers, CEO of Owyhee Produce, a family farm growing asparagus in Idaho and Oregon, in a recent video viewed 2.7 million times. "What we usually do is bring people on an H-2A visa, but the border is so freakin’ screwed up that they can’t get people across, so we’re 30 days late. They’re telling us another 30 to 45 days before we have any laborers to pick this crop." To avoid wasting 350,000 pounds of food, Myers ultimately invited video viewers to come to the farm and take up to 100 pounds of asparagus for free, Orion Donovan-Smith reports for The Spokesman-Review. There’s a potential bipartisan solution to avoid situations like Owyhee’s in the future: the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed the House in March and is now in the hands of the Senate. (If you have a
second, tell your senator to support solutions like these.)
DEALMAKING — Mike Allen spoke to Frank Luntz for Axios about Luntz’s recent polling, which "honed a one-two punch for a doable immigration deal: Give Democratic lawmakers a real path to citizenship for Dreamers, and give Republicans tight border security that's more realistic than a wall." Luntz emphasized that "[t]he pathway to an agreement is to give both sides what they
want most." FYI, Politico Huddle reports that Luntz is due to discuss "messaging guidance on hot topics" at the House GOP retreat today. Speaking of bipartisan deals, the Forum’s Senior Policy & Advocacy Associate, Danilo Zak, is out with an analysis of The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act.
TEXAS LAWSUIT — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Texas-led lawsuit that "seeks to revive a Trump-era ‘public charge’ immigration rule, stating they need an opinion from a lower court first," reports Bryan Mena of The Texas Tribune. In 2019, the Trump administration sought to broaden the definition of ‘public charge’ in order to limit visa and green card eligibility for immigrants who receive (or are likely to receive) government assistance. The rule "was not in keeping with our nation’s values," said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "It penalized those who access health benefits and other government services available to them."
GUATEMALA — The U.S. has agreed to train members of Guatemala’s border protection task force following a Monday video call between Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, report Sonia Pérez D. and Gisela Salomon of the Associated Press. The U.S. will send 16 employees of the Department of Homeland Security to aid in the effort, and "will also help Guatemala to build shelters
for returned migrants and help the migrants transition back to life in their home communities." Said Vice President Harris in her opening remarks: "We want to work with you to address both the acute causes as well as the root causes, in a way that will bring hope to the people of Guatemala that there will be an opportunity for them if they stay at home." President Giammattei told Harris that his country’s government would like to be a "partner" to the U.S. to address "not only poverty, but so many evils that affect us."
SHELTER UPDATE — The Department of Health and Human Services has doubled its capacity in the past month by adding more than 14,000 emergency intake shelter beds, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Kristen Holmes report. In addition to issues finding adequate space, staffing remains a challenge, with FEMA and USCIS personnel providing assistance. While the government has made strides in terms of reducing the time children spend
in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, the National Security Council’s Transborder Security Director Andrea Flores said what the administration "want[s] to build towards is making sure that every child is first reunited with family in the United States, but second, as they wait to be reunited, they are in the safest shelter possible." Per Hamed Aleaziz, the number of children currently in CBP custody is around 1,400 — down from 5,300 in March.
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