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UNACCOMPANIED MINORS — Five young girls from Honduras, including a toddler and an infant, were found alone near the South Texas border on Sunday, reports Tim Stelloh of NBC News. "It is heartbreaking to find such small children fending for themselves in the middle of nowhere," said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin L. Skero. Moreover, it underscores the need for humane, compassionate solutions that help pair unaccompanied minors with sponsors as quickly as possible. As of Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said a total of 700 children were in Border Patrol custody, down from a record of nearly 6,000 in March. BIPARTISANSHIP — 29 Democrats and four Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives voted in favor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044, which will give voters an opportunity next year to repeal parts of a 2006 law banning in-state tuition for undocumented students, Laura Gómez reports for the Arizona Mirror. "We need more educated youth to become tomorrow’s teachers, health care workers, lawyers, engineers and a host of other occupations, especially if we want to continue to lower taxes," said state Rep. Michelle Udall (R-Mesa). For more on this win in the House, read Elvia Díaz’ piece in the Arizona Republic [paywall] on how Reyna Montoya, a DACA recipient and founder and CEO of Aliento, got the Republican-controlled Arizona legislature to support Dreamers. CONGRESSIONAL LETTER — A coalition of more than 20 organizations, led by The George W. Bush Institute and comprised of conservative, business, and religious refugee groups, published a letter calling on Congress to pass immigration reform, reports Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill. The current situation at the border "is not new, nor is it political: we have seen similar numbers at the border before, and, without meaningful bipartisan action, we will see them again," the letter reads.
2,500 MILES — For 11-year-old Melissa, reuniting with her mother on April 2 "marked the end of a 2,500-mile journey that began in Guatemala in February, progressed over land through Mexico and then ended in a hazardous raft trip across the Rio Grande into Texas," reports Miriam Jordan of The New York Times with photos by Mark Abramson. Nearly 7 years after Melissa’s mother, Ana Parades, emigrated to the U.S. to find work, the two were finally able to hug again. Over the past six months alone, "nearly 50,000 migrant children like Melissa have crossed the southwestern border on their own, an extraordinary new wave of immigration that has left authorities scrambling to open shelters and locate family members in the United States." And yet the journey isn’t over: "Like other unaccompanied minors entering illegally, Melissa has been placed in removal proceedings. Her family hopes she will win a reprieve." CANADA — In an op-ed for Fortune, Mark Glanville, co-author of Refuge Reimagined: Biblical Kinship in Global Politics and an associate professor at Regent College, makes a case for why the Biden administration should follow Canada’s lead when it comes to admitting more refugees. In 2015, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees fleeing civil war — and later surpassed his goal, resettling a total of 25,555. "To put some of these numbers into perspective, if the U.S., with its far larger population, were to resettle as many refugees per capita as Canada, it would be welcoming more than 565,000 refugees per year," he writes. " … And if he needs advice on how to make that happen, he should call up Justin Trudeau." MISSISSIPPI DELTA — BuzzFeed News’ Kate Bubacz spoke to photographer Emanuel Hahn about the singular oral history project he launched with Andrew Kung in 2018 to showcase Asian American communities in the Mississippi Delta. The nearly 20 people they interviewed for the project include fourth-generation farmers and grocery store owners. "We appreciated the fact that Asian Americans come from so many different countries, so many different backgrounds, and through circumstance and through whatever historical reason they're placed in different parts of the U.S.," Hahn said. "We just wanted to tell different stories." Thanks for reading, Ali |
