|
REUNIFICATION — According to a Wednesday court filing, lawyers have found the parents of 54 more migrant children who were separated from their families under Trump’s "zero-tolerance" policy, Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff report for NBC News. The parents of 391 children have yet to be contacted, down from 445 in April. The pro bono lawyers tasked with locating them "say the parents of 227 of those children have been deported, 100 are somewhere in the U.S. and 14 have no contact information that the government has provided." The family reunification task force established by the Biden administration estimates approximately 1,000 families remain separated. DIVIDING LINE — For The Washington Post, Michael Robinson Chavez and Mary Beth Sheridan produced a powerful interactive story that paints a picture of the realities at the U.S.-Mexico border — for both the Biden administration and for Central American migrants. The project features striking photos capturing migrants' journeys north, overlayed with quotes from migrants, officials and others. Pastor Juan Fierro, who runs the Good Samaritan shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, said that migrants "are moving from one border crossing to another, thinking that at this spot they can pass. People don’t realize it, that they’re sending them back here … they think that they’ve gotten into the United States. And when they are least aware, suddenly they’re back in Mexico again." MPP — On Tuesday, the attorneys general of Texas, Missouri, and Arizona urged the Supreme Court to let them resume Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a.k.a. the "Remain in Mexico" policy, per Law360. They allege the rollback of MPP under Biden has caused an "explosion" of crime and violence, largely citing news articles rather than any studies or statistics to support their claims. Karen Musalo, director of University of California, Hastings College of the Law's Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, points out that MPP itself "has led to the return of thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers to some of the most dangerous cities in Mexico where they have been beaten, raped, tortured and killed."
HAITI — Amid intensifying political upheaval in Haiti, advocates in the U.S. are calling for the renewal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for tens of thousands of Haitians, reports Rafael Bernal of The Hill. On the bipartisan front, earlier this month Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) signed a letter asking Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to sign the redesignation for Haitian TPS. (Friendly reminder that TPS recipients are contributing to communities across the country.) SOUTH DAKOTA — Leaders from South Dakota’s business and agriculture sectors met for a virtual roundtable Wednesday to discuss the critical need for immigration reform to address labor shortages, Rebekah Tuchscherer reports for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Official statistics put South Dakota's unemployment rate at 2.9%, the lowest since March 2020. "We need immigration reform to continue filling those essential jobs, those hard jobs, with documented workers who are willing to work," said Kari Karst, CEO of BX Civil and Consruction. Participants pointed to bills like the Dream Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act as ways to help fill job openings across the state. Karen Benitez-Lopez, a preschool teacher and DACA recipient whose op-ed we noted earlier this week, also spoke at the event. MOROCCO – On the front page of this morning's Los Angeles Times is a picture of a member of Spain’s Civil Guard rescuing a baby from the sea after they were separated from their migrant parents. Karl Ritter breaks down the situation for the Associated Press: About "8,000 people, including 2,000 believed to be minors," traveled by land or sea from Morocco to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave "separated from Morocco by double 32-foot fences." Spain claims they are not pushing back unaccompanied children, but the military has been deployed and the EU watches nervously. Unsurprisingly, migrants may be political pawns in a larger game – Ritter writes that Morocco may have relaxed border controls because of a diplomatic spat with Spain: "Two Moroccan officials made that link explicit in public comments Wednesday." Thanks for reading, Ali |
