NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

The Biden administration announced Thursday that two county jails under
investigation in Georgia and Massachusetts will stop detaining
immigrants in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody,
reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post
. 

Both jails are under investigation for complaints of abuses against
immigrants. Citing reasons for closure, federal officials say both
facilities are "no longer operationally necessary" amid shrinking
detention numbers. Currently, the Bristol County facility in
Massachusetts is holding seven detainees out of approximately 200
beds, while Georgia's Irwin County facility has only 114
detainees out of nearly 1,000 beds total. 

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

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**CHC TALKS** - From Axios Sneak Peek
: Vice
President Kamala Harris and members of the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus met this week to discuss "options for micro-lending and
digital banking technology in the Northern Triangle to help address a
root cause of the immigration crisis," Kadia Goba reports. And Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said
he's prepared to double the capacity for underage migrants at a
facility in Fort Bliss, Texas. However,  "[e]xpanding the capacity at
Fort Bliss, where thousands of migrants under the age of 12 could be
held, is controversial because it's harder to care for younger
children in massive facilities, migrant advocates argue." As I've
said before, we need to ensure children are getting transferred from
HHS to their sponsors as quickly and efficiently as possible.  

**UNITED NATIONS** - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees
published a statement calling on the Biden administration to end Title
42, a pandemic-era rule allowing U.S. officials to immediately expel
migrants at the border, Jennifer Doherty of Law360
 reports. "I
appeal to the government of the United States to swiftly lift the public
health-related asylum restrictions that remain in effect at the border
and to restore access to asylum for the people whose lives depend on it,
in line with international legal and human rights obligations," High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said via a statement
. As
the Justice Action Center's Karen Tumlin points out
, "It's
rare for the UNHCR to publicly speak out against policies that hurt
refugees and asylum seekers in this way."  

**FAST TRACK** - Ahead of the U.S. military's September withdrawal
from Afghanistan, NPR
's
Ari Shapiro spoke to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)
about expediting visas for Afghan allies who helped American
troops. "[W]e have to be prepared for the worst, which is why I
believe 18,000 backlogged special immigrant visas need to be expedited
so that we can get, you know, these interpreters, contractors who really
worked so closely with our special forces over the years," Rep. McCaul
said. "We have, I think, a moral obligation to protect them."  

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**DED** - After more than three years living in sanctuary at
Detroit's Central United Methodist Church, Albanian-born
Ded Rranxburgaj has been offered reprieve from deportation, Sarah
Cwiek reports for Michigan Radio
. Rranxburgaj is "the
primary caretaker for his wife, Flora, who has multiple sclerosis, and
had fought to stay in the country on humanitarian grounds," Cwiek
notes, adding that he "will be allowed to stay in the country under an
order of supervision, meaning his deportation order still stands but
won't be enforced for now." The church's Rev. Jill
Zundel emphasized the challenges of sanctuary: Rranxburgaj missed
many of his family's challenges and milestones. "We have a saying:
sanctuary is hard. Sanctuary takes a physical toll on someone. And it
takes a mental toll as well," Zundel said. "Sanctuary is hard, but
injustice is worse." 

**GRADUATION** - COVID-19 restrictions have prevented
Anayensi Lara Ruíz and thousands of other Mexican residents from
crossing the U.S.-Mexico border for "non-essential" travel for more
than a year, Lauren Villagran and Veronica Martinez report for Puente
News Collaborative
. The
restrictions have profoundly impacted border communities: "Thousands of
families in El Paso and Juárez include a mashup of U.S. and Mexican
citizenship, while other households span the border with partners and
children splitting time between homes in both cities." But
a recent agreement between the University of Texas at El Paso and
U.S. Customs and Border Protection allowed parents
like Lara Ruíz to travel from her home in Juárez to watch her
only son, Heriberto Pérez Lara, cross the stage at
his Texas graduation in person. "My parents always wanted me to
study in the U.S.," Heriberto said. "It is a big deal that my mother
could be there. She has been my biggest support." 

**PICTURES** - A new University of Michigan study
reveals how depictions
of immigrants in news images can shape American's attitudes towards
immigration: "Photos of large groups of immigrants, such as the migrant
caravan, may decrease support for immigration. Images of individuals,
however, produce the opposite effect." Guadalupe Madrigal, the
study's lead author, explained that images of anonymous large
groups engage a viewer's sense of threat, while images of
individual immigrants can disengage it. A read for your
weekend: Vivian Ho explores the more personal impact of immigrant
photos with an essay for The Lily
 about
how a photo of her mother holding a bag of rice led her to think about
her own immigrant journey.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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