NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day. There was lots of news over the
long weekend. 

A 46-page draft blueprint indicates how the Biden administration is
considering rebuilding and expanding legal immigration, report Michael
D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times
. Dated
May 3 and titled "D.H.S. Plan to Restore Trust in Our Legal Immigration
System," the plans would not only roll back many
of the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies and
legacy, but also address "backlogs and delays that plagued prior
presidents." 

More specifically, "the document offers detailed policy proposals that
would help more foreigners move to the United States, including
high-skilled workers, trafficking victims, the families of Americans
living abroad, American Indians born in Canada, refugees, asylum-seekers
and farm workers." 

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of Noorani's Notes, and welcome
to Immigrant Heritage Month. I'm Dan Gordon, strategic
communications VP and fill-in for Ali today. If you have a story to
share from your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected]
.    

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**FASTER TRACKS** - On Friday, the Biden administration announced it
will speed up court cases for some migrant families arrested
while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, reports
Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News
. "Families
arriving at the border who are placed in immigration proceedings should
have their cases decided in an orderly, efficient, and fair manner,"
said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement to
BuzzFeed News. These changes will also allow immigration
officials to monitor families through alternatives to
detention, Aleaziz notes. Elsewhere, Axios'
 Stef
W. Kight reports on a separate and very different kind of fast track:
The White House is considering expedited removals for some
migrant families - "a more deterrence-based approach" that that the
Trump administration championed and that would raise due-process
concerns.  

**ASYLUM SOLUTIONS** - Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and
Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly introduced the Border Response
Resilience Act on Friday. Among other things, it would establish a $1
billion "Irregular Migration Border Response Fund" for the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) for future increases in unaccompanied children,
asylum-seekers and migrants at the border, Kaylee Greenlee reports
for the Free Press
.
"DHS and other federal agencies must be able to respond immediately to
the need for shelter for migrants as well as additional personnel to
handle surging numbers of unlawful migrants at our
border," Sen. Portman said. Some related reading: In Vox
,
Nicole Narea takes a look at how we might better respond to
asylum-seekers, and here at the Forum,
we've recently published updated suggestions regarding increased
migration
 at
the southern border.  

**DHS BUDGET** - A Friday budget request from the Biden
administration "reflects [a] shift in U.S. immigration policy and
border enforcement," Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report
for The Washington Post
. The
budget "would eliminate border-wall funding, boost spending on care for
unaccompanied migrant children to $3.3 billion and overhaul the way
asylum seekers are handled at the Mexican border by dramatically
increasing staffing to process their claims," including increased
oversight of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In a
statement, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that this budget
"will invest in our broad mission set, including preventing terrorism;
keeping our borders secure; repairing our broken immigration system;
improving cybersecurity; safeguarding critical infrastructure; and
strengthening national preparedness and resilience." 

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**SUPPORTING FAMILY** - "In 2020, remittances to Latin America and
the Caribbean increased 6.5% from the previous year" - a surprise
amid the pandemic, reports Eun-Young Jeong of The Wall Street
Journal
.
Oscar Andara Guerra, a 43-year-old vegetable vendor in San Pedro Sula,
Honduras, said the $300 a month he receives from his mother in the
U.S. is essential. (We'd add that such help might help relieve
pressures for these family members themselves to migrate.) Even if
immigrants have limited means, they still support their families
,
which can offer breathing room in countries still grappling with
severe outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

**VACCINES** - For California farmworkers, especially low-income
Mexican and Mexican American families, distrust and alienation "has
become fuel for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories," Jose A. Del Real
writes in a feature for The Washington Post
 with
photos by Melina Mara. Del Real tells the story of volunteer Mayra
Arreguin's challenges while conducting vaccine outreach in
farmworker communities. After disinformation began spreading via
Spanish-language YouTube and Facebook videos, "the false claims filtered
by word of mouth through Sonoma's agricultural fields, wineries and
restaurant kitchens, where Spanish-language fact checks could not
counter them," explains Del Real. Meanwhile, about half a million
foster children in the U.S. and unaccompanied migrant teens at the
southern border are being shut out of COVID-19 vaccine access
"because of federal and state consent laws that require a parent or
guardian's approval," reports Sarah Owermohle of Politico
. 

**CHURCH RESPONSE** - Today and tomorrow in Chicago, the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops will host an emergency meeting on
migration with leaders from North and Central America as well
as Vatican representatives, reports Rhina Guidos of Catholic News
Service
. The
goal: "to set forth a path for the U.S. church's response to
immigration" as COVID-19, climate change and political strife have hit
parts of Latin America hard. "This is the church saying, 'We have to
meet this moment. How do we get the church to work across borders for
greater collaboration? How can this be an opportunity for the church to
come together to face the urgency of what's happening?'" said Dylan
Corbett, executive director the Hope Border Institute
 in El Paso. "It's an opportunity for
the church welcoming Christ in the stranger." [El Paso, Texas, Bishop
Mark Seitz, who is participating in the meeting, is a National
Immigration Forum board member.]  

Thanks for reading, 

Dan

 

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