At least one thing has bipartisan support in Congress and beyond: protecting Afghan nationals who have helped the U.S. military, government and aid efforts during our 20-year presence in Afghanistan. See, as just one example, last week's letter from bipartisan lawmakers to the president.
Today at noon Eastern, together with our partners at Upwardly Global, we’re hosting a press call on the urgent need for the Biden administration to implement a plan to do so. National security expert Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, who is also an Afghanistan veteran, will join resettled Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients Seeta and Abdul. Jennie Murray, vice president of programs at Upwardly Global, also will join.
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and I’m filling in while Ali is out this week. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
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MAY BORDER NUMBERS — According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data published yesterday, authorities apprehended 180,034 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in May, reports Nick Miroff of The Washington Post. 38% of those encounters involved repeat crossers — more than five times the average recidivism
rate reported in 2019. Apprehensions of single adults are up while apprehensions of families and unaccompanied children are down, Miroff reports. Our colleague Danilo Zak notes that more families are being allowed to stay and enter asylum proceedings, and that new guidelines are resulting in a more orderly process — an increasing number of asylum seekers are presenting themselves at ports of entry rather than between ports. Here’s the data straight from CBP.
‘BOLD POLICY VISIONS’ — Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent trip to Guatemala and Mexico "underscores the Biden administration’s recognition that addressing unsanctioned migration is more complicated than building a wall and denying migrants the right to seek asylum, which was the core of the Trump administration’s approach," writes the Los Angeles Times editorial board. International aid to the Northern Triangle can help with
poverty, but only if we know the "practical realities of how that aid is directed and spent," they note. Money alone won’t solve the root causes of migration, they add: The U.S. needs "patience, bold policy visions, and the support of an American public that sees the human tragedies at hand."
POLICE CALLS — A warning that this story contains disturbing content. An investigation by Aura Bogado and Laura C. Morel at Reveal finds that in the past six years, government shelters have turned over to local law enforcement at least 84 children ages 11 to 17 "to manage the sort of behavior that could be expected of children, in particular isolated refugee children." A majority of the cases involve two shelter
operators, Southwest Key Programs and BCFS, and most incidents took place in Bexar and Cameron counties in Texas. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said of a 16-year-old whose rough treatment by police was captured on body camera video: "Here you have a young man who’s experienced incredible trauma. We’ve talked a lot in this country about over-policing in different situations, and this is clearly an example of over-policing with respect to asylum-seeking youth."
REPRESENTATION — Having legal representation makes a difference in immigration court. The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project — the first program of its kind — gives every detained immigrant in the state access to a publicly funded lawyer, Nicole Narea writes for Vox. Public funding of $16.6 million supports more than 100 staff, including attorneys, paralegals, social workers and administrators. "Funding
brings fairness and dignity to the system. I think we have an urgency here to do it right," said Jojo Annobil, executive director of Immigrant Justice Corps. The program could serve as a national model: President Biden signed a memorandum in May to expand access to legal representation, including among immigrants.
RE-DETENTION — On Wednesday, House Democrats led by Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal called on the Department of Homeland Security not to re-detain people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention who were released amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Melanie Zanona reports in Politico’s Huddle. The lawmakers also noted that ICE’s re-detention policy has been inconsistent across regions,
fueling uncertainty. "Re-detaining individuals solely as a result of our nation’s recovery from the pandemic is unacceptable," they wrote in a June 9 letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and acting ICE Director Tae Johnson. "We respectfully request that DHS and ICE take prompt action to ensure that there is a clear policy regarding individuals who have been released from detention due to COVID-19." As of May, ICE data indicates that 16,000 immigrants in detention have contracted COVID-19 and nine had died.
BEHIND THE DATA — In honor of Immigrant Heritage Month, our latest Only in America episode features the stories of immigrants in their own words, and what they — along with recent research — say about the American Identity and American attitudes on immigration. Tune in to hear from Jessica Astudillo, Farah Larrieux, and Edilsa Lopez, plus Emily Ekins of the Cato Institute.
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