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DACA DATA — Newly released government data reveal at least 50,000 immigrant teens and young adults applied for DACA in the three months after the program was reopened to new applicants following Trump-era legal challenges, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. However, "[b]etween January and March, fewer than 800 immigrants — or 1.5% of the applicants during that time span — had their first-time applications for DACA approved." The urgency for a permanent solution is real: A pending decision in a Texas court case means DACA protections are once again at risk of termination, leaving hundreds of thousands of young immigrants in limbo. TRACKING — A new request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) suggests the Biden administration is exploring ways to provide non-detention tracking and services for up to 100,000 migrant families and young adults per year, reports Stef W. Kight of Axios. ICE currently has a contract for similar services with a group owned by the private prison company GEO Group, and officials "are looking for non-governmental organizations not affiliated with for-profit prisons to run the new program." Kight notes that ICE is also looking for ways to provide more accessible legal representation to migrants, plus other resources to help them adapt to life in the U.S. while awaiting their court dates. OFFICER POM — It’s been a while since we had a Storm Lake story, and this one’s a great one. Community Service Officer Pom Kavan, originally from Laos, will be the first Asian American to serve as Grand Marshal at Storm Lake, Iowa’s Independence Day parade, reports Mason Dockter of the Sioux City Journal. Kavan, who first joined Storm Lake’s police department in 1994 and worked as an interpreter, came to the U.S. from Laos in 1981 via refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines. "My family came because of the opportunities, a better life for us, a better education, better opportunities, and freedom," she said. "I feel very honored that I'm selected."
GOOD NEIGHBORS — At an Orange City, Iowa, event last week, Matthew Soerens, U.S. director of church mobilization for World Relief and national coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, showed how Christians can love their immigrant neighbors, reports Randy Paulson of the N’West Iowa Review. "If you are a follower of Jesus, you’re a follower of a
refugee," Soerens said, referencing the story of Mary and Joseph fleeing Bethlehem and noting Biblical principles about God making all people — including immigrants — in his image. "There’s nothing in the law that says you cannot have someone over for dinner, even if you think that they are undocumented, or that your church can’t have an English class or that your church can’t serve communion or baptize someone or share the Gospel with someone or teach them Sunday School." Thanks for reading, Ali |
