NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued an executive
order
 "to remove
state licensing for any childcare facility that, in partnership with the
federal government, is currently housing or wants to house undocumented
children." 

Evangelical women have something to say about that.  

In an op-ed for Newsweek
, Women
of Welcome  Director Bri Stensrud calls
on Gov. Abbott to maintain state licenses for facilities providing
temporary shelter to unaccompanied minors. "If the governor withdraws
that license in the name of prioritizing Texas-born kids, he will not
only be harming migrant children; he will also be reducing the state's
capacity for domestic foster care," she writes. "Migrant children aren't
competing with Texan children for resources; we can and should care for
both."  

Stensrud also underscores that Abbott's actions could prevent
Christians from exercising their vocation to care for the
vulnerable: "If Governor Abbott truly wants Christians to have the
freedom to live out their faith by showing compassion and hospitality, I
hope he reconsiders his threat to withdraw licenses to Texas's child
welfare facilities."  

Welcome to Monday's 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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**SOUTHERN BORDER **- Challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border don't
stem from the border region, Dennis E. Nixon writes in an op-ed
for The Dallas Morning News
 - they
stem from Washington, D.C. Nixon, who is chairman and CEO of IBC Bank
in Laredo, writes that federal lawmakers should "focus on
common-sense border security solutions, keeping bad people out and more
easily allowing entry to the right people. ... We live, work and play
as one community, and it's time for Texas and the U.S. to listen to
the solutions offered by those of us who call the border home." 

**STASH HOUSES** - More than 70 undocumented immigrants were found
by Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas "stash houses" - often unsafe
locations used by human smugglers to temporarily house migrants - in
a 24-hour period last week, Aila Slisco reports for Newsweek
.
"The use of stash houses by criminal organizations continues to be a
threat to national security and to the citizens of our Nation, but they
are also a danger to the people they exploit by concealing them in
dilapidated close quarters," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) via statement. An immigration system that results in these
kinds of desperate conditions is not one that recognizes human
dignity. 

**EXEMPT MOTHERS** - Reversing a Trump-era rule, U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new policy
 last
week stating "that ICE should not detain, arrest or take into custody
for an administrative violation of the immigration laws individuals
known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing" in most
cases, reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post
. "Given
the unique needs of this population, we will not detain individuals
known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless release is
prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist," said acting ICE
director Tae Johnson in a statement. According to a Government
Accountability Office report, most pregnant women detained in recent
years have been apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico
border seeking refuge in the U.S. - and most did not
have prior criminal records.  

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**"CELEBRATE THIS PROGRESS"**- State Department data
 show
that the U.S. resettled 1,530 refugees in June -more than at any
other point in the current fiscal year, reports Charles Davis
of Business Insider
. The number "is
still far, far below the historic norms," said Matthew
Soerens of World Relief  and
the Evangelical Immigration Table
. But "it does represent a
significant increase over the past several months, and we celebrate this
progress." While the Biden administration's goal is to resettle
62,500 refugees by the end of September, only 4,780 people have been
resettled thus far. For context, the Trump administration had
set a historically low refugee admissions cap of 15,000. 

**EARLY SEPARATIONS** - The Trump administration began separating
migrant families much earlier than originally reported,
implementing the little-known Criminal Consequence Initiative in Yuma,
Arizona, in May 2017, Kevin Sieff reports in The Washington Post
. The
program "allowed for the prosecution of first-time border crossers,
including parents who entered the United States with their children and
were separated from them." According to newly released Department of
Homeland Security data, 234 families were separated in Yuma from July 1
to Dec. 31, 2017 - and some parents are still separated or
missing. The children separated were as young as 10 months old.  

**ICE VACCINATIONS** - Around 1,300 immigrants detained
by ICE have been completely vaccinated against COVID-19
- but experts say that's not enough, reports Camilo
Montoya-Galvez of CBS News
. Since
the start of the Biden administration, the number of people in ICE
detention has increased 82% to 27,000 - and over 10,000 COVID-19
cases among detainees have been reported during the same
period. "Given the availability of vaccines in the U.S., the fact that
the rollout in ICE detention is so slow is concerning and is keeping
people in these settings at risk," said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a Georgetown
University School of Medicine professor who monitors immigration
detention. "And it's a shame because we do have the supply." For
comparison, Montoya-Galvez notes, "more than 83,000 people in the
custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons - or 54% of the federal
inmate population
 - have
been fully vaccinated, according to agency data
." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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