NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

After more than three years living in a western Massachusetts church
to avoid deportation, Guatemalan-born Lucio Perez was granted
temporary relief in March. Now, he's "looking to a recent Supreme
Court ruling to help him clear that final hurdle and officially be
allowed to remain in the country he's called home for more than two
decades," Philip Marcelo reports for the Associated Press
.  

In April, Marcelo explains, "the Supreme Court ruled in Niz-Chavez
vs. Garland
 that the
federal government must provide all required information to immigrants
facing deportation in a single notice." For many immigrants
like Perez, whose lawyer says his 2011 notice to
appear in court didn't provide the date or time for his
hearing, the ruling presents a new opportunity to challenge their
deportation orders.  

"I felt like a bird in a cage before," Perez said. "Now, I'm out of
the cage and back in my life. I can leave the house, go to the store, go
to work. I'm really grateful for that." 

Welcome to Tuesday'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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**'IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?'** - In his syndicated Washington
Post column
, Ruben
Navarrette Jr. challenges Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and
other Republican state leaders for sending National
Guard troops to the southern border. Not only are there
already more than 19,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents protecting the
border, but "[t]here are reasons why Americans don't allow private
citizens - even the wealthy ones - to commandeer law enforcement
officers or National Guard troops to serve pet causes,"
he writes. "There are ethical concerns, liability issues and
jurisdictional conflicts. Is this even legal?" The politics of the
deployment are hindering progress on border solutions - a pattern
seen across the immigration debate, he concludes. "Is this deployment
of National Guard troops by Republican governors about protecting the
border, or trying to reclaim the White House?" 

**SIJ** - Four Catholic Charities branches and three Catholic legal
organizations have signed onto a May letter
 urging
top U.S. immigration officials to address the backlog of Special
Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status holders who are eligible for green
cards but remain at risk of deportation, reports Lucy
Grindon of the National Catholic Reporter
. SIJ
status, created for minors who have been abused, abandoned, or
neglected by a parent and need protection from a juvenile court, is
classified as an employment-based immigrant visa. This means green card
applicants with SIJ status are subject to country caps on
employment-based immigrant visas, often leading to years-long
backlogs. "This work is so important because we're really working with
young people who have come from the most difficult of
circumstances," said Anthony Enriquez, director of the Unaccompanied
Minors Program for Catholic Charities of New York's Immigrant and
Refugee Services office. "When young people qualify for special
immigrant status, they've been deprived of that parent-child connection;
they've often had to parent themselves." 

**ASYLUM** - [This story contains descriptions of sexual assault.]
Guatemalan-born Areli sought refuge in the U.S. in 2018, fleeing a
father who she says had raped her since she was five years
old. But Justice Department rulings under then-President
Trump made the U.S. asylum process more difficult "for those
fleeing violence by private actors, including domestic partners, gangs
and those persecuted 'due to family ties,'" reports
the Los Angeles Times'
 Cindy
Carcamo. Last month, Attorney General Merrick
Garland reversed the Trump-era policies, "dramatically
improv[ing] the chances for Areli and tens of thousands like her with
applicable cases in the system - including in appeals - to gain
asylum." Under Trump, any asylum cases related to domestic violence or
gang violence "[were] pretty much met with a blanket denial," said
Areli's attorney, Aaron Chenault. "I'm very much happy that we are
going back to allowing immigration judges to issue a decision on a
case-by-case basis." 

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**SELF-DEFENSE** - Every Thursday morning since mid-June, Asian
American elders have gathered at VietAID
's Fields Corner community
center in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to practice
self-defense, the Boston Globe
's
Deanna Pan reports. "Under the tutelage of kung fu master Mai Du, they
practice wrapping their thumbs around their fists, steadying their
legs, and winding up for a jab." COVID-related racism and scapegoating
heightened the terrible attacks against Asian Americans
- particularly against vulnerable elders, adds Pan, noting
that many from the community are refugees. "I pray that I will
never have to use these practices," Linh Mat, 88, said in Vietnamese
through an interpreter. "But if it comes to it, we will," added her
best friend, 95-year-old Thoi Phan. I worked in Fields Corner
when VietAID opened this community center. It is both sad and
wonderful that it is now the home for self-defense classes for Asian
American elders. 

**DREAM TEAM** - Alfonzo Galvan of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader
 tells
the story of a group of refugee schoolchildren, mainly members of the
Kunama people from western Eritrea, who are now part of a soccer
team in Sioux Falls. "We not only focus on soccer, we focus on
academics, having good character and to keep growing them," said
volunteer coach Moses Idris, whose assistant coaches include a Sioux
Falls police lieutenant.  "If I get the chance to get them job
opportunities or something like that, I'm going to work on that
too." This year, the coaches collaborated with other sponsors
to organize the team's first tournament - and they won.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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