NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

The Biden administration on Tuesday released a 21-point blueprint
 of
its full plan on immigration, Rafael Bernal and Morgan
Chalfant report for The Hill
. The
blueprint comes as the administration "is taking flak from both sides
of the aisle: from the left over the call for swift deportations, and
from Republicans over the increase in migrants at the southern
border." 

"We will always be a nation of borders, and we will enforce our
immigration laws in a way that is fair and just," the White House plan
reads. "We will continue to work to fortify an orderly immigration
system." 

While the outline includes sections on border management; root causes
of migration; and support for the U.S. Citizenship Act and the Dream
and Promise Act; among other items, the outline does not mention plans
for Title 42, the public health order that allows U.S. officials to
immediately expel migrants at the border.  

Welcome to Wednesday'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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**AFGHAN FUNDS **- The Biden administration told lawmakers it will
need around $1 billion in emergency funds to
quickly relocate Afghans who aided the U.S. military, report Jeremy
Herb and Phil Mattingly of CNN
. Per
a committee aide, the administration outlined the need for $500
million for the State Department and up to $500 million for the
Department of Defense to expand and streamline the Afghan special
immigrant visa (SIV) program. On Tuesday, Senate negotiators reached
a bipartisan $2 billion dollar deal to bolster Capitol security and
fund the relocation of Afghans, reports Jennifer Shutt of Roll Call
. Funds couldn't come
sooner: As Afghan interpreter Rifatullah Mohammad Zai told Hannan
Adely of NorthJersey.com
, "Hundreds of
interpreters are at risk and counting the moments until they die. But
the U.S. government doesn't care about us." 

**REPRIEVE** - Officials at the Humanitarian Respite Center in
McAllen, Texas - the largest migrant shelter in the Rio Grande
Valley - have asked Border Patrol to temporarily stop dropping
off migrants due to overcrowding, reports Sandra Sanchez of Border
Report
. "We
told Border Patrol to hold drop-offs to give us a chance to have space,"
said Sister Norma Pimentel, the executive director of Catholic
Charities of The Rio Grande Valley
. But
Pimentel says children continue to be dropped off, and COVID-19
protocols limit the number of migrants the facility can safely
admit. While the agency usually drops off over 1,000
migrants daily, there are several other overflow sites nearby where
migrants can be cared for, notes Sanchez.  

**H-1B VISAS** - President Biden recently acknowledged
 the
importance of international students to the U.S. But his administration
recently defended
 a
Trump-era regulation
 that
would make it difficult for these students to obtain H-1B work
visas, the National Foundation for American Policy's Stuart Anderson
writes for Forbes
. The
rule, which has yet to be implemented, would award H-1B visas to
foreign workers based on salary, likely shutting out international
students who are newer to the labor market. The U.S. Chamber of
Commerce is challenging the rule in court, arguing that the Trump
administration officials who first issued it had not been officially
confirmed in their roles. Trump adviser Stephen Miller and other
officials "enacted or attempted to implement numerous provisions
designed to discourage international students from coming to or staying
in America after graduation," Anderson concludes. "Eliminating the H-1B
lottery and replacing it with a mechanism sure to prevent more
international students from working in the United States would become
the most durable part of that legacy." 

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**UNIVERSAL STORY** - The immigrant story "is the most universal
story we share as Americans," writes Bonnie Jean Feldkamp, media
director for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, in an
opinion piece for The Cincinnati Enquirer
 (where she's
an editorial board member). Referencing U.S. District Judge Andrew
Hanen's recent DACA ruling,
 Feldkamp
points out that many American families "once stood in those uncertain
shoes of immigration, making where they are today possible."
Acknowledging this universal story helps us build a more welcoming
community, she concludes: "Our society is living and breathing and
constantly being reborn, and immigration - past and present - is a
meaningful part of our American lives." 

**'GODDANG DRIVER'S LICENSE'** - Across the country, the
dairy industry is changing as the number of farms shrinks and the size
of the remaining ones increases. It's a shift that requires a larger
workforce. In Wisconsin, the foreign-born population has grown by 45%
since 2000, with rural counties seeing largest and fastest growth of
that population, Summer Sewell writes in The Guardian
. The
change is especially apparent on the state's dairy farms, where
immigrant workers make up around 40% of the workforce and up to 90%
are undocumented, according to UMOS . Because
farms requiring a reliable workforce, rural farmers see the importance
of immigration reform: "How hard is it to give them some sort of
legalization and work towards documentation or legal status? These guys
all pay into social security and these guys will never see a dime of
it," said Green country dairy farmer Jeff Williams. "At least give
them a goddang driver's license." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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