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].

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."

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