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NEW USCIS LEADER — On Friday, the Senate confirmed Ur Jaddou, the first woman and first person of Arab and Mexican descent to direct U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, reports Hamed Aleaziz of BuzzFeed News. Our take: Jaddou will bring much-needed expertise and compassion to the organization that is the face of the United States for so many. "Ur has two decades of experience in immigration law, policy, and administration," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. "I look forward to working closely with her to rebuild and restore trust in our immigration system." PASTORS AND POLICE CHIEFS — Iowa police chiefs and sheriffs are among members of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force urging solutions from Congress for Dreamers, Kassidy Arena reports for Iowa Public Radio. Marshalltown Police Chief Michael Tupper puts a finer point on it in a Des Moines Register op-ed: "To keep our communities safe, we need meaningful immigration reform, starting with the opportunity for Dreamers to earn citizenship." To the southwest, Eric Costanzo, lead pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church, also urges Congress to support Dreamers in an op-ed for The Oklahoman. "Our faith compels us to protect all our Oklahoma children, and history will judge us if we do not. ... Sens. Lankford and Inhofe, you have my support and that of many other Christians as you lead the way for ‘our kids,’" he writes.
SEASONAL SCRAMBLE — By limiting the availability of temporary foreign workers, the pandemic has exacerbated a pre-existing labor shortage for seasonal businesses, Patricia Cohen and Sydney Ember write in The New York Times. Landscaping businesses, amusement parks, restaurants and camps are among "thousands of ... businesses around the country that depend on seasonal workers from abroad to work lower-wage nonfarm jobs," they write. Travel restrictions, backlogs and delays at foreign consulates to process work visas are part of the problem. "We just don't have enough local workers to be able to support the economy as it needs to be in the summertime," said Jen Hayes, a visa program liaison in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. NICARAGUA — Alan Reyes Picado, 20, is among thousands of Nicaraguans fleeing to the U.S. as political turmoil and government threats ramp up at home, report Gisela Salomon and Claudia Torrens of the Associated Press. "I lived in fear and decided to seek help in this country," said Picado, who left his partner and 8-month-old baby back home after government officials harassed and jailed him. U.S. authorities stopped Nicaraguans 7,425 times at the southern border in June compared to 534 times in January, and more than 19,300 times so far this fiscal year, compared to 13,000 times in all of fiscal year 2019. OLYMPIC GOALS — Congratulations to Army Spc. Benard Keter, a native of Kenya living in Texas, for reaching the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the Olympics, as Seth Robson of Stars and Stripes reported. (The Washington Post nicely captures Keter's sportsmanship at the end of his qualifying
heat.) Keter, who finished 11th in today's final, is part of the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. Hoping to represent both Team USA and the U.S. military, earlier this summer he told Audrey Conklin of Fox News: "My goal [at the Olympics] is ... don't let them down. I'll be doing this for the United States, doing it for the Army, doing it for
myself, doing it for my family." |
