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DUE PROCESS — First the good news: The Biden administration has suspended its use of a Trump-era policy that allows for arrest and rapid deportation without an immigration hearing, reports Hamed Aleaziz of Buzzfeed News. The expanded expedited removal policy applied nationwide, rather than close to the border only, and "anyone who could not prove that they had lived in the U.S. for longer than two years" was at risk. Now the not so good news: Data underscore the lack of due process for immigrants expelled under the pandemic-era Title 42, as Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News reports. There have been 1,163,000 expulsions under the policy — and only 3,217 migrants referred to asylum officers for interviews. "Migrants are being prevented from exercising a basic human right, which is to apply for asylum," said Michael Knowles, president of a union that represents hundreds of U.S. government asylum and refugee officers. REOPENING — In November, vaccinated travelers will be able to cross U.S. land borders from Mexico and Canada, as Uriel J. García and Kevin Reynolds report in the Texas Tribune. Such travel has been restricted since March 2020 and has hurt businesses that depend on cross-border shoppers. David Jerome, president and CEO of the El Paso Chamber, put it simply: "This will help us." Said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), "Reopening our borders to legal
travel is a critical step in returning to normalcy." The effects will be felt farther north, too; Dallas is anticipating more tourists including Cowboys fans, a team at the Dallas Morning News reports. "We were waiting for this (border reopening) because Dallas is a very accessible market from Mexico," said Craig Davis, president of Visit Dallas.
BIDEN'S RESCUER — Tens of thousands of Afghans potentially eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) did not get out before the U.S. concluded its withdrawal. One of them was Mohammad Aman Khalili, whose assistance included helping rescue senators including Joe Biden after a forced helicopter landing in 2008. Buzzfeed News has the story of the Khalili family’s harrowing escape: "The entire journey lasted about six weeks, filled with moments of uncertainty and an uncomfortable level of trust in strangers." The family is now in Qatar and received SIVs earlier this week. Over at Spectrum News, Austin Landis speaks with former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who is overseeing resettlement efforts for the White House. "People are starting to move [off military bases]," Markell said. "We want to do it quickly. And we want to do it successfully." Meanwhile, on the local-welcome front:
INVESTMENT — Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, warned on Wednesday that if the United States aims to slow migration, it needs to increase investment in Central America, per Reuters. "Without this investment ... it’s very hard to think that the migration flows that are happening will diminish," Ebrard said. In a recent letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President Biden noted that the U.S. has provided more than $600 million in foreign aid over the past year to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and has requested an additional $861 million from Congress for the fiscal year just under way. Thanks for reading, Ali |
