Tuesday, October 19
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning "to build an
intelligence-gathering cell that would more closely monitor and better
predict the movements of groups of migrants to the U.S.," Julia Ainsley
reports for NBC
.  

The new cell - slated for use by the end of this month -
would reportedly supply the agency with "'indications and
warnings' of possible migrant surges by collecting intelligence from
DHS personnel in Central and South America, seek to establish aerial
surveillance of trucks and migrant camps massing on borders, and
increase communication with the U.S. intelligence community and law
enforcement agencies in other countries." 

"The Trump administration's almost singular focus on building a border
wall as the solution to stopping illegal migration and illegal drugs
from coming into the country "actually resulted in the opposite,"
said one DHS official. "It allowed key intelligence and operational
capabilities to atrophy." 

Related: The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a
hearing today on the nomination of Tucson, Arizona, Police Chief Chris
Magnus to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection "amid one of the
busiest years in two decades
 on
the southern border," report Geneva Sands and Priscilla Alvarez
of CNN
. 

On Friday, Stewart Verdery, a Council on National Security and
Immigration (CNSI) leader and former DHS official under George W.
Bush, urged senators to confirm Magnus quickly
. The CNSI
 and Law Enforcement
Immigration Task Force  also
urged Magnus's confirmation in July. 

This couldn't be timelier as we gear up for this year's Leading
the Way . Join
us next week as we talk with experts from across parties
and industries - DHS Secretary Mayorkas, Reps. Jason Crow
and Adam Kinzinger, World Relief's Jenny Yang, and
Cummins' Tom Linebarger (just to name a few). Registration closes
Friday - snag your (free!) spot now.
 
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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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**OVERSIGHT** - Newly released data
 from
the Office of Inspector General (OIG) shows that U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) has
not adequately complied with reporting or records retention
requirements at detention facilities, Kylie Bielby reports
for Homeland Security Today
. The
data in question pertains to ICE's use of segregation at immigration
detention facilities, a practice that has drawn widespread
concern. "OIG found that ICE does not know the full extent of detention
facilities' use of segregation, which hinders its ability to ensure
compliance with policy, and prevent and detect potential misuse of
segregation," Bielby writes. 

'WE ARE NOT FREE' - Afghan refugee resettlement efforts in the
U.S. have been stymied by a series of challenges, including "a measles
scare, a nationwide housing shortage and paperwork delays," report Ben
Kesling and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal
. The
resettlement delay means many Afghans "will have to remain for months
in cramped barracks where supplies are often stretched," resulting in a
"ripple effect" on some 10,000 evacuees currently living on American
military installations overseas. "I don't want to complain because we
are in the U.S., and they are trying their best," said Sahar Mohammad,
an Afghan former translator awaiting resettlement. "But it is hard. We
can't start our own lives or send our kids to school. We feel like we
are not free."  

Despite the challenges, local communities continue to aid Afghan
evacuees: 

* Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) "announced the creation of the Afghan
Community Fund, aimed at supporting Afghan refugees in critical areas
such as legal support, health care, education, and special needs for
women and children." (Vivian Chow, ABC4
) 

* An informal network of former government and military officials "is
working around the clock to fulfill a pledge to save Afghans who put
their lives on the line for America." (Roger Cohen, The New York Times
) 

* In collaboration with Lutheran Community Services' Unaccompanied
Minor Program in Spokane, Washington, local families "are stepping in
to fill that void and help [Afghans] resettle into their new lives."
(Esther Bower, KXLY Broadcast Group
) 

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HAITIAN MIGRANTS - The U.S. government's treatment of
Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, last month "has galvanized civil
rights groups and others to press for change," reports Eileen Sullivan
of The New York Times
. What
happened in Del Rio, advocates say, is emblematic of "the poor
treatment of Black migrants that has spanned administrations, often
overshadowed by the larger debate about the broken immigration system
and a persistent focus on waves of migrants from Central America." The
images of immigration agents on horseback were a painful reminder not
just for immigration advocates, but for Black Americans and civil rights
leaders as well, said Advancement Project
 Executive Director Judith
Browne Dianis. "[A]ccountability requires that the Biden
administration act, because all Black people saw [the images], and we
can't unsee it." 

**IMMIGRANT GARDENERS** - For The New York Times
, photographer Stella
Kalinina gives us a first-person look at the San Pedro Community
Gardens in Los Angeles. The city-owned land, centered in an otherwise
industrial area, "has provided physical and spiritual nourishment to
multiple generations of immigrant Angelenos, ever since gardeners first
began working the soil here in the 1960s," Kalinina writes. "As many
rural people were pushed into cities and across borders by
industrialization and urbanization, some turned to the gardens for
refuge, connection to home and a means of preserving and passing on
their cultural heritage."  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

**P.S.** The American Values Coalition
 has launched a new initiative to build
bridges for Americans who value family, tradition, and
integrity. So glad they're doing this.

 

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