New research from a team of economic historians at Princeton, Stanford and the University of California, Davis, shows that since the 1880s, “Children of poor immigrants in America have had greater success climbing the economic ladder than children of similarly poor fathers born in the United States,” The New York Times’ Emily Badger writes. “…that picture remains true today, even as immigration patterns have shifted around the world.” It’s an important article and study well worth the read.

While the U.S. has benefited from a vibrant history of immigration, the Trump administration continues efforts to change our future.

Nicole Narea reports for Vox that on Dec. 2, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “will no longer consider use of certain public benefits in determining whether an immigrant is eligible for a fee waiver.” Doug Rand, a former Obama official, told Vox: “Once again, the administration is using every lever it can find to restrict legal immigration.”

From the International Chiefs of Police Association conference in Chicago (and recovering from a brutal three-game swing,) welcome to Monday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me [email protected].
DACA – Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will head to the Supreme Court next month to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Tucker Higgins reports at CNBC. The move is seen as controversial by some immigration advocates who argue that Napolitano, who was instrumental in creating the DACA program under President Obama, did not do enough to avoid deporting “innocent immigrants” (more than half of the 419,000 people deported in fiscal year 2012 were not criminals). Per Napolitano: “I think we had the right priorities and were enforcing the right priorities, and I think the approach of this administration, that anybody is fair game, is not good policy and it’s not consistent with our values.”
COLORADO – The Byrne JAG federal grants program helps state and local law enforcement departments across the country purchase needed equipment and implement critical programs. The Trump administration has tied the funding to its immigration enforcement agenda, requiring localities to provide information and access to immigration enforcement agents. The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter reports on Colorado’s efforts to force the Department of Justice to release the funds so small cities and towns can move forward: “The state of Colorado … has no authority to force local and municipal agencies or government entities to meet these special conditions,” said Joe Thome, director of Colorado’s Division of Criminal Justice.

POLITICS OF SANCTUARY – Residents of Tucson, Arizona, are weighing a tough decision on a new ballot initiative that could cost the city its federal funding, Elvia Diaz writes in an opinion piece for the Arizona Republic. Proposition 205 on the Nov. 5 ballot would designate the city as a “sanctuary city,” prohibiting city police from checking the immigration status of people they interact with and restricting the city from working with any federal agency on immigration matters. The city already has similar guidelines in place, but Arizona lawmakers have threatened to withhold more than $130 million annually in shared revenues if those guidelines become law.

LIFE IN EUROPE – In June of 2018, Italian photographer Nicoló Lanfranchi was on the last ship in the Mediterranean to save refugees. But Lanfranchi wanted to know what happened to the men and women he met once they made it Europe, writes Harriet Grant in The Guardian. The fate of refugees who make it across the sea “is a burning question throughout Europe. Italy and Malta want asylum seekers to be automatically relocated across Europe so that the ‘burden’ is shared.” After tracking his friends down in Luxembourg, Germany, and France, Lanfranchi reflects on how the lives of these brave migrants have turned out: “It’s like a slot machine – you try and if you are lucky you win.”

WALL UPDATE – The Trump administration has acquired only 16% of the private land it needs to build the president’s signature border wall — “casting doubt on his campaign promise to complete nearly 500 miles of new fencing by the end of next year,” Nick Miroff and Arelis R. Hernández report for The Washington Post. In Texas, 162 of the 166 miles of planned border barrier lie on private property, and landowners are reluctant to give up property for the project. David Acevedo, a rancher and businessman, granted government officials access to his property but does not want a wall built on it: “I want border security. Put up more cameras, sensors, send more agents and give them drones … But we don’t need a wall.”

CLIMATE REFUGEE BILL – House Democrats will introduce the first major legislation establishing protections for migrants displaced by climate change, Alexander C. Kaufman reports in HuffPost. “The bill, called the Climate Displaced Persons Act, would create a federal program separate from the existing refugee program to take in a minimum of 50,000 climate migrants starting next year.” While the prospects for passage are grim during a Trump presidency, “the bill lays the groundwork for how a future administration could deal with what’s already forecast to be among the greatest upheavals global warming will cause.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali