Friday, December 10
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

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Two dozen people were charged last month with "smuggling Mexican and
Central American immigrants to the United States and forcing them to
live in camps and work on farms," which authorities compared to
"'modern-day slavery,'" report Daniella Silva and Phil McCausland
of NBC News
.  

Several federal agencies spent
years tracking down "a 'transnational criminal
organization' that allegedly engaged in human trafficking, visa
fraud, forced labor, mail fraud, money laundering and other crimes that
earned the collaborators more than $200 million." The operation is part
of a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) model, which
"deepens its focus on employer accountability, rather than the immigrant
workers that are being taken advantage of." Authorities were able to
free more than 100 migrants. 

Said David Estes, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
Georgia: "The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and
desperate people across the globe, and where there is need, there is
greed from those who will attempt to exploit these willing workers for
their own obscene profits." 

And just yesterday, a tractor-trailer carrying more than 100
migrants crashed in southern Mexico, killing at least 53
people, report Kevin Sieff and Gabriela Martinez of The Washington
Post
. As long
as we outsource migration to cartels, this will continue
to happen.  

Welcome to Friday'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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F

**EEDBACK** - The Biden administration issued an open request for
comments
 to help
prevent the government from using the "zero tolerance" family
separation policy in the future, reports Geneva Sands of CNN
. "It's
our hope that they take this feedback, and they listen to what they
hear from the public and the advocacy community," said Larry
Benenson, the Forum's vice president of policy and advocacy. But
for parents deported under "zero tolerance," the journey
to reunification is still a long, tough road, reports Jasmine
Aguilera of TIME Magazine
. Separately, as
the Migrant Protection Protocols (aka "Remain in Mexico")
are reimplemented, the effects of the original policy are still
playing out: See part two of Honduran Carolina Carranza Silva's
powerful story from Border Report
's Sandra
Sanchez. Meanwhile, 83 Catholic organizations, including El Paso's
Hope Border Institute, "sent letters to the presidents of Mexico and
the United States urging them to end the 'Remain in Mexico'
policy," per Border Report
's Julian
Resendiz. 

A FAILED MISSION - In an investigation for Army Times
,
Davis Winkie sheds light on how the National Guard's U.S.-Mexico
border mission went to shambles. The Army Times interviewed seven
Guard troops, some speaking under the condition of anonymity, who
cited a combination of "equipping, staffing and misconduct" challenges.
More than 4,000 Guard personnel from 20 states were deployed
to monitor the border with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
personnel for much of this year. But without proper training, the
mission has resulted in numerous reports of alcohol abuse, misconduct
and even death. 

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**AFGHAN EFFORTS** - In an op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer
,
Afghan American emergency physician Maria Aini reflects on her own
immigration journey to Philly in the 1980s, and makes the case
that Afghans in the U.S. under humanitarian parole, which
provides only temporary reprieve, need the most aid: "Congress could
offer them an enormous amount of relief by passing the Afghan
Adjustment Act
, which would
ensure a path to permanent residency for Afghan allies."  

Here's today's local stories (plus news from Canada for good
measure): 

* The International Institute of St. Louis "is launching a Refugee
Command Center in partnership with Welcome Neighbor STL and Oasis
International" this week to help streamline Afghan resettlement
efforts. (Kayla Drake, St. Louis Public Radio
) 

* UC Davis's Refugee Interprofessional Community Engagement
(RICE) initiative has been instrumental in creating a "cultural
bridge to dozens of [Afghan] families." (UC Davis Health
) 

* "We're dealing with navigating a war zone in which we do not have a
presence. ...in the meantime, we're going to continue to work to see
these arrivals, increase their pace, and have more people settled in our
communities as soon as possible," Canada's Immigration Minister Sean
Fraser said in an interview this week. (Genevieve
Beauchemin and Nicole Bogart, CTV News
) 

VIETNAMESE AMERICAN 

**OFFICER** - On Nov. 15, Vu Nguyen was sworn in as the first
Vietnamese American officer in the Storm Lake, Iowa Police
Department, reports Nick Hytrek for the Sioux City Journal
. Drawing
from his own experience with some immigrant communities' fear of
police, Nguyen is helping to bridge gaps between Storm
Lake's Vietnamese community and its police officers. "It's easy
for them to make the call, and if they need to report something, they
know I speak Vietnamese and can understand them," Vu said. "It makes
Vietnamese people feel comfortable to talk with any officer."  

**NYC DEMOCRACY** - In more local news, New York City on
Thursday became "the largest municipality in the U.S. to
allow [legal] noncitizens to vote in local elections," including
mayoral races, reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post
. I
am sure Tucker Carlson is going to be thrilled with this expansion of
democracy.  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali  

 

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