The White House has said that Chad Wolf, a longtime Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official, will assume the agency’s top post, Nick Miroff reports for The Washington Post. But his Senate confirmation could be stalled thanks to a complex succession plan: Wolf was previously nominated to be DHS undersecretary for strategy, policy and plans, and must first be confirmed for that role before another Senate vote can be held. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) says he plans to hold a confirmation vote for the undersecretary role next week. Wolf, who is the favorite of White House immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, would be the fifth person to lead the department under Trump.

I hope you can join us tomorrow when we kick off our annual event, Leading the Way: An American Approach to Immigration, with a conversation between Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) on what is needed for bipartisan immigration solutions. (Media can register for the event here.)

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes.

Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
NOWHERE TO GO – The Trump administration has released thousands of migrants into southwest cities, leaving them with nowhere to go after the administration discontinued DHS’s Safe Release policy, writes Gaby del Valle at VICE. Cities now have to decide whether to spend money to help migrants who are often just passing through — San Antonio transformed a former Quiznos into an immigrant resource center. “The alternative was to have 25,000 people dropped off in the heart of San Antonio with no help, no food, and two or three nights ahead of them,” said San Antonio assistant city manager Colleen Bridger. “These are all families, most of whom have children.”
FLORIDA LICENSE DEBATE – The state of Florida could boost its revenue by more than $68 million annually by granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, reports Lautaro Grinspan for the Miami Herald, citing new research from the nonpartisan Florida Policy Institute (FPI). “Tapping into this new stream of revenue makes sense for our state, particularly in the face of the Sunshine State’s impending revenue shortfall,” said Sadaf Knight, CEO of FPI. “This inclusive policy would also make our roads safer and provide immigrants who are undocumented the chance to better support their families and continue contributing to the state and local economy.”

SAFE SPACE AT THE BORDER – With thousands waiting at the Mexican border to apply for asylum in the U.S., one educator has opened a rare, informal preschool in Tijuana to serve children under the age of six. The preschool, opened by longtime early childhood director Alise Shafer Ivey, gives young learners a much-needed chance to get away from crowded border shelters, writes Sasha Khokha in a feature for PRI’s The World. Before she opened the school, Ivey said, children were “digging in the dirt, playing with nails in their pockets … They had old cigarette lighters that they had found. There was nothing for children.”

IMMIGRANTS THRIVE – New research released by a group of economists finds that immigrants in America are continuing to move up the economic ladder just as they were a century ago, columnist Noah Smith writes for Bloomberg. Nearly all children of immigrants remain more likely than U.S.-born children to be upwardly mobile. But, Smith writes, the U.S. is now admitting too few skill-based immigrants: “The world's biggest countries are offering the U.S. some of their most talented people. We should do more to help them live and work in America.”

SAFETY FIRST – Yesterday, Tucson voters decided not to become an official “sanctuary city,” reports the Associated Press. Tucson became an “immigrant welcoming city” in 2012, and “the police department adopted rules limiting when officers can ask about the immigration status of people they encounter.” Earlier this year, Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus, recognized that “civil immigration enforcement must be left to federal authorities.” As a result, Tucson is a safe city for all its residents, citizen or not. Smart vote, Tucson.

AROUND THE WORLD – French President Emmanuel Macron will establish a quota system for immigrant workers arriving from outside Europe, reports Noemie Bisserbe for The Wall Street Journal. The government will only grant visas to workers whose skills it says are needed. “The measures are a sign of how Mr. Macron is trying to balance the need for skilled foreign workers against the perception among right-leaning voters that the government isn’t doing enough to protect French workers,” Bisserbe writes.

POP QUIZ – How much do you really know about American immigration? Test your knowledge: Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post has put together a pop quiz.

Thanks for reading,

Ali