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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

 

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The Biden administration is using alternatives to detention (ATDs) as a
step toward closing for-profit immigrant detention centers - but the
tracking technology being used was "sold by the subsidiary of a major
for-profit detention provider," reports Stef W. Kight of Axios
. 

B.I. Incorporated - a subsidiary of GEO Group Inc. - "is the only
company currently providing ATD technology and services to ICE, sources
familiar with the services told Axios." 

Immigration advocates have mixed feelings about the increasing reliance
on ATDs, which could be used to "put more immigrants under surveillance
than before - rather than to decrease the use of detention," explains
Kight. 

Under the B.I. Incorporated contract, the ATD program can monitor up to
400,000 people in non-detention programs, per a source familiar with
the plans. There are currently an estimated 180,000 people

enrolled in ATD programs. 

In other news, a sweet Valentine's Day story
:
U.S. army veteran Mauricio Hernandez-Mata, who is originally from
Mexico, reunited with his mom in California yesterday after he was
deported over a decade ago. 

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]
.  

**'PEOPLE OF FAITH'** - Aldaberto and his wife Liliam are known as
Tía and Tío to the more than 250 unaccompanied migrant children
they've welcomed into their home. But they may not be able to foster
them anymore under Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) recent order

potentially revoking shelter licenses, reports Harvest Prude of The
Dispatch
.
Several foster parents, childcare facilities, and a coalition of
evangelical faith groups have criticized the order: "Whenever you're
having any level of government getting in the way of churches or
individual Christians who want to serve as foster parents, or Christian
ministries like Bethany or Catholic bishops that run several Catholic
charities ... their mission to protect children out of the motivation of
their faith," said Matthew Soerens, national coordinator for the
Evangelical Immigration Table. Added Bri Stensrud, director of Women of
Welcome: "You can't force people of faith to pick between vulnerable
children." 

13 YARDS - For NBC News
,
Sakshi Venkatraman paints a picture of South Asian migration that is not
often told. Inspired by flyers promising an opportunity for a better
life abroad, the Patel family left their village in the state of Gujarat
in western India. Jagdish Patel, like many others in the small village
of Dingucha, had worked in a factory to support his family of four,
making only an estimated $12o a month. Neighbors said Jagdish wanted a
better education for his young children, and better employment
opportunities for him and his wife. After flying to Toronto, they were
dropped off in a Canadian border town just north of Minnesota and North
Dakota. As they attempted to cross, a blizzard hit and separated them
from their group. The bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39, Vaishaliben Patel,
37, and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharmik, 3, were found 13 yards
from the U.S. border. 

IMMIGRANT WORKERS - In December 2021, there were 10.9 million openings
and fewer than 7 million unemployed workers, per the Bureau of Labor
Statistics . The tight
labor market is in part a result of Trump-era immigration policy
restrictions, immigration flows
,
and the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Marcela García writes in a
column for the Boston Globe
.
Immigration reform can help stymie labor shortages across the U.S., she
adds. "Not only are we not finding people to walk the dogs, we're also
not having [immigrants] in the labs, in the clinics, in the engineering
centers that push technology forward," said UC Davis economics professor
Giovanni Peri, noting that an estimated 1 million of the 2 million
immigrants missing from the workforce would have been college
educated. 

AFGHAN ADJUSTMENT ACT - In a Monday news conference outside the U.S.
Capitol building, veterans and refugee advocates called on Congress to
pass an Afghan Adjustment Act
,
Rebecca Kheel reports for Military.com
.
Currently, more than 36,000 Afghans evacuees brought to the U.S. lack a
direct pathway to secure permanent legal residency and stability in the
country, per a January DHS report to Congress released by Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). "If you've ever said that you
stand with the troops, then you must stand with us on this issue," said
Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and founder of the Afghan Evac coalition.
"Make no mistake, we are going to show up ... We will make sure that
voters know where you stood on the one thing that unites veterans across
this country like no other." 

On the local (and Australian) welcome front: 

* After resettling in Oklahoma thanks to a partnership between Oklahoma
State university and Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma (CCEOK)
dubbed the Afghan Family Project, Tayyab Ghazniwal was recently "hired
by Stillwater Public Schools as a translator for the Afghan students."
His main goal? "[T]o bring education back to Afghanistan." (Mack Burke,
OSU
)
 

* In partnership with Church World Services, Eastern Mennonite
University, and the Massanutten Technical Center, some 200 Afghan
refugees have gotten an opportunity to take free English classes in
Harrisonburg, Virginia. (Colby Johnson, WHSV 3
) 

* New Jersey resettlement agencies, faith groups, and sponsor circles
are looking for more help to resettle Afghan refugees to the state.
(Hannan Adely, NorthJersey.com
) 

* Australians have donated more than a million dollars to support the
Red Cross in Afghanistan, and the Australian Red Cross "has also called
on the government to boost its intake of refugees from Afghanistan by
20,000." (7 News Australia
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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