That’s welcome news. 

It’s welcome in part because a new report finds that the Trump administration’s "mass exclusion of refugees" not only reduced refugee admissions by 295,000 "but cost the U.S. billions in economic growth," writes Michael Clemens, Director of Migration, Displacement, and Humanitarian Policy and Senior Fellow for The Center for Global Development. 

"[E]ven a 10 percent reduction in refugee resettlement may cost the U.S. $1.4 billion, and cost federal, state, and local governments more than $310 million over 5 years," Clemens writes. 

We’re also taking a moment to remember Secretary of State Madeleine Albright this morning. As a refugee from Czechoslovakia, she embodied the American dream. From her leadership on global concerns to her ongoing support of a tiny organization in Colorado that helps immigrants learn English, she was a remarkable human being. 

Welcome to Thursday’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]. And if you know others who’d like to receive the Notes, please spread the word. They can subscribe here. 

ASYLUM RULE — More breaking news this morning: The Biden administration has posted a new asylum rule ahead of publication in the federal register next week. The rule is designed "to settle claims at a faster pace and help alleviate the immigration court backlog," reports Priscilla Alvarez of CNN. Our take: This rule is a positive step. The rule comes as preliminary CBP data show that authorities are on track "to make more than 200,000 detentions along the Mexico border in March, the highest monthly total since August," report Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post. 

BORDER INVESTIGATIONS — An estimated 1,000 pages of newly uncovered internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) documents reveal the lengths the U.S. and Mexican governments went in 2019 to "surveil, detain, and deport migrants on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border" and block asylum, report John Washington and José Olivares of The Intercept. The emails and daily situational reports show how CBP partnered with several countries and U.S. agencies to effectively "seal the southern border." As Andrew Case, senior counsel for LatinoJustice told The Intercept, the investigation tells "a harrowing story about how CBP was made aware of a humanitarian crisis and, rather than address it, worsened it by adopting a military posture and implementing the MPP program." In other wild border news, QAnon conspiracy theorists are "intercepting unaccompanied minors at the Arizona-Mexico Border, and the Border Patrol seems fine with it," per Melissa del Bosque of The Border Chronicle. For more on this, see Mark Brodie’s interview with del Bosque on KJZZ. 

‘I THINK IT’S ESSENTIAL’ — There’s promising news on a bill meant to bolster U.S. competitiveness, perhaps including immigration provisions: On Wednesday, the Senate voted to proceed with resolving differences between Senate and House versions of the bill, Suzanne Monyak reports for Roll Call. The House version includes legal-immigration provisions that "could even garner support from some Senate Republicans," Monyak writes. Said Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana): "If there’s broad support for the provisions, then I’m absolutely open to including it. More broadly in terms of skills-based immigration reform, I think it’s essential to maintaining our national competitiveness." (The Council on National Security and Immigration agrees.) The kicker: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Wednesday that they’ve restarted a conversation to find immigration measures where there’s "common ground." 

AFGHAN WELCOME — In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, writes: "We must send a resounding message that the word of the United States still means something and that our promise of protection is anything but temporary." As she notes, an Afghan Adjustment Act would offer our allies certainty. Meanwhile, in partnership with five resettlement agencies and several community organizations, The Tennessee Office for Refugees has resettled 640 Afghan refugees and counting, reports Liam Adams of The Tennessean. "It takes a lot of people and a lot of hours over many, many months to do this work," said Judy Orr, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Nashville.  

On the local front: 

• The Catherine McAuley Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, continues to assist 250 Afghans resettling in the area, who are now able to register for Temporary Protected Status. (Brian Tabick, KCRG) 
• In the past three weeks, the Oklahoma Dental Foundation has offered dental care to Afghan refugees via its Mobiles Smiles unit. (Kilee Thomas, KOCO 5 News) 
• Agencies in Albany, New York, are working hard to continue resettling and integrating more than 350 new Afghan arrivals — a higher number than initially expected. "We already have such a robust Afghan community, and six mosques in the area," said Jill Peckenpaugh, director of the USCRI’s field office. "Easily 90 percent of the families who came already had families or friends here." (Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Documented) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali