The Trump administration has officially begun an effort to send some asylum seekers at the border to Guatemala, report Ted Hesson, Mica Rosenberg, and Kristina Cooke for Reuters. A pilot of the new program, which began this week, aims to process 10 to 15 migrants per day and will first target adults from Honduras and El Salvador. “Asylum officers were instructed not to ask migrants whether they have a fear of being sent to Guatemala. Instead, the migrants must affirmatively state a fear of being sent to that country.” Officials did not say when the first flights to Guatemala would take place.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that migrants who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border before mid-July should not be subject to the Trump administration’s asylum limits, Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN. Judge Cynthia Bashant of the Southern District of California argued that the rule didn’t exist when the migrants had first arrived at the border: If it weren’t for the government’s new restrictions, Judge Bashant said, “these asylum-seekers would have entered the United States and started the asylum process without delay.”
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
RESTRICTIVE REGULATIONS – In a newly released Unified Agenda for the Department of the Homeland Security (DHS), the Trump administration has proposed additional immigration regulations that would impact employers, international students, H-1B visa holders, asylum seekers and others. Stuart Anderson at Forbes breaks down what each of those “ambitious and far-reaching” proposals could mean: “It’s an attempt to lock into place changes to immigration policy that cannot be easily undone, regardless of the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.”
EXECUTIVE ORDER CONFUSION – Following the new White House order requiring consent from governors and local leaders for refugee resettlement programs, advocacy groups are directly calling on localities to provide that consent. The Michigan-based Bethany Christian Services has sent letters to between 30 and 40 cities asking them to remain open to refugee resettlement, reports Noah Fromson at ABC13 Grand Rapids. Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Missoula, Montana, is highlighting the murky details of the order. “There has been a lot of confusion about who, on the local level, needs to give consent,” the IRC’s Jen Barile told Kim Briggeman at the Missoulian. “At first, we were under the impression that mayors needed to give it, but this has changed, it looks like we now need the consent of county officials.”
FLU SHOTS – A group of physicians claim the Trump administration ignored their offer to pilot a free flu clinic for detained migrants and asylum seekers in the U.S., reports Chantal Da Silva for Newsweek. At least three children died in federal custody of flu-related causes in the last fiscal year. “We have a group of doctors who are willing and ready to go and provide these free flu vaccinations,” said Dr. Marie DeLuca, an emergency physician from New York. "The only thing we don't have is access to the people that need the flu vaccinations.”
IMMIGRANTS IN THE MILITARY – Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s testimony in a House impeachment inquiry earlier this week highlights a deeper attitude in the administration against immigrants who serve in the U.S. military, writes Loren DeJonge Schulman, deputy director of studies and Leon E. Panetta senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, in a column for The Washington Post. “Trump administration policies and deliberate inattention resulted in increased deportations for veterans and undocumented military family members and could even impact active-duty forces,” Schulman writes. “As a result, far fewer lawful permanent residents are seeking military service.”
SYRIAN REFUGEES – “For Sama,” a new film from PBS Frontline, explores the Syrian conflict and the latest on the more than 6 million displaced refugees. In an accompanying breakdown of Syrian migration, Zoe Todd writes that the U.S. “only took half as many [refugees] from 2016 to 2017 – from 12,587 to 6,557. In the 2018 financial year, the United States took in just 62 Syrian refugees.” Keep in mind that in 2018, 6.7 million Syrians were in other countries after fleeing their homes.
WHEN HEADLINES MEET THEOLOGY – For this week’s episode of “Only in America,” I spoke with Dr. David Smith, executive director of the Austin Baptist Association, about his work with congregations to welcome immigrants and create communities where all residents feel welcome. Check it out here.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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