This fall, President Trump signed an executive order that allows states and cities to veto refugee resettlement — and slashed the annual refugee ceiling to a record low of 18,000 for next year.

However, Griff Witte at The Washington Post writes that in “deeply conservative, deeply devout, predominantly white Utah — the response has been altogether different. The governor, a Republican who aligns with Trump on most issues, wrote the president a letter in late October. He didn’t want to keep refugees out. He didn’t want to reduce their numbers. He wanted Trump to send more.”

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

REFUGEE ADMISSIONS (1/2) – On the ground, cities and states are grappling with the President’s executive order on vetoing refugee resettlement. Before a standing-room-only crowd in North Dakota, Burleigh County Commissioners postponed a decision on whether to continue allowing refugees, Daniela Hurtado reports for KFYR TV. In Michigan, Kalamazoo County’s Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve of refugee resettlement, reports Lindsay Moore in Michigan Live. In Pennsylvania, Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz announced that the county is on board with continued refugee resettlement, reports WGRZ. And in a 3-2 vote, the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners in Minnesota “voted Tuesday to accept more refugees into its increasingly diverse community,” reports Riham Feshir at MPR News.

REFUGEE ADMISSIONS (2/2) – In response to the executive order on refugee admissions, faith groups like World Relief and the Evangelical Immigration Table are mobilizing, Bekah McNeel reports in Christianity Today. “Some refugee resettlement ministries are petitioning states, and others are suing the federal government as a December deadline looms.” Micah Fries, senior pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, told Christianity Today: “For us its not just theoretical, it’s practical. … These are friends of ours.”

$26.50 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) purchased a year’s worth of North Carolina’s driver’s license data — for less than $27 total — “which the agency used to identify and locate undocumented immigrants living in the state” Justin Rohrlich reports for Quartz. “In total, the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division paid the Executive Office of the State of North Carolina just $26.50 for the 12-month arrangement, which began June 30, 2017.” Nationwide, the country’s DMV databases have records on more individuals than any single law enforcement directory.

MEDEVAC – Australia has controversially repealed its “medevac” law, which allows sick refugee children held in offshore detention to be treated in the country, BBC News reports. The decision has drawn criticism as inhumane and cruel, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued that the law presented a “national security” risk. At least 12 people have died under the country’s offshore detention policy, which sends asylum seekers to Nauru and Papua New Guinea, and experts “have repeatedly warned of inadequate medical facilities on the islands.”

MEDICAL CARE (U.S.) – A legal resident from Sierra Leone, Mohamed Gordon — who had survived a rebel attack in his native country and committed minor crimes in the U.S. — was living in Houston when he slipped in the Fort Bend County jail in the fall of 2017 and injured his head. Lomi Kriel reports in the Houston Chronicle that after being transferred to federal immigration custody, “Gordon complained to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Conroe at least 17 times of pain and pressure, explaining that he needed follow-up care, his medical records show.” His requests went unanswered, and he later lost sight in his right eye, which doctors may need to remove. Gordon’s mother, a Houston nurse, told the Chronicle: “Yes, he did commit a crime, but does that mean he should lose his eye?”

FACIAL RECOGNITION – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would like to expand facial recognition checks for travelers arriving in and departing from the U.S. to include citizens, who previously had been exempt, Zack Whittaker writes in TechCrunch. “In a filing, the department has proposed that all travelers, and not just foreign nationals or visitors, will have to complete a facial recognition check before they are allowed to enter the U.S., but also to leave the country.”

PENNSYLVANIA HEARTLAND – At a small, state-owned museum called the Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, museum educators are exploring different eras when newcomers were not always welcomed, Jeff Gammage reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “‘It’s our job to show folks what lessons can be learned from history,’ said Sue Fisher of the volunteer Cloister Associates, a group that leads daily tours for 15,000 visitors a year and drums up memberships and donations.” Each night in this conservative area of Pennsylvania, different immigration experiences are explored through guided tours.

Thanks for reading,

Ali