The U.S. House of Representatives will vote today on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act — bipartisan legislation that would grant legal status to undocumented farmworkers, modernize the agricultural worker visa program and mandate E-Verify for the sector.

In an op-ed for AgriPulse, California Farm Bureau Federation President Jamie Johansson explains why passage of the bill is critical as farmers struggle with labor shortages: “When Farm Bureau surveyed California farmers and ranchers earlier this year, more than half reported they hadn’t been able to hire all the employees they needed at some point during the previous five years.”

Kelly Henggeler and Daniel Rowley of the U.S. Apple Association agreed: “The current system causes an unstable situation for not only apple growers but for all farmers who depend on immigrant labor to bring Americans healthy and affordable food,” they wrote in an op-ed for the Idaho Statesman.

Craig Regelbrugge of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform told me: “This will be the first time in approximately 33 years that the House actually passes a significant farm labor reform.”

That’s kind of huge.

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

BLOCKED – A federal judge has blocked President Trump’s plan to spend $3.6 billion in military funding on border wall construction, ruling that the administration doesn’t have authority to divert those funds. “The Trump administration has budgeted nearly $10 billion for barrier construction to date, so the ruling affects roughly one-third of the money the president plans to spend on his signature project,” reports Nick Miroff for The Washington Post.

RETURNED TO GUATEMALA – U.S. officials have begun sending families, not just single adults, seeking asylum to Guatemala — even if those families are not from Guatemala, Molly O’Toole reports for the Los Angeles Times. The move follows an administration agreement with Guatemala to take asylum-seekers who are not Guatemalan. “Experts, advocates, the United Nations and Guatemalan officials say the country doesn’t have the capacity to handle any sizable influx, much less process potential protection claims. Guatemala’s own struggles with corruption, violence and poverty helped push more than 270,000 Guatemalans to the U.S. border in fiscal 2019.”

FIGHTING FOR MARIO – When a New Haven, Connecticut, high school student was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), his teachers and classmates rallied to support him, reports Catherine Shoichet in a feature for CNN: “Teachers bundled up homework to send to Mario in ICE detention, hoping their student wouldn’t fall behind or feel forgotten. They wrote letters pushing for his release. And they showed up for him in court.” ICE refused to allow the homework be given to Mario. On Thursday, an immigration judge in Boston is expected to decide Mario’s fate.

MEDICAL SCREENINGS – Medical screenings have become the latest in a string of requirements that the U.S. government is imposing to discourage migrants, Molly Hennessy-Fiske writes for The Los Angeles Times. After waiting three months at the border for their asylum hearing, Claudia Quesada Rodriguez and her 12-year-old daughter were sent back to Mexico with their hearing postponed another three months after U.S. Customs and Border Protection determined the girl had a fever. “It’s an injustice,” said Quesada. “There are a lot of sick people here and when you’re living in a tent, what can you do?”

IMMIGRANT HOTLINE – The nonprofit group Freedom for Immigrants is suing the Trump administration for ending a free hotline service that had allowed detained immigrants to report concerns about custody conditions, the Associated Press reports. Freedom for Immigrants is arguing the hotline was pulled after it was featured on the Netflix show “Orange Is the New Black,” drawing the public’s attention to conditions at the border.

INSPIRING IMMIGRATION STORIES OF 2019 – Writing for Forbes, the National Foundation for American Policy’s Stuart Anderson profiles the most inspiring immigration stories of 2019. In fairness, yesterday he catalogued the most significant stories of 2019, but they were all pretty disturbing (and, well, we could all use some holiday cheer). Anderson finds inspiration in the immigrant stories of sculptors, lawyers, restaurant owners, astronauts — and Gallup’s finding that “Americans still view immigration positively in general, with 76% describing it as a good thing for the country today and 19% as a bad thing.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali