New documents obtained by BuzzFeed News show that federal immigration officials are beginning to deport Mexican nationals seeking asylum at the southern border to Guatemala, expanding the practice that has turned away many refugees from Honduras and El Salvador over the last year.
One anonymous asylum officer told BuzzFeed News: “Mexico is dangerous; Guatemala is even more so. This expansion of the [agreement] continues to prevent legitimate asylum-seekers from having their cases heard by the U.S. and foists them upon the Guatemalan system, which has about a dozen staff … Asylum in the U.S. is now practically available only for people wealthy and privileged enough to get visas, shutting out many of the most vulnerable groups asking for help at our borders.”
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
OVER-SHARING – Despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has agreed to share “personally identifiable” citizenship data with the U.S. Census Bureau, reports Mike Schneider for the Associated Press. “Because a person’s citizenship status can change often over time, the citizenship data provided by Homeland Security will likely be inaccurate, said Andrea Senteno, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of the civil rights groups challenging Trump’s order in federal court in Maryland.”
“YOU HAVE TO HELP OTHERS” – In a touching New York Times profile, Elisha Brown writes how two married immigrants from Egypt, Maher and Salwa Gendy, have dedicated their retirement to serving as a lifeline for fellow immigrants in their Coptic Orthodox church community in Queens. “Using an office at the back of the church’s first floor, they help members of the congregation sign up for public benefits, health insurance and financial aid. … ‘Being in the church gives you that feeling that you have to help others,’ Mr. Gendy said. ‘It’s inside of us.’”
“KOMPETENSUTVISNING” – The Swedish economy needs for more qualified workers to sustain the county’s growing tech industry — but hundreds of highly skilled immigrants in Sweden are facing deportation because of a slew of “administrative mistakes” made by their employers, reports Maddy Savage for BBC Worklife. “Swedes call these deportations kompetensutvisning, which means the ‘expulsion of someone who has skills required in the labour [sic] market’… Earlier this year the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce warned that the trend could damage the Swedish capital’s economy…”
ECONOMIC SAFETY VALVE – Declining immigration rates in the U.S. pose a significant threat to our national economy, writes Gillian Friedman in Deseret News. “Immigration will be a ‘safety valve’ in helping bolster both labor force growth and population growth in an aging society, [Brookings Institution senior fellow William Frey] said.” Meanwhile, according to Bank of Montreal Chief Economist Doug Porter, robust population increases mean that “Canada’s headline growth could ‘easily’ top the U.S. this year,” Shelly Hagan reports for Bloomberg.
DNA COLLECTION – The Trump administration is officially implementing its new policy of collecting DNA from those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), reports Nicole Wetsman in The Verge. “This kind of mass collection also alters the purpose of DNA collection from one of criminal investigation to population surveillance, which is contrary to our basic notions of freedom and autonomy,” said Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
RESETTLEMENT UPDATE – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) announced last week that the state will continue to welcome and settle refugees, responding to President Trump’s executive order allowing states to turn them away. Parson said he would “continue to work hard to ensure refugees become a thriving part of our communities, and I am confident this demonstration of compassion will mark the first step in these immigrants becoming patriotic and productive fellow Americans,” Jack Suntrup reports in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Editorial Board of the Kansas City Star praised the move as Missouri joined 40 other states in rejecting Trump’s veto offer. And North Dakota’s Burleigh County, which we were watching closely as they decided against a refugee ban, just voted to keep the issue away from public referendum, the Associated Press reports.
Thanks for reading,
Ali
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