President Trump is considering expanding his controversial travel ban to seven additional countries, report Nahal Toosi and Anita Kumar for Politico. An announcement could come as early as Monday and could include Belarus, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. “Any new restrictions are likely to strain ties with affected countries, some of which assist the U.S. on issues like fighting terrorism, and some of which Washington has been trying to court for strategic reasons.”

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

DEPORTING STUDENTS – An Iranian student planning to attend Northeastern University was removed from the U.S. in defiance of a court order, Deirdre Fernandes reports in the Boston Globe. Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein Abadi, 24, had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since arriving in the U.S. Sunday, and his lawyers filed an emergency petition to block his removal Monday night. A judge ordered a 48-hour stay, but Hossein Abadi was nonetheless flown to France. The judge “said there was little he could do to compel immigration officials now that the student was gone.”

AMARILLO – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott became the first governor to refuse resettlement of new refugees in response to President Trump’s executive order, but in Amarillo — which has accepted more refugees per capita than any other city in Texas — “few share the governor’s alarm over refugees, and those who do have a far more nuanced view. They have long lived with refugees, not as abstract political talking points, but as neighbors,” reports Manny Fernandez in The New York Times. With 200,000 people, Amarillo voted for Trump in 2016, and the city is dominated by “cowboy culture and Texas kitsch.” It’s also supported by refugees: “thousands of refugees now work in the meat-processing and food-processing plants across the Panhandle. They earn wages starting at $15 an hour, pay taxes, buy cars, start small businesses and enroll their children in the public schools.”

MEXICO’S SOUTHERN BORDER – Tensions continue to rise at Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala as Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. attempt to enter Mexico, write Juan Montes and José de Córdoba at The Wall Street Journal. “[Mexican President Andrés Manuel] López Obrador, who welcomed migrants to Mexico during his first few months in office, reversed course last year after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap Mexico with import tariffs. After U.S. and Mexican officials reached a deal on tougher immigration policies over the summer, Mr. López Obrador quickly became a close ally of the American president in his efforts to reduce illegal migration.”

“THE AMERICAN STORY” – In yesterday’s Notes, we shared Ben Taub’s must-read New Yorker piece on Omar Ameen, an Iraqi refugee who could send home to his death after U.S. officials accused him of being an ISIS commander. Among the reactions is a column for The xxxxxx from Tim Miller, a Republican consultant and former communications director for Jeb Bush. “The Ameen story is about what kind of country we are,” he writes. “Today the American story … is about being suspicious of anyone who doesn’t look like you and being willing to put a family through the deepest circle of hell to prove your prejudices are right. … It’s a story I keep wanting to believe isn’t true. But keep being reminded that it is.”

TECH RACE – Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, told Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum this week that countries that fail to attract immigrants will lose out in the global tech race. “Immigration and enlightened immigration policy continuing in the United States is perhaps one of the most important things for its own competitiveness,” Nadella said. “People will only come when they know that you are an immigrant-friendly country.”

Thanks for reading,

Ali