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Issue #61 — November 1, 2019
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U.S. (Im)migration News
No refugees arrived in the US in October: The U.S. canceled 500 scheduled flights that were set to bring in refugees approved for resettlement, leaving hundreds in limbo around the world ( CNN). There’s usually a pause in annual refugee arrivals for the first week of October as the new fiscal year begins, but resettlement groups are particularly concerned about this delay. The White House proposed setting this year’s refugee admissions cap at 18,000, a historic low. But the delay suggests President Donald Trump has not yet signed off on the number. Related: These refugees escaped Congo. But Trump’s policies may strand loved ones ( The New York Times).
TPS holders get extension: The U.S. and El Salvador announced an extension this week of work permits for Salvadoran beneficiaries of temporary protected status, or TPS ( The World). Under a bilateral deal, work permits will be extended an additional year through January 2021. Salvadorans will also get to stay in the US for one year after the conclusion of a court case challenging the Trump administration’s termination of TPS. Meanwhile, as part of the deal, the Department of Homeland Security will send officials to El Salvador to “advise and mentor” their counterparts on border security, with a goal to stem migration north to the US border. On Friday, DHS announced an extension of work permits for five other TPS-designated countries as well, including Nicaragua, Honduras, Nepal, Haiti and Sudan ( USCIS). Related: Salvadorans praise work permit extensions but want more ( The Dallas Morning News).
New hurdles for low-income immigrants: Starting December 2, the Trump administration will no longer consider the use of certain public benefits in determining whether immigrants are eligible for fee waivers. Fee waivers allow low-income immigrants to apply for green cards, citizenship status, employment authorization, and other benefits without paying expensive fees. Previously, immigrants could prove need for waivers by showing they were beneficiaries of Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP or other programs. Now they will have to demonstrate financial need in other ways. Legal aid groups say this change could affect up to two-thirds of applicants annually who apply for the waivers ( Vox).
What we’re reading:
- Politico: White House to name Chad Wolf acting DHS secretary.
- Washington Post: Trump administration could send asylum seekers back to Guatemala as soon as this week.
- CBS News: Trump administration using pilot program to fast-track deportations of asylum seekers at southern U.S. border.
- Reuters: Presidential directive requiring all prospective immigrants to prove they will have U.S. health insurance will go into effect Nov. 3.
- U.S. News & World Report: TRAC, a research group, finds issues with Justice Department immigration data.
- BuzzFeed News: A Trump official who once headed an influential anti-immigration group has resigned.
- NBC News: Attorney General William Barr issues two decisions that limiting the ways immigrants with low-level criminal convictions can fight deportation.
- Los Angeles Times: For transgender migrants fleeing death threats, asylum in the U.S. is a crapshoot.
- Quartz: U.S. border officers die by suicide 30% more often than other cops.
- Roll Call: The DOJ has quietly changed hiring procedures to permanently place immigration judges repeatedly accused of bias on a powerful appellate board.
- The New York Times: Detentions of child migrants at the southern border have surged to record levels in the past year.
- The Texas Tribune: Trump’s controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy continues to expand along Texas’ southern border.
- El Paso Times: As hundreds of migrant children languished in Texas border facilities this summer, the Dept. of Health and Human Services found itself unprepared to find space in full shelters.
- The Guardian: She raised her niece like a daughter. Then the U.S. government separated them at the border.
- Bloomberg: While coyotes get rich, children are dying at record speed on the U.S.-Mexico border.
- U.S. News & World Report: Efforts by the Census Bureau to collect state driver's license records as part of Trump's order to gather citizenship information have been mostly a bust.
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Longreads:
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The New Yorker: After ICE came to Morton, Mississippi.
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The New York Times (photo essay): The basements of Queens, New York, are the open secret of a literal underground economy, driven by a steady influx of immigrants and the need for affordable housing.
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The Intercept: Migrant children trapped in Mexico are leaving their families and crossing the border alone.
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The Nation: Immigration enforcement agencies’ budgets topped $23.7 billion in 2018—and a lot is being funneled back into the private sector.
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Ozy: The rise of the American-Asian “repat.”
- Bloomberg: How governments use immigration to boost their economies
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Around the World
Murder investigation begins in deaths of 39 migrants: British and European authorities are investigating what they say is a “global ring” of people smugglers after 39 migrants were found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck last week in Essex, UK (BBC). The victims had crossed into the UK from the Netherlands concealed in the truck, and are thought to be from Vietnam. Irregular migration to Europe is becoming increasingly common from parts of Vietnam, where many find it difficult to provide for their families (The New York Times). The tragedy has sparked debate over Britain's moves to further criminalize irregular migration, which critics say makes migrants more vulnerable to exploitation (The Guardian). The incident is not isolated: Similar deaths have occurred in recent years, and Belgian police this week found 12 migrants from Syria and Sudan “safe and well” in the back of a similar refrigerated truck (The Guardian).
Libya update: The Libyan government has ordered the arrest of a coast guard officer and UN-blacklisted human trafficker who participated in meetings with Italian and UN officials (The Guardian). The cooperation agreement between Italy and Libya, under which Italy funds and trains coast guard officials who prevent migrants from leaving Libya, is set to be renewed this weekend (The Local). Advocates say the agreement is poorly drafted and provides inadequate protection for the human rights of migrants (Human Rights Watch via Twitter). The renewal comes as hundreds of migrants in Tripoli were abruptly released from a detention center into ongoing civil conflict in the city’s streets (Libya Observer). Many sought shelter in a UN facility intended for refugees, which officials say is now crowded well beyond capacity (Reuters).
What we’re reading:
Americas:
- Reuters: Mexico flies 300 Indian migrants to New Delhi in “unprecedented” mass deportation.
- France24: Venezuelan refugee crisis to displace 2 million more in the next year, according to UN.
- Al Jazeera: Rights groups slam Mexico for detaining hundreds of documented asylum seekers, despite them having official permits to travel in the country.
- Texas Public Radio: As a new migrant shelter prepares to open In Matamoros, concerns of safety and access to aid grow.
Middle East & North Africa:
- Associated Press: Migrants from the Horn of Africa risk torture and rape while crossing Yemen towards Saudi Arabia, where many aim to find work.
- Al Monitor: Egypt has arrested five Syrian refugee families and is threatening them with deportation in violation of the country’s Refugee Convention obligations.
- EurasiaNet: The suspicious death of an Uzbek housecleaner highlights the abuse many Central Asian women suffer in Turkey.
- Euronews: Growing numbers of Iranians are claiming asylum in Afghanistan, where a lack of legislation on refugees makes their status highly insecure.
Europe:
- The New Humanitarian: What’s behind the new refugee surge to the Greek islands.
- Reuters: Human rights groups urged Greece to scrap plans restricting access to asylum, as the government said the burden of accommodating migrants is too heavy.
- Al Jazeera: Refugees in Greece's Moria camp describe a “psychological war” of lost hope, suicidal feelings and PTSD.
- France24: The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland broke EU law by refusing to take asylum-seekers at the height of the 2015 refugee crisis, top EU court's legal adviser said.
- Forbes: The EU is continuing to step up efforts to increase returns of third-country nationals who don't have the legal right to remain.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
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The New Humanitarian: Border crossings from Eritrea into Ethiopia, which opened last year, are mostly closed again. But hundreds of refugees stills cross every day
Daily Maverick: Hundreds of refugees in Cape Town, South Africa have been evicted from a building near the UNHCR South Africa office, which they had occupied in protest at xenophobic violence.
Asia-Pacific:
- The Guardian: Australia’s Human Rights Commission has urged the government to pay compensation for at least nine cases of unjustified violence in immigration detention.
- Al Jazeera: The ongoing displacement of 100,000 people from the city of Marawi in the Philippines is boosting ISIL recruitment in the area, experts say.
- Dhaka Tribune: Bangladesh has accused the Myanmar government of falsely claiming some Rohingya are voluntarily returning to Myanmar.
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Miscellaneous Things We Love
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KQED: California teachers have opened the first preschool attached to a migrant shelter in Tijuana, called “The Nest.”
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Dining in Diaspora: How Armenian immigrants built Almond Joy, an American candy empire.
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Christian Science Monitor: How Muslim immigrants have helped revive, and change, a former mill town in Maine.
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CNN: A Somali refugee just became the director of the Seattle clinic where she was cared for as a child.
The New York Times: Regardless of where they come from, the children of poor immigrants tend to have greater success climbing the economic ladder than children of similarly poor native-born Americans.
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Welcome to our biweekly newsletter on global migration policy, with a U.S. focus.
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Tania Karas is a reporter and editor covering immigration for PRI's The World. She has reported from Greece, Turkey and Lebanon and was previously a staff reporter for the New York Law Journal. Find her on Twitter at @TaniaKaras.
Lolita Brayman is a U.S.-based immigrant rights attorney focusing on refugee and asylum issues and a staff attorney with the Defending Vulnerable Populations Program with CLINIC. Find her on Twitter at @lolzlita.
Moira Lavelle is a freelance reporter focusing on gender, migration, and borders. She has written for Broadly, Rewire, and PRI. Find her on Twitter @alohamoira.
Fergus Peace is a researcher and journalist writing about refugees and migration. He's recently written for the Financial Times and Apolitical, and tweets at @FergusPeace.
Logo design by John Kapenga.
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