U.S. (Im)migration News

Trump threatens to close southern border, cut aid to central America: In a series of tweets last week, President Donald Trump threatened to close the southern border unless Mexico put a stop to all illegal immigration to the U.S. (Associated Press). He walked back that threat Thursday, saying he was instead giving the Mexican government "a one-year warning" period to curb border crossings (NPR). Meanwhile, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government was doing everything it could to curb human smuggling to the U.S. (Al Jazeera). Shutting down ports of entry would have had a massive economic impact on both countries. American trade with Mexico exceeds $1.7 billion daily, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Business Insider). It also would have restricted movement of hundreds of thousands of tourists, shoppers, students, and families who cross the border every day (PRI's The World). Related: The border shutdown was a reality show threat, but the border slowdown is real (Vox).

Trump also announced he would cut at least $450 million in aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, similarly blaming their governments for not doing enough to prevent people from fleeing northward (Univision). U.S. aid to these three countries goes to a variety of organizations and is used to combat violence, fund anti-poverty programs, and support anti-corruption measures (The New York Times). Until the announcement, the U.S. government had praised for El Salvador in particular for deploying aid money to make the country safer. In the past three years, homicide rate and migration flows from the country both dropped sharply (Washington Post). Related: Central American and Mexican activists worry that a focus on security to address migration neglects its root causes (Al Jazeera).

What we’re watching:

• Largest workplace immigration raid in a decade: Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday arrested more than 280 undocumented immigrant employees of a computer and cellphone repair company outside of Dallas, Texas (KERA News). ICE officials say this was the largest worksite raid in a decade. It was prompted by tips that the company knowingly hired workers with false documents. Those arrested will be interviewed by ICE and will either remain in custody or be considered for temporary humanitarian release if they have medical needs or are the caretaker of a child (NPR).

• Complaint alleges El Paso immigration court is hostile: El Paso immigration judges have been accused of violating due process for immigrants in a complaint filed by the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (El Paso Times). In El Paso they allege, Asylum applications have appoval rates of less than 4% approval rates, and judges limit rules of evidence and often make inappropriate comments (CNN).

• Reuters: In the first 11 months of the travel ban’s full implementation, just 6 percent of visa applicants subject to the ban were granted waivers.
• Politico: Trump withdraws ICE director pick to take agency in "tougher direction."
• San Diego Union-Tribune: More than 50 unaccompanied children are waiting in Tijuana, unsure of when they will be allowed into the U.S. to request asylum.
• Politico: As Trump rages over border, Kushner quietly plans legal immigration boost.
• CNN: For unaccompanied minors, countdown to 18th birthday is filled with fear and dread.
• Los Angeles Times: Are Arabs and Iranians white? The U.S. census says yes, but many disagree.
• NPR: Trump administration warns of "fake families" as border agents report an uptick in adult immigrants trying to enter U.S. with minors who are not their children.
• Detroit Free Press: Iraqi nationals targeted by ICE could now be deported after a federal appeals court in Ohio declined to hear their case
• WNYC: Families are being fast-tracked at New York’s immigration court, putting additional pressure on immigrants, their attorneys and the newest judges.
• The Washington Times: Border Patrol agents could soon act as asylum officers as part of a pilot program to speed up processing of undocumented immigrants.
• Buzzfeed News: “It’s hell there”: What it was like for immigrants who were held in a pen underneath an El Paso bridge.
• Harper’s Bazaar: The U.S. tracked migrant girls' periods to stop them from getting abortions.
• The New York Times: (opinion): We fled the gangs in Honduras. Then the U.S. government took my baby.
• Washington Post: Ruben Garcia has sheltered migrants in El Paso for over four decades. With a crush at the border, he now needs a warehouse.
• The City: Visa-dependent students stranded by closure of Manhattan English-language school.
• The New York Times: As a tight labor market raises costs, employers say the need for low-wage help can’t be met by the declining ranks of the native-born.

Around the World

Away from Christmas Island, the country’s detention system is under heavy scrutiny. Australia’s Senate will inquire into onshore immigration detention after allegations and video of excessive force being used by guards (The Guardian). The auditor-general is conducting a separate inquiry into the outsourcing of healthcare and security services for the offshore centers on Manus and Nauru (The Guardian).

Latin America:

• Reuters: Thousands of Venezuelans break barricades, cross Colombia border.
• The New Humanitarian: Colombia and UN test first border camp for Venezuelans.
• PRI's The World: Salvadoran migrants look to other nations, including Costa Rica, for refuge as the US tightens its border.

• Washington Post: The Islamic State’s refugees are facing a humanitarian calamity, with more than 73,000 people living in a camp built for half that number.
• Reuters: Despite talk of returns, Turkey quietly works to integrate Syrian refugees.
• Foreign Policy: Thanks to a newly opened border crossing with Jordan, some Syrian refugees are heading back to their country. But their ordeal is far from over.

Europe:

• Ekathimerini: Hundreds of migrants gather in northern Greece for Balkan crossing.
• The New York Times: Three teenage migrants charged in Malta after hijacking the Libyan ship that rescued them to avoid being returned to Libya.
• The Guardian: Calais child refugees waiting 10 times longer to join family in the UK.

• VOA: Somalia not ready for massive refugee returns from Dadaab camp, UN warns.
• Daily Monitor: Ugandan government asks Rwandan and Burundian refugees to go home.
• Quartz: South Africa’s election season rhetoric has sparked xenophobic attacks on immigrants.
• Harper’s Magazine: Nowhere left to go: oral history from a 28-year Kenyan refugee in Uganda about the treatment of LGBT people in both countries.

Tania Karas is a reporter and editor for PRI The World's immigration desk. She is a Master's candidate in international human rights law at the University of Oxford. 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 immigration attorney focusing on refugee and asylum issues and a staff attorney with the Defending Vulnerable Populations Project with CLINIC. She holds an M.A. in conflict resolution and mediation and previously worked as an editor at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. She’s written for the Nation, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, Reuters, the Guardian, National Geographic, among others. 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. She is currently working on a master’s degree at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 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.

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