Migration News

Biden should airlift vulnerable people out of Afghanistan before US forces withdrawal, refugee group urges
Charles Davis, Insider
Before the US government leaves Afghanistan, it needs to find a way to protect the many people who will be left behind, even if that requires the same mass-scale airlifts that accompanied the fall of Saigon. That's according to the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a human rights group that lobbies for the displaced. In recommendations outlined Monday, it called on the Biden administration to resettle many more refugees from Afghanistan, including those who worked with the US government as well as journalists, activists, and others who risk being targeted by the Taliban. "Time is running out for the US government to offer humanitarian protection to Afghans whose lives will be under threat after US withdrawal," Adam Bates, the group's policy counsel, said in a statement.

Exclusive: Frank Luntz previews a feasible immigration compromise
Mike Aleen, Axios
A poll and series of focus groups has honed a one-two punch for a doable immigration deal: Give Democratic lawmakers a real path to citizenship for Dreamers, and give Republicans tight border security that's more realistic than a wall. Why it matters: The formula — by Frank Luntz, who rose to fame as a Republican pollster but in recent years has taken a more bipartisan approach to policy — would make real progress on one of the nation's biggest tragedies that Capitol Hill has failed to confront.

Why asylum seekers on either side of the southern border still face an uncertain future
Amna Nawaz, Lena I. Jackson, Adam Raney and Julia Galiano-Rios, PBS NewsHour
In February, President Joe Biden announced plans to wind down "Remain in Mexico" - the Trump administration policy that forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while immigration courts considered their cases. But thousands are still waiting in Mexico, and even those who’ve been allowed into the U.S. have an uncertain future. Amna Nawaz reports from El Paso, Texas.

US to help Guatemala train its border protection force
Sonia Pérez D. and Gisela Salomon, Associated Press
The United States agreed Monday to train members of a Guatemalan task force responsible for protecting the country’s borders and putting a brake on uncontrolled migration. The U.S. offer came during a video call between U.S Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. The U.S. will send 16 employees of the Department of Homeland Security to aid in the effort. The United States will also help Guatemala to build shelters for returned migrants and help the migrants transition back to life in their home communities.

Attorneys urge AG Merrick Garland to dump Trump's asylum restrictions
Suzanne Gamboa, NBC News
Attorneys for asylum-seekers are urging the Biden administration to stop denying asylum to people under Trump policies that severely limited eligibility on the basis of fear of gang and domestic violence or family ties. Even though President Joe Biden has ordered a review of the policies, a group of attorneys have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland in an April 13 letter to dump the restrictive decisions by his two immediate predecessors, Jeff Sessions and William Barr. In separate decisions, Sessions and Barr used unique authority granted them to assign cases to themselves and reverse immigration court decisions.

U.S. Population Over Last Decade Grew at Slowest Rate Since 1930s
Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff, The New York Times
Over the past decade, the United States population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790, the Census Bureau reported on Monday, a remarkable slackening that was driven by a slowdown in immigration and a declining birthrate. The bureau also reported changes to the nation’s political map: The long-running trend of the South and the West gaining population — and the congressional representation that comes with it — at the expense of the Northeast and the Midwest continued, with Texas gaining two seats and Florida one, and New York and Ohio each losing one. California, long a leader in population growth, lost a seat for the first time in history.

Congress hasn’t passed major immigration reform in 35 years. Two Northwest Republicans could change that
Orion Donovan-Smith, The Spokesman-Review
The last major overhaul of U.S. immigration law came 35 years ago. Employers, immigrant rights groups and a bipartisan coalition in Congress say an update is long overdue, but reaching the 60 votes required to get most legislation through the evenly divided Senate will take significant support from a Republican Party that’s of two minds on immigration. The fate of immigration reform in the GOP, and in Congress, lies largely with two Republicans from the Inland Northwest, Central Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse and Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo. The House passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act on March 18, a bill spearheaded by Newhouse along with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat. While just 30 of the House’s 212 Republicans backed the legislation, all but one of the GOP lawmakers representing Washington, Idaho and Oregon voted in favor.

Further Reading

Juan Williams: A breakthrough on immigration?
The Hill

Memo to Biden: Don’t go wobbly on refugee resettlement | Editorial
Sun Sentinel

Martínez-Matsuda wins award for “Migrant Citizenship” book
Cornell Chronicle

Radio Jornalera Is Giving Voice to Immigrant Experiences
Washingtonian