Today in Immigration

Immigration in focus at high level U.S.-Mexico talks on Friday
Reuters
Mexico and the United States will discuss ways of mitigating undocumented immigration in talks later this week, Mexico's president said on Thursday, as the two sides seek to tackle an issue that has posed a challenge for U.S. President Joe Biden. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a virtual meeting on Friday to explore joint approaches to containing a sharp increase in migrant arrivals at the U.S. southern border. "The issue tomorrow will be migration, basically," Lopez Obrador told a news conference, noting that other subjects could also surface, including when to lift curbs on the U.S.-Mexico border imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

US Officials Have Discussed Asking Mexico To Do More To Stem The Tide Of Immigrants Ahead Of Kamala Harris’s Meeting
Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News
In the lead-up to a meeting Friday between Vice President Kamala Harris and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, US officials have discussed asking Mexico to commit to implementing measures to decrease the number of immigrants trying to cross the southern border, according to government documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. The proposals that have been discussed include Mexico officials prioritizing repatriating adults turned back by US border officials under a controversial Trump-era policy, increasing apprehensions of immigrants moving through their country to an average of 1,000 per day, and taking in more Central American families turned around at the border, according to the documents.

U.S. Reduces Migrant Children in Border Patrol Custody, but Emergency Shelters Pose New Concerns
Michelle Hackman and Alicia A. Caldwell, The Wall Street Journal
The Biden administration in recent weeks has opened more than a dozen emergency child shelters to remove migrant children from Border Patrol custody, using convention centers, concert venues, army bases and camps built for oil-field workers to address the surge in unaccompanied minors. The shift has enabled the administration to reduce overcrowding and fulfill the legal requirement that children be moved quickly from Border Patrol custody. The new shelters, however, are prompting concern among some immigrant and child-welfare advocates that the conditions inside are unsuitable to hold children for long periods. The emergency shelters are a short-term solution while they work to open more licensed shelters, three administration officials said.

Advocates Say Continued Use Of Title 42 To Exclude Most Asylum-Seekers From The US Discriminates Against Them
Kristen Cabrera and Shelly Brisbin, Texas Standard
The Biden administration’s approach to the border and immigration has been heavily criticized. With Trump-era policies still in place, some advocates object to the way the rules are being enforced right now, specifically a provision known as Title 42. Geoffrey Hoffman is a clinical professor and director of the immigration clinic at the University of Houston Law Center. Hoffman told Texas Standard that Title 42 authorizes the surgeon general to suspend immigration into the United States on public health grounds. It has been on the books since the 1940s, and though Title 42 has been evoked several times, its use increased significantly during the Trump administration. “Back in March of 2020, the Trump administration used Title 42 to curtail, basically, entry of almost everyone from the Mexican border coming in to try to seek asylum,” Hoffman said. “And so that was a very, very big impact on those people.”

As Biden Shifts On Immigration, Some Advocates See Him Giving Up Without A Fight
Franco Ordoñez, NPR
President Biden rolled out a proposal to overhaul the nation's immigration system on his first day in office. But on Day 100, he shifted to talk about a more targeted, pragmatic approach. It left some advocates feeling abandoned. "He said in his speech ... 'Oh, I fulfilled my promise. Now it's off my hands. The Congress now needs to pass,' " said Gema Lowe, an undocumented organizer with the group Movimiento Cosecha. "So he's washing his hands by saying that ... instead of fighting and putting pressure to pass a bill, not just introducing the bill." In his first joint address to Congress last week, Biden reupped his call to pass his sweeping immigration overhaul. But at the same time he conceded the odds were stacked against the proposal getting enough Republican support to pass.

'New Era In Resettlement': U.S. Refugee Advocates Count On More Community-Based Help
Deborah Amos, Public Radio Tulsa
When President Biden announced this week that his administration would raise the cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 for this fiscal year, refugee advocates breathed a collective sigh of relief. The number is far above the historically low limit of 15,000 refugees set by the Trump administration. Biden's announcement was a stark turnaround after weeks of pushback from refugee advocates, outraged by a previous order keeping the 15,000 limit. One of those most elated by this week's announcement is Ed Shapiro, a Boston-based philanthropist and advocate for reimagining the U.S. refugee resettlement system to enable a lot more community-based efforts.

Inadequate housing for migrants cited in coroner report
Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
A coroner’s report into the COVID-19 deaths of three migrant farm workers last year has highlighted the role crowded, inadequate housing played in spreading the deadly virus on Ontario farms, plus a jumble of overlapping jurisdictions overseeing the living and working conditions of temporary foreign workers. Deputy chief Ontario coroner Dr. Reuven R. Jhirad is recommending a further, formal inquest into the deaths of Bonifacio Eugenio Romero, Rogelio Munoz Santos and Juan Lopez Chaparro in May and June of last year. Fr. Peter Ciallella, who presided at a memorial Mass for Lopez Chaparro at Blessed Sacrament Church in Burford, Ont., last year, is not surprised the coroner highlighted housing.

NJ Alliance For Immigrant Justice Calls On State Leadership To “Meet the Historic Momentum” On Immigration Detention 
InsiderNJ
Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 — The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) calls on State leadership and legislators to act on A5207/S3361, legislation that would ban new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts or renewals and extensions of existing contracts. Despite community calls to the Assembly Law & Public Safety Committee who met this morning, A5207 was not included on the agenda. Collectively, this committee’s members represent nearly half a million immigrant New Jerseyans. The call to action follows a whirlwind week as New Jersey made national headlines over local contractors signaling an end, or depopulation, to their ICE detention agreements.

Further Reading

Migrant mothers’ love: boundless, borderless
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, The Baltimore Sun

Undocumented LGBTQ immigrants turn to Fla. group for support
Washington Blade

Museum of Wisconsin Art Exhibit Brings Together Immigrant Artists To Tackle Themes Of Borders
WUWM

The Refugee-Led Coalition Creating Collective Care
YES! Magazine