Migratory Notes 213
Immigration lawyers under surveillance; Global pandemic refugees; ICE ordered to stop detention at two county jails
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Two years ago NBC reporters in San Diego uncovered records of the U.S. government tracking journalists, lawyers and activists thought to be connected to the 2018 caravan. “New documents prove the operation went further — and raise questions about how many others were targeted,” Dara Lind writes in a ProPublica investigation. U.S. officials shared theories that “immigration lawyers were seeking to profit by moving migrants through Mexico, and that ‘Antifa’ may have been involved.”
In an immersive multimedia project, the Washington Post follows Central American migrants on a harrowing failed journey across the U.S.-Mexico border. The compelling mix of audio, video, and print transports the audience to a situation that is often reported on, but is challenging to grasp if you have not experienced it.
Pandemic Immigration Shifts
The patchwork of convoluted border policies is creating false hopes for migrants and confusing experts, ProPublica reports in a broad and detailed breakdown of current policies. Among recent shifts:
- As the pandemic eases in the U.S., and after months of pressure from advocates, the Biden administration has agreed to some changes to the Title 42 policy, such as stopping late-night expulsions and flying migrants across the U.S. in order to expel them. (LA Times)
- The Biden administration will also allow 250 vulnerable asylum seekers to enter the United States each day. (CBS News)
- An agreement between the University of Texas at El Paso and CBP allowed Mexican parents of U.S. citizen children to cross into the United States for their childrens’ college graduation ceremony. Similar agreements were made at a smaller scale at other University of Texas campuses in the Rio Grande Valley. (El Paso Times)
As Covid-19 cases dwindle in parts of the United States, new waves of global pandemic refugees are traveling long distances to the southwest border, reports The New York Times. According to CBP data, 30% of families encountered at the border are from countries other than Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, compared to only 7.5% during the last border surge in April 2019. In recent months, border officials have encountered migrants from more than 160 countries, many of which are bearing the brunt of the pandemic, including Ecuador, Brazil and India.
Meanwhile, thousands of immigrants who live in the U.S. on visas are stuck in India after the United States implemented a travel ban against the country amid record-high Covid-19 cases, reports The New York Times. The most recent travel ban has impacted a disproportionate number of Indian immigrants, who claim more than two-thirds of H-1B visas issued each year.
Migrant Children & Biden Administration
White House officials were “livid” after reports were released that some migrant children waited on parked buses overnight before being released to family or sponsors, reports NBC News. NBC News crews counted nine buses filled with children waiting in a Dallas parking lot last Tuesday night, and found several of the same buses Wednesday morning. One child’s family said he was stuck in a bus for four days.
As border apprehensions remain at high levels, the Biden administration is looking at different metrics to gauge its success on the immigration front, such as the transfer of more than 90% of children and teens from Border Patrol facilities to HHS run shelters, reports the Washington Post. “Apprehensions don’t tell the full story, and getting to zero is not a measure of success,” says Tyler Moran, one of Biden’s top immigration policy advisers.
HHS officials say they’ve placed more than 20,000 children with sponsors since Biden’s inauguration, reports CBS News. The discharge rate has increased from an average of 89 minors daily in late January, to an average of 608 minors daily last week. Still, more than 20,000 migrant children remain in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Immigration is an International Issue
Many migrants are fleeing Honduras because they aren’t receiving aid from the ruling party, which favors its own supporters, reports Reuters. The National Party, which controls the federal government and 58% of the nation’s mayor’s offices, runs a corrupt patronage system that provides aid and support for its supporters, breeding cynicism among those deprived of public benefits. Dozens of migrants told Reuters the system influenced them or their family to migrate.
Immigration Justice & Scammers
A San Francisco immigration judge quit after encountering a “soul-crushing bureaucracy” subject to the political whims of the Justice Department, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. His case exposes the pressures within a court system “subject to the changing winds of a political landscape.” William Hanrahan started the job 14 months ago hoping to “do some good,” but quickly clashed with a top-down management style, lack of discretion that leaves judges little choice but to deport people, and an uncomfortable closeness with the ICE prosecutor’s office.
Amidst rumors of new immigration laws under Biden, California lawmakers are considering a bill and an ordinance that would crack down on fraud committed against undocumented immigrants with two proposals that place limits on consultants, reports the Fresno Bee. Misrepresentation and corruption is not new or isolated. A woman in Fairfax County, Virginia, was arrested last week on charges of allegedly posing as an immigration attorney and collecting money for legal services she never provided, reports WJLA.
Detention
DHS announced plans to close detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that were under federal investigation as part of an effort to improve the conditions in ICE facilities, reports The Washington Post. The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office in Massachusetts came under fire last year when staff used pepper balls and other harsh tactics against detainees who refused Covid testing. The Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia has been the center of a scandal involving the forced sterilizations of detained women, reports Prism. More changes to immigrant detention centers are expected to follow the decision as the Biden administration works to meet the demands of immigrant rights groups.
Legislators in New York will be introducing a bill that would prohibit county jails from entering directly into contracts with ICE or private-prisons to house immigrant detainees, reports The Nation. The Dignity Not Detention Act would also terminate existing detention contracts. The proposed legislation is part of a nation-wide effort to take on ICE and close detention centers, and mirrors legislative efforts in California and Maryland.
Teenagers are being held indefinitely at ICE-run juvenile jails for months at a time without an explanation, reports The Nation. Minors with criminal records are exempt from the 1997 Flores Agreement that sets limits for time in U.S. custody for immigrant children and teens. ICE says it detains minors in “rare circumstances” when they have been “deemed to pose a significant threat to public safety,” but advocates say some of the the detained teenagers were never convicted of a crime.
While vaccinations against Covid-19 have begun in some ICE facilities, there’s no national plan to ensure the detained population gets vaccinated, reports Roll Call. The ICE vaccination effort has remained slow in part because the agency has delegated responsibility to states, some of whom have not prioritized populations held in federal custody for the vaccine. According to ICE officials, about 20% of detainees have received at least one shot.
Art & Immigration
Across the country, artists are being inspired to create works of art that reflect the modern migrant experience:
- In Chicago, the multi-media project “Immigrant Mass’’ combines interviews with formerly detained immigrants with an original music composition. (Chicago Tribune)
- A Portland-based musician and a New York-based dance choreographer collaborated on a performance piece called “Los Delores de la Raza,” which is inspired by migrant children who were separated from their families. (OPB)
- Mexican filmmaker Fernanda Valadez’s directorial debut “Identifying Features” uses horror film tactics to portray the dangers of the migrant trail from Mexico to the U.S. (The Guardian)
Immigration Journalism
A CNN article about the “new tactics” migrants are using to evade CBP officials was criticized by journalists such as Liliana Soto and Ryan Devereaux for lacking accuracy and on-the-ground knowledge. “These ‘exclusive’ stories really make me cringe,” Liliana Soto writes on Twitter.
Follows
- DACA recipients in Long Beach won a lawsuit against the Biden administration that permits them to travel outside the U.S. and return legally. (LA Times)
- The Biden administration revoked a Trump-era proclamation that required immigrants to prove they could get qualifying health insurance within 30 days of arriving in the United States or prove they had the resources to cover medical costs. (Politico)
- Arizona will spend $200 million in taxpayer money by 2022 to cover the expenses of a lawsuit that determined former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration patrols engaged in racial profiling. (AP)
- Google led a coalition of tech companies in filing a “friend of the court” document expressing their support for continuing to give work authorization to the spouses of workers with H-1B visas. (ABC News)
- On Tuesday, the House passed a hate crime bill to address incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. (LA Times)
- A federal program that provides mental health counseling for migrant families separated under the Trump administration’s family separation policy may end in July. (LA Times)
- According to a federal court filing, the parents of 391 migrant children separated at the border under the Trump administration still have not been found. (CNN)
- Migrant children waiting in Tijuana are being offered a respite from their chaotic lives at the Canyon School, which offers classes to children from asylum-seeking families who were expelled from the United States. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Jobs, Fellowships & Awards
- Producer/Reporter — Race & Culture, ABC News
- Radicle Anthology Call for Submission — A new multi-media anthology for and by undocumented im/migrant voices is accepting submissions until July 16, 2021
Jobs, Fellowships & Awards
- Producer/Reporter — Race & Culture, ABC News
- Radicle Anthology Call for Submission — A new multi-media anthology for and by undocumented im/migrant voices is accepting submissions until July 16, 2021
Immigration Resources & Opportunities
Coronavirus Resources
- Immigrants in COVID America documents the health, economic and social impact of COVID-19. (Immigrant History Research Center)
- Database of more than 200 COVID relief funds that are accessible to refugees and other immigrants, including without legal status. (IRAP)
- Updates on immigration developments during COVID-19 (Center for Migration Studies)
- Map of detention centers tracking coronavirus outbreaks (Freedom for Immigrants)
- COVID-19 resources for undocumented immigrants (UndocuScholars)
- Database of likely deportation flights during the pandemic (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
- Informed Immigrant is an online resource that provides information for undocumented immigrant communities in the U.S. during the coronavirus.
Recently released immigration books and films(got one, send it over)
- Driving while Brown: Sheriff Joe Arpaio versus the Latino Resistance by Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block (April 2021)
- A Nation of Immigrants, second edition, by Susan F. Martin (March 2021)
- Faces of Courage: Ten Years of Building Sanctuary photography by Harvey Finkle (2021)
- The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant Incarceration and Solidarity by Jessica Ordaz (January 2021)
- Futbol in the Park: Immigrants, Soccer, and the Creation of Social Ties by David Trouille (January 2021)
- After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau (September 2020)
- Next Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move by Sonia Shah argues climate change migration is a solution rather than a crisis. (August 2020)
- Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas by Roberto Lovato. (September 2020)
- Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda by Jean Guerrero (August 2020)
- 14 Miles: Building the Border Wall by DW Gibson covers the repercussions of the wall in San Diego. (July 2020)
- “USA V Scott” a documentary that depicts the moral dilemma facing Arizona residents, who must decide whether or not to help desperate migrants they come across, using the case of activist Scott Warren as a case study.
- The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants by Adam Goodman. The book examines how public officials have used different forms of deportations and expulsion “to purge immigrants from the country and exert control over those who remain.” (June 2020)
- One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924–1965 by Jia Lynn Yang, chronicles the major changes in U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century and their profound impact on immigrant families including her own. (May 2020)
- The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexican Border and Beyond by John Washington. The book takes an in-depth look at the Trump administration’s attack on asylum, told through the story of one Salvadoran dad, Arnovis. (May 2020)
- Migranthood: Youth in a New Era of Deportation, by anthropologist Lauren Heidbrink, chronicles deportation from the perspectives of Indigenous youth who migrate unaccompanied from Guatemala. (April 2020)
Reporting Initiatives about Immigrant Communities
- Borderless: a non-profit online magazine reimagining coverage of the immigration system.
- Documented: a non-profit news site covering immigrants in New York.
- Ethnic Media Services: organization that works with ethnic media organizations to improve coverage and reach.
- Feet In Two Worlds: project that tells immigrant stories and provides fellowships for immigrant journalists.
- Finding American: a collaboration between documentary photographer Colin Boyd Shafer and immigrants to feature their stories.
- The Immigrant Story: a project between journalists, photographers, graphic designers and developers to document and archive immigrants’ stories.
- ImmPrint: an online publication by and for people affected by immigrant detention.
- New Michigan Media: a network of ethnic and minority media across the state of Michigan.
- Newest Americans: a multimedia collaboration between journalists, media-makers, artists, faculty and students telling the stories of the immigrant and immigrant communities in Newark, NJ.
- Refugees (Santa Fe Dreamers Project): a collection of testimonies from asylum seekers in partnership with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
Newsletters, Podcasts, & Facebook Groups
- Port of Entry is a podcast about cross-border stories that connect us. Border people often inhabit this in-between place. From KPBS and PRX, “Port of Entry” tells personal stories from this place.
- Routed Magazine curates a bi-monthly newsletter on news in migration and mobility.
- Immigrant & Democracy from Harvard University’s immigration initiative.
- Detention Dispatches by Capital & Main follows the conditions in ICE detention centers during the pandemic.
- In The Thick podcast covers the coronavirus impact on immigrant communities from Chelsea, MA to the Bronx, New York.
- Nuestro South is a podcast exploring the experiences of Latinx people in the U.S. south.
- Salvadoran investigative media outlet El Faro has launched an English-language newsletter with reporting from Central America.
- ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? Podcast tells stories of Latino life “from the homeland to the heartland.”
- Frontera Dispatch is a weekly newsletter by the Hope Border Institute on news and analysis from the border.
- BIB Daily Edition is a free aggregation of “inside immigration news” (court cases, new regulations and the like) and “outside news” (culled from the mainstream and not-so-mainstream media).
- Center for Migration Studies Migration Update is a weekly digest of news, faith reflections, and analysis of international migration and refugee protection.
- Migration Information Source from the Migration Policy Institute offers a series of newsletters.
- Documented NY’s Early Arrival newsletter aggregates information on immigration in New York and nationally.
- Politico’s Morning Shift newsletter: a daily read on employment and immigration.
- Tempest Tossed, a podcast with “conversations on immigration and refugees that go beyond the predictable soundbites.”
- Displaced, a podcast from the International Rescue Committee.
- A is for America America’s Voice discusses immigrant politics and organizing.
- Only in America National Immigration Forum’s podcast about the people behind immigration issues.
Curriculum & Campaigns
- Doctors for Immigrants released a toolkit to welcome and protect immigrants within the healthcare system.
- We Have Rights is a campaign to educate immigrants about rights in encounters with ICE
- Ecologies of Migrant Care has collected nearly 100 interviews with migrants, activists, academics and other immigration experts to shed light on the reasons why Central Americans flee and detail the networks that have developed to help them along their journey.
- Moving Stories is an app and curriculum to capture and share immigrant stories.
- Re-imagining Migration has resources and lessons to teach about migration, immigration, refugees, and civic empowerment through history, literature, and the sciences
- The Advocates for Human Rights and the Immigration History Research Center at UMN free curriculum that helps students learn about U.S. immigration through personal narratives: Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project
- Freedom for Immigrants publishes an Immigration Detention Syllabus
Reporting resources, tools and tips
- Higher Ed Immigration Portal: A new digital platform that integrates data, policies, and resources about DACA and undocumented, other immigrant, international, and refugee students.
- Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States (Migration Policy Institute)
- The Immigrant Defense project created a style guide for journalists reporting on immigration.
- Digital First Responders: A database, report, and case study of how immigrant news outlets are innovating to serve their communities. (Center for Community Media).
- Journalists who have been targeted for their work can send incident reports through the online platform of Press Freedom Tracker.
- No Refuge from Council on Foreign Relations’ InfoGuide series, includes an interactive map of origin and destination countries for refugees, and policy options that can help refugees and support host states.
- Covering Immigration Enforcement webinar from Poynter with Marshall Project contributing writer Julia Preston.
- Tools for covering ICE from the Columbia Journalism Review
- Migration Reporting Resources (Global Investigative Journalism Network)
- Resources for Investigating Visas (Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting)
- Reporting on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants (90 Days, 90 Voices)
- Immigration Data Resources: An extensive, and growing, list of immigration resources curated by Angilee Shah.
If there’s a story or immigration-related opportunity you think we should consider, please send us an email.
*Daniela Gerson is a co-founder and the editor of Migratory Notes. She is an assistant professor of Journalism at California State University, Northridge, Previously she was a senior fellow at the Center for Community Media (CCM); community engagement editor at the LA Times; editor of the trilingual Alhambra Source; and immigration reporter for the New York Sun. She has reported for WNYC: New York Public Radio, The World, Der Spiegel, Financial Times, CNN, The New York Times, among other outlets. You can find her on Twitter @dhgerson
*Elizabeth Aguilera is co-founder and executive editor of Migratory Notes. She is a multimedia reporter for CalMatters where she co-hosts the new political podcast California State of Mind and covers the health and welfare of California’s next generation. Previously she covered health care and social services, including immigration for the digital outlet. Before joining CalMatters Aguilera reported on community health for Southern California Public Radio. She’s also reported on immigration for the San Diego Union-Tribune, where she won a Best of the West award for her work on sex trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico; and worked for the Denver Post covering urban affairs and immigration. You can find her on Twitter @1eaguilera
*Anna-Cat Brigida is a staff writer for Migratory Notes. She is a freelance reporter covering immigration and human rights in Mexico and Central America. She began covering immigration as a journalism student at USC Annenberg and later moved to Central America to work as a reporter. She has covered the region since 2015 and has been based in El Salvador since January 2018. She has also worked as a Spanish-language writer for Fusion out of the Mexico City office. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, The Guardian, Univision, LA Times, and Al Jazeera, among others. You can find her on Twitter @AnnaCat_Brigida
*Paco Alvarez is a staff writer for Migratory Notes. He is a writer based in Chicago. Previously, he was a Fall 2020 Civic Reporting Fellow for City Bureau where he covered the 2020 elections and political participation in immigrant communities. His work has appeared in the Chicago Reader, Block Club Chicago and South Side Weekly. You can find him on Twitter @pacvarez
*Yana Kunichoff is a special projects editor for Migratory Notes. She currently covers public education for Chalkbeat Chicago. She was project manager for Migrahack 2016 in Chicago. She has also produced feature-length documentaries and a pop-culture web series for Scrappers Film Group; worked as a fellow with City Bureau, where she won a March 2016 Sidney Hillman award for an investigation into fatal police shootings; and covered race and poverty issues for the Chicago Reporter. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard and Chicago magazine among others. You can find her on Twitter @yanazure
*Migratory Notes Advisory Board: Daniel Connolly, Maria Kari, Dan Kowalski, Paola Marizán, Mirta Ojito, Roberto Suro, Phuong Ly, Fernanda Santos
