Migratory Notes 43

Reverse Migration, Travel Ban On, ICE Arrests

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#MustReads
More than 1 million Mexican migrants left the U.S. between 2009 and 2014, most of them voluntarily, in a reversal of a decades-long migration trend. This is a “major demographic shift that is reshaping the immigration equation and having profound effects on both countries,” writes Kate Linthicum in the Los Angeles Times. The three-part series, “Back to Malinalco,” is an in-depth look at how one rural community is adapting.

Travel Ban
The Supreme Court allowed Trump’s full travel ban to move forward this week, reports Reuters, in a sign that the court’s opposition to the restrictions may be crumbling. A lower court had ruled in favor of allowing travelers with some family or educational ties into the country. The new ruling rescinds that allowance.

DACA
Democrats may have a strong bargaining hand to push for the inclusion of a DACA solution in any year-end spending bill, reports the Los Angeles Times. Trump reached out to Democrats Monday, a sign that he will need Democratic votes to avoid a government shutdown. A group of House Republicans have also called for GOP leaders to find a permanent solution for DACA recipients. But the letter writers, the largest Republican bloc to speak out on the issue, did not endorse specific legislation or threaten to withhold support for other legislation to resolve the issue, reports The Washington Post.

The Trump administration is using Notices to Appear in immigration court to automatically strip DACA recipients of their protected status, reports Newsweek. It’s one of the methods the administration is using to revoke DACA protections, along with arresting and running background checks on recipients.

Texas Monthly paints a portrait of a group of talented, young and undocumented Texans, all mulling the fate of their livelihoods if DACA is allowed to expire. “I’m an American in every way except on paper. I call myself a Texan. This is my home,” says Pedro, an immigrant profiled in the story.

Enforcement
Border arrests have dropped to a 45-year low under the Trump administration while ICE arrests are up 40 percent from last year. The Los Angeles Times reports on the most comprehensive snapshot of enforcement since Trump took office. The figures show that ICE agents are pushing forward on Trump’s crackdown inside the country, even without a promised funding hike for the agency.

ICE agents arrested an undocumented man quoted anonymously in a Seattle Times article about escalating immigration enforcement. An agent reportedly told him “my supervisor asked me to come find you because of what appeared in the newspaper,” reports the newspaper. The man was not named in the original story, where he discussed his girlfriend’s arrest by immigration agents, but was named in another local publication.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested 20 people at a Memphis logistics company for using false documents and then processed them at an immigration office, reports The Commercial Appeal. Despite evidence to the contrary, ICE said it was only assisting the highway patrol in the non-immigration case.

As Hurricane Irma unleashed its devastating winds in Florida in September, DHS publicly promised to suspend immigration enforcement in the area impacted by the storm. Instead, the agency continued operating as usual for four days after issuing the pledge, reports Buzzfeed.

Detention
Immigrants detained at CoreCivic’s detention center in New Mexico regularly navigate their court proceedings alone, reports New Mexico In Depth. Because the need for attorneys far outstrips the availability, both immigrants facing deportation and asylum seekers end up waiting months and even years while their case drags through the court system. The lack of counsel in New Mexico is a warning for the rest of the immigration system, says a report from the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Meanwhile, CoreCivic is moving forward with plans to build a $100 million, 250,000-square-foot immigration detention center in Elkhart, Ind., reports the South Bend Tribune.

The Wall
A government oversight watchdog has accused CBP of violating federal law by instructing its employees and contractors to stay mum about the border wall without including a required whistleblower clause. That makes the CBP directive a gag order, reports The Texas Observer.

Steinle Murder Trial Aftermath
An undocumented immigrant on trial for the killing of Kate Steinle was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges by a jury last week. The defendant was convicted, instead, of being a felon in possession of a gun and faces up to three years in prison, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Steinle’s death helped ignite a debate over sanctuary cities and prompted a response from President Trump, who used the case to bolster his stance on immigration during the presidential campaign, reports The New York Times. Following the verdict, the Justice Department issued an arrest warrant for possible federal charges against the immigrant who shot the gun and who is now facing deportation, reports The Washington Post.

Immigration is an International Issue
Foreign Policy reports that the Trump administration is boycotting a global conference on migration, a move that signals a sharp turn toward isolationism. The administration has also abandoned talks on the Global Compact on Migration, a U.N.-led agreement to handle the flow of migrants and refugees around the world, reports The New York Times.

Pilots in Germany are refusing to fly planes returning failed asylum seekers to Afghanistan, reports Deutsche Welle. The flights are controversial because advocacy groups consider Afghanistan too dangerous for returning migrants, who face death and torture. More than 200 flights have been stopped.

Sanctuary
The Los Angeles Times reports on what may be a federal funding decision made to retaliate against a sanctuary city. The DOJ rejected Los Angeles’ request for $3 million for a lauded community policing program, despite offering the grant to plenty of other localities.

Follows — Arpaio civil suit; doc on the ’09 murders of an immigrant and his child

• A civil trial accusing Joe Arpaio of using his position as sheriff to file politically-motivated charges against his opponents begins this week, reports the AP.
• In a new documentary, Vice explores the nationalist ideologies behind the 2009 murder of a Mexican-American father and his 9-year-old daughter in southern Arizona that was orchestrated by a prominent Minuteman leader.

JOB POSTINGS & OPPORTUNITIES

Selected Resources

• Immigration related curriculum
• Best practices in representing asylum seekers video series from LegalED.
• Re-imagining immigration 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 recently released a free curriculum that helps students learn about U.S. immigration through personal narratives: Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project
• Imm-print published an Immigration Detention Syllabus
• Language Justice Curriculum for Interpreters from the Center for Participatory Change

DACA studies/ guides:

• Who are the DACA recipients (Urban Institute) also check out Local Insights from DACA (Brookings)
• DACA, the DREAM Act and undocumented immigrants: A primer for journalists (Journalist’s Resource/ Shorenstein Center)
• Guide for DACA recipients (Immigrant Legal Resource Center)
• The Migration Policy Institute released a report about the education and work profiles of the DACA set
• Define American DACA #FactsMatter sheet
• Center for American Progress produced a report on DACA Recipients’ Economic and Educational Gains

Recently released immigration books and reports (got one, send it over)

• New Italian Migrations to the United States, including reports on role shaping 1965 immigration laws.
• Special report on the Politics of Immigration and Education from the journal Education Policy.

Immigration reporting tools and tips

• New tool from Trac maps cases pending in immigration court
• Tips on covering immigration when you do not live near the border (Daniel Connolly, from IRE 2017)
• Resources for investigating visas (Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting)

Podcasts to check out

• The New American Songbook from Groundtruth Project looks at the stories behind the songs of immigrants.
• Voices in America
• Mash-Up American

Immigration Jobs and Opportunities

• Managing Editor — Southern California Public Radio
• Youth Reporting Fellowships — IMM Print, a new publication
• Program Manager and Interns for Spring and Summer — Hello Neighbor
• Resource and Organizational Development Director — America’s Voice
• Associate Editor, Investigations ThinkProgress
• PRI’s Global Nation is accepting pitches for stories about immigration and diversity

That’s all for Migratory Notes 43. If there’s a story you think we should consider, please send us an email.

Special thanks to intern Dalia Espinosa. Other thank you to those who helped this week, knowingly or unknowingly. Jacque Boltik for creating our template. Daniel Kowalski, Audrey Singer, Michele Henry, Jason Alcorn, Voice of San Diego Border Report, Global Nation Exchange FB group, Migration Information Source, and countless tweeters.

*Daniela Gerson is an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge with a focus on community, ethnic, and participatory media. She is also a senior fellow at the Democracy Fund. Before that she was a community engagement editor at the LA Times; founding editor of a trilingual hyperlocal publication, Alhambra Source; staff immigration reporter for the New York Sun; and a contributor to outlets including WNYC: New York Public Radio, The World, Der Spiegel, Financial Times, CNN, and The New York Times. She recently wrote How can collaborations between ethnic and mainstream outlets serve communities in the digital age? for American Press Institute. You can find her on Twitter @dhgerson

*Elizabeth Aguilera is a multimedia reporter for CALmatters covering health and social services, including immigration. Previously she 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 before that she covered a variety of beats and issues for the Denver Post including urban affairs and immigration. Her latest story is Diabetes hits hard as California spends billions on treatment, little on prevention. You can find her on Twitter @1eaguilera

*Yana Kunichoff is an independent journalist and documentary producer who covers immigration, policing, education and social movements. 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.