Migratory Notes 51
Largest farmer in the U.S., One Year Since the Travel Ban, Whiter Longer
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The biggest farmer in the country needs two things: water and workers. He acquires both outside of public or legal channels. Water he gets through an off-the-books water pipeline. The 4,000 people it takes to grow the crops are primarily undocumented workers. “U.S. immigration has little say-so here. Rather, it is the authority vested in Wonderful that counts,” writes Mark Arax of the owners of Pom Wonderful, Fiji water, Halo clementines and many other hugely popular agricultural brands.
“Measuring the reach of the Resnicks, it’s tempting to lean on the hyperventilated language of the 1930s: Empire. Kingdom. Fiefdom. Feudal.” writes Arax in a sprawling first-person feature about the farmer behind the brands for California Sunday Magazine. But it’s not only subjugation. The company offers its workers a 401(k) plan, medical insurance, educational opportunities, and special housing, creating a modern-day company town centered around its massive fields. (Mother Jones also took on the company in a 2016 article, Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined. Arax puts the water usage as slightly under that of LA).
DACA
As the Senate announced a budget deal Wednesday, the inclusion of DACA looked unlikely. In the House Nancy Pelosi filibustered for more than eight hours, reading stories about DACA recipients, dreamers and select bible passages.
The DACA program will expire on March 5th, but lawmakers are considering a temporary extension, possibly for one year, in exchange for border security funding, reports Politico. The president cannot issue the extension himself since his DOJ deemed the program was enacted illegally. Instead, he would have to rely on Congress to extend DACA, something it has done before.
Whether Trump will support such an initiative is still unclear. His statements on DACA have run the gamut of pushing for a solution and giving up on one — he told the press a resolution for DACA “could very well not happen” before the program ends, but then said he would “love to see” a shutdown over immigration.
Still, some legislators haven’t given up. The Miami Herald reports on seven lawmakers to watch closely as Congress struggles to find a solution. NPR made a handy chart to compare the legislation on the table.
Sen. John McCain and Sen. Chris Coons introduced a bill that narrows the scope of the border security measures in a bid to gain Democratic support. But even as the Arizona Republican is introducing legislation, he may be the reason that a program to benefit Dreamers fails. Politico reports that McCain, recovering from brain surgery in Arizona, hasn’t been the “driving force” he usually is in immigration negotiations.
A Whiter America
If Trump’s immigration plan did go through, it would slow — but not stop — the U.S. move towards a minority white population, reports The Washington Post.
Mexico benefits
In Mexico, the economy appears to be benefiting from Trump’s aggressive rhetoric which, along with a boost in the U.S. economy, marked 2017 as the year the largest amount of remittances to Mexico ever registered, reports Fronteras.
Travel Ban Anniversary
One year since the travel ban was partially implemented, there has been a drop in people coming on visas from the travel ban countries to study and for short-term business trips, reports Inside Higher Ed.
Border
The Latino federal judge once called a ‘hater’ by Trump will now hear a case to decide what environmental laws can be waived to build the border wall, reports McClatchy.
The New York Times uses a responsive multimedia map to show that, despite Trump’s urgent calls for a border wall, the 2,000 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico already have 700 miles of fencing and rugged terrain that serves as a de facto barrier. The paper also travels to several border cities to look beyond the headlines — at where to eat in Nogales, Ariz., as well as Nogales, Mexico, or the best museums in El Paso or across-the-border Ciudad Juarez.
The best immigration-related book of the year may have been written by a former Border Patrol agent, reports Mother Jones. It explores his daily life on the job, as well as his struggle not to become co-opted by an inhumane system. The lesson? “You can’t exist within a system for that long without being implicated, without absorbing its poison.”
A program at the University of Arizona uses the Tucson border area to teach students about the impact of the Border Patrol’s ‘extra-constitutional powers’ on local communities, reports The Nation.
Refugees
Trump’s ‘extreme vetting’ has slowed refugee admissions down to a fraction of what they were under Obama, and less than the Trump administration has authorized to enter the country, reports The Dallas Morning News.
Detention and Deportation
A college chemistry instructor in Kansas was arrested as he was taking his daughter to school, reports The Kansas City Star. Originally from Bangladesh, Syed Jamal has lived in the U.S. for 30 years and had been granted a work permit under a supervised stay agreement. It’s another example of a shift in enforcement priorities between the Trump and Obama administrations.
Other detention news:
- A veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan is on hunger strike to protest his pending deportation for a 2010 drug conviction, reports CNN.
- An HIV-positive man says his deportation to Venezuela, where there is a severe shortage of medication for his illness, could be a death sentence, reports the Miami Herald.
- An immigrant died at the Steward Detention Center in Georgia last week, making him the second detainee to die in ICE custody this year, reports ThinkProgress. The Cuban immigrant was diagnosed with pneumonia, and ICE records accuse him of resisting medical care.
Enforcement and Crime
A twice-deported undocumented immigrant is the suspect in a fatal drunk-driving crash that killed an NFL player, reports the IndyStar. Trump used the incident to argue for his border enforcement legislation, reports the AP.
ICE raids may have one target, but other undocumented people in the path of agents often end up under arrest. Attorneys argue these ‘collateral arrests’ are discriminatory and amount to racial profiling, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Immigrant enforcement has long been blamed for making the job of local police fighting crime in immigrant communities more difficult. A new survey found that 40 percent of law enforcement around the country says federal immigration policies impact their work on the ground, reports Reveal.
Surveillance at DHS
A draft DHS memo obtained by ProPublica and Foreign Policy recommends broad surveillance of Sunni Muslim immigrants it deems a threat, an act that “would represent a vast expansion of the Trump administration’s policies aimed at many Muslim immigrants, extending vetting from those trying to enter the United States to those already legally in the country, including permanent residents.”
Labor
Undocumented workers in the Bay Area are scared to show up to work after a rash of workplace raids, reports The Mercury News. And at a citrus packing house in Fowler, California, 40 workers out of 500 didn’t return to work because of a pending ICE audit, reports The Fresno Bee.
TPS
A Salvadoran couple adopted three American-born daughters. Now, with the cancellation of TPS, they face a stark question about their future, reports The Desert Sun. Adoption officials are not required to ask prospective parents about their immigration status; and the family did not expect TPS to be revoked. Nearly 17,000 Salvadorans have renewed their TPS status ahead of the program’s end, reported Telesur.
TPS recipients want to make their voices heard in any immigration decisions through rallies and advocacy groups, reports NBC News.
Immigration is an International Issue
The lives of journalists in Mexico are at risk for any reporting that upsets the country’s massive organized crime network. There are few places for reporters to turn to if they decide to leave the country. For those that flee to the U.S. their cases for asylum are rarely resolved, reports the Los Angeles Times.
A program in the Mexican state of Michoacan brings aging parents who have gone decades without seeing their undocumented children in the U.S to visit, reports the Los Angeles Times. For many, it’s the first time they will meet their grandchildren in person.
Follows: deportees, sanctuary in Florida, insurance co’s turning over workers
- Following deportees and their families home: After being deported to Mexico, a Detroit man struggles to regain his peace of mind (Detroit Free Press.) ‘It’s so hard right now’: For a mother who returned to Mexico after decades of living undocumented in the U.S., days of feeling lost (LA Times)
- Aggressive anti-immigrant TV ads have inflamed the sanctuary debate in Florida’s governor’s race, reports Politico
- A bill spurred by a ProPublica investigation is under consideration in Florida to keep insurance companies from turning over injured immigrants to ICE to avoid payouts, reports ProPublica.
JOB POSTINGS & OPPORTUNITIES
Selected Resources
Podcasts to check out
- Making a mark, making places: A podcast from The Institute for Immigration Research that tells the stories of six immigrant artists in America
- Only in America: National Immigration Forum launched a new podcast about the people behind immigration issues.
- Immigration and Crime: The World of Humans science podcast delves into the connection.
- The New American Songbook from Groundtruth Project looks at the stories behind the songs of immigrants.
- Voices in America
- Mash-Up American
- ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? is a bilingual podcast to help encourage a Midwestern Latinx community
- For a more complete list Radio Public curates podcasts about immigration and migration
Recently released immigration books and reports (got one, send it over)
- The Making of a Dream: How a group of young undocumented immigrants helped change what it means to be American by Laura Wides-Muñoz (pub date: 1/30/17) covers the growth of the Dreamer movement.
- The Book of Isaias: A child of Hispanic immigrants seeks his own America by Daniel Connolly is a nonfiction narrative about the children of Mexican immigrants coming of age in Tennessee.
- The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom by Helen Thorpe tells the story of a Denver high school.
- 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-related curriculum
- 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)
- Define American DACA #FactsMatter sheet
Immigration reporting tools and tips
- How to cover local refugee communities (American Press Institute)
- 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)
Immigration Jobs and Opportunities
- Deputy Director of Programs, Communications Trainer, Communications Coordinator — California Immigrant Policy Center
- Investigative Data Reporter — inewsource.org (San Diego)
- 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 51. 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 Caught in the middle: California businesses face conflicting immigration laws. 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
