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Arizona border communities face a humanitarian disaster in twoweeks if the federal government does not step in to help with the crushof migrants expected when Title 42 ends, local officials told a Senatepanel Wednesday.

Mayors from Yuma and Sierra Vista along with Pima Countys chiefmedical officer all testified that their systems are already strainingunder what have been historically high numbers of immigrants crossingthe border. They told a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee that theydo not have the staff or equipment to handle any more.

NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) spend more than $700,000 anduse 93,000 pounds of food and clothing, Yuma Mayor Douglas Nichollssaid in his testimony. Yuma Regional Medical Center treated 1,300patients at a cost of $810,000, with only one-third of that cost beingreimbursed by the federal government.

The hearing by the Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management came just two weeks before the scheduled May 11 end of Title 42,a public health safeguard invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Underthat regulation, border officials for the past two years have been ableto turn back many migrants on public health grounds.

Nicholls cited reports that as many as 660,000 people are waiting across the border for the end of Title 42.

Border communities said they are already overwhelmed: Customs and Border protection reported 191,899 encounters with migrants along the southwest border in March, a jump of more than 35,000 from February.

If the federal government does not step in to help, Arizonas bordertowns are bound to face a humanitarian disaster in coming months, saidDr. Francisco Garca, Pima Countys deputy county administrator andchief medical officer.

Sierra Vista Mayor Clea McCaa II said that cartels have disturbed thequiet, safe lifestyle of his town by recruiting U.S. teenagers topick up migrants on this side of the border and smuggle them north. Theresulting high-speed chases have led to an increase in car collisionsand deaths, McCaa said.

Even with Title 42 in place, McCaa said Sierra Vistas small policeforce has to deal with about four to five high-speed load car pursuitsa day. He said one of those crashes happened 200 yards from hismothers house, making him fearful for both his loved ones andconstituents.

I want to stop worrying about if my daughter gets back home fromvolleyball practice. I want to stop worrying about if my mother getsback home from Bible study, McCaa said to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.,and chair of the subcommittee,

Thats what keeps me up at night, thats what thats what I worryabout, he said. When is the next citizen thats going to be afatality because of these load-car drivers?

Nicholls, who has declared a state of emergency several times inresponse to the number of migrants, said much of Yumas transportation,food, shelter and medical care goes toward caring for them. He said heworries what might happen if the resources are not in place to handle asurge.

You would end up with releases to the streets of Yuma, up to 1,000people a day, Nicholls said. With only a handful of buses leaving townin a day, he worries that some could end up trying to walk to their nextdestinations as we enter the 120-degree temperature ranges.

Yuma is not adjacent to much, so youre not going to be able to justwalk to the next town, he said. Were 180 miles away from the Phoenixmetro area, about 150 miles away from the San Diego area.

Garca said he faces similar challenges, as Pima County has beenheavily involved in assisting the sheltering, feeding, medicalscreening of incoming migrants for the past four years.

It is the massive and unrelenting flow and volume of asylum seekersthat is the most taxing and that is the biggest challenge for us,Garca said. For city and county staff, for humanitarian staff andvolunteers, it is unrelenting and exhausting.

All three Arizona witnesses said that much of the problem comes downto the federal governments failure to provide consistent funding andcommunication to local communities. But Garcia said sending money is notthe only thing Washington needs to do.

We need comprehensive federal immigration reform that addresses someof those push factors that are pushing people from their countries,Garca said. Thats not something that we as locals will be ever ableto solve. That is something that is in the province of this Congress andthe executive.

Nicholls said U.S. and local officials need to learn from earlierborder surges and pre-position some of those resources so they areready to respond. And they need to work together.

Its not just a Yuma problem or a city problem. This impacts us as astate and as a country, Nicholls said after the hearing. It reallyshouldnt be a partisan issue.

This is about humanitarian concerns, and its about border security,and those elements should be in everyones benefit, to everyonesinterest, he said.

Original post:
Border towns see 'disaster' without federal help as end to Title 42 ... - TucsonSentinel.com

Last Friday, I read at Boston.com that the Board of Selectmen in the town of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, had granted permission to hold a LGBTQ pride event, but there was a catch: "The event was only permitted so long as organizers removed a drag show performance from the celebration." Boors, such boors.

Then, on Saturday, came the news that Australian comedian Barry Humphries had died in a Sydney hospital at age 89. Most of us knew Humphries by his stage name: Dame Edna Everage, the most prominent drag queen in the world. How prominent? In 2002, at the Buckingham Palace concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee, Dame Edna was tasked with introducing the guest of honor, the queen herself!

My all-time favorite Dame Edna performance was her interview of Canadian singer k. d. lang. It may be the funniest 10 minutes of television you will ever see. Her interview with Boris Johnson in 2006 wins the silver medal.

America did not used to be so uptight about drag queens. I wonder if the Board of Selectmen in North Brookfield would permit a showing of the 1959 movie "Some Like it Hot" starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The two Hollywood stars are cast as musicians who, having witnessed a mob killing, flee in disguise as members of an all-female band. That is, they are in drag through most of the movie. It is hilarious.

There is a Catholic Church in North Brookfield dedicated to St. Joseph. I have never been, but from the photos it looks like the kind of lovely, rural church of which New England is full. Still, I kind of wish the local parish had been dedicated to St. Joan of Arc. She, remember, in her saintly effort to defend her country, dressed as a man and led the French troops into battle, and not just to battle but to victory. The equestrian statue of her in Place des Pyramides in Paris is one of my favorites. Joan was not performing, to be sure, but she did bend notions of gender in her day! She did so because she had to, and thank God she did.

The first time I saw someone in drag I was in junior high. Our town had formed a community players troupe and my favorite uncle, who lived across the street with my grandmother, was named director. He was what we called "a confirmed bachelor," and after a successful performance of "Pirates of Penzance," he suggested we stage the play "Charley's Aunt." The Victorian-era farce centers around an Oxford student, Charley Wykeham, whose aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, is set to come visit. When she is delayed, Charley convinces his friend Lord Fancourt Babberly to pose as his aunt, and so serve as a chaperone. What could go wrong?

Jack Benny played the role of Babberly/Donna Lucia in the 1941 movie version of "Charley's Aunt." My uncle was better. Much better. He went for the full camp rendition. When he came on to the stage, dressed head to toe in black lace, flicking his fan open with a loud crack, he was in his glory. He kept a photo of him playing Charley's aunt in his house and we placed it near his casket at his wake.

I hope my uncle is at the pearly gates to welcome Barry Humphries. On his Twitter feed, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta posted this video of Dame Edna entering the royal box at a British theater in 2014. It is hilarious. As the archbishop noted, it is "a poignant image of our last trip when 'a better seat' is found for us." May the angels greet Humphries, and may they be dressed to the nines when they do!

And I hope the Board of Selectmen in North Brookfield, and all those politicians who think banning drag shows is a good idea, will someday learn what fun they're missing.

In The New York Times, Doug Sosnik, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, writes about the fact that educational attainment is now the "new fault line" in American politics, what he calls the "diploma divide." It is a dangerous divide, shaped by both economic interests and cultural concerns, and easily exploitable by culture warriors of both the left and the right.

The Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose in London is sponsoring a series of four lectures on neo-liberalism by Damon Silvers, who served as policy director and general counsel to the AFL-CIO for many years. Silvers has been a key player in the effort to strengthen relations between the Catholic Church and organized labor, helping to organize and host the three conferences on "Erroneous Autonomy," which Stephen Schneck and I also worked on when Schneck was the director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University of America in Washington. Be sure to tune in.

Good news for those advocating for immigration reform: Susan Rice is stepping down as domestic policy advisor to President Joe Biden. Sources in both church and state tell me she has been the principal obstacle to more humane immigration policies. Politico has the story.

In The New York Times, conservative columnist and gun owner David French points out that today's gun culture not only lapses into idolatry, but champions those who brought guns to combustible situations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called for a pardon for a man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester, citing the state's "Stand Your Ground" law. But the governor ignores the actual evidence produced at trial, which showed the murderer did not stand his ground; he went looking for a fight. It is good to see these arguments coming from conservatives, not just from liberals.

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Michael Sean Winters on drag shows and Dame Edna - National Catholic Reporter

FAIR Take | April2023

While there is no shortage of problems plaguing California homelessness, crime, the high cost of living, to name a few the California legislature is once again debating legislation that would prioritize criminal aliens above Americans. One bill in particular, the Harmonizing Our Measures for Equality (HOME Act), Assembly Bill (AB) 1306, expands Californias reckless sanctuary law to further restrict law enforcement officials from turning criminal aliens over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when their sentences end. This legislation, while narrower than its predecessor, the VISION Act, still allows criminal aliens to be released back into their communities to re-offend and prey on vulnerableindividuals.

The HOME Act bars state prisons from providing release information, detaining, or transferring to ICE criminal aliens who are being released as a result of recently enacted criminal justice reform laws. These lawsinclude:

The most recent data shows roughly 24,180 criminal aliens are currently in state prisons and facilities. If the HOME Act passes, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will be prohibited from cooperating with federal immigration officials, even concerning criminal aliens convicted of the most heinous crimes. For example, if a criminal alien commits murder when he/she is 25 years old and is subsequently sentenced to life in prison and becomes eligible for early parole based on Californias newly enacted criminal justice reform laws, then CDCR would be unable to transfer that alien to ICE and would have to release him/her into thecommunity.

The HOME Act is Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillos (D-Los Angeles) third attempt to stop the removal of dangerous criminal aliens. Last session, police and sheriffs groups opposed her legislation entitled the VISION Act, a broader version of The HOME Act, which prohibited the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) facilities and local jails from transferring criminal aliens to ICE. Due to the opposition by law enforcement, the proposal failed by three votes in the Senate. Four Democrats joined all the Republicans to oppose the VISION Act and nine more Democratsabstained.

To date, law enforcement officials and the Democrats that opposed the VISION Act have not taken a stance on the HOME Act. If the HOME Act passes now, proponents will likely follow it up with an additional bill to eliminate all transfers to ICE across the state. The result will be to force ICE to track down the criminal aliens in the communities they reside, posing a public safety risk to everyonethere.

The threat posed by the HOME Act is real. The legislation has already passed two committees in the California Assembly this session Public Safety on April 12, and Judiciary on April 18. The bill has further been referred to the Appropriations Committee to consider the costs. These costs would include additional manpower needed to supervise roughly 2,500 more parolees who would have otherwise been deported. According to FAIRs recent cost study, in 2023, the State of California is already spending $4.3 billion on the administration of justice costs (which includes the police, legal, and correctionscosts).

Ironically, the California Assembly is considering this bill at a time when Californias crime rate has steadily increased. In 2021, the violent crime rate jumped six percent. Likewise, aggravated assaults soared nearly nine percent higher while homicides and rapes each increased nearly eightpercent.

Moreover, it is incredulous that this legislation is being pushed at a time when federal immigration officials are already strapped for manpower. The US Border Patrol San Diego Sector (SDC) has encountered nearly 110,000 illegal aliens between ports of entry from October 1, 2022 to April 4, 2023, which is a 30 percent increase over the same period last year. Additionally, agents have seized 817 pounds of fentanyl during the same timeframe. In Fiscal Year 2022, SDC seized 1052 pounds of fentanyl which accounted for nearly 60 percent of all the fentanyl seized by border patrol. With the surge at the southern border, immigration officials have been reassigned to help with the processing. With only 20,000 employees, only half of whom are dedicated to the apprehension and removal of illegal aliens, this puts a tremendous burden on ICE officials. Further, this strain will likely be exacerbated with the lifting of Title 42 regulations on May11.

More here:
California Debates Expanding its Sanctuary Law through the HOME ... - Federation for American Immigration Reform

WASHINGTON Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow urged fellow university presidents to demand immigration reform during a Friday speech at the American Council on Educations annual gathering.

Bacow, an outgoing board member of ACE, also received a lifetime achievement award from the organization prior to delivering his remarks during a keynote event on the second day of the conference.

Standing in front of a podium at the Marriott Marquis hotel, less than one mile from the White House, Bacow decried the deeply disturbing sense of paralysis in our capital around issues of immigration.

Unfortunately, at this point, in determining who was worthy of entrance into this country, the U.S. seems to increasingly prefer or give preference to those who speak English, those who come with highly valued demonstrable skills, and those who come with sufficient resources to ensure that they never become wards of the state, he said.

Bacow stressed that institutions of higher education depend on immigration.

We limit immigration, I believe, at our peril, Bacow said. Why? Because first of all, immigration furthers our national interest, but perhaps even more importantly, immigration defines our national identity.

Bacow pointed to his own identity as the son of Jewish refugees who arrived in the U.S. without demonstrable skills, resources, or fluency in English, as living proof that what we do that education has the capacity to transform lives.

Where else can you go literally in one generation from off the boat with nothing my mothers 20 years old when she gets here, one suitcase to grow up and have the kind of life and opportunity that I have enjoyed? Bacow added. Immigration made my life possible.

In his speech, Bacow also touted some of his proudest accomplishments as president of the University, discussing Harvards support for a Palestinian student who was initially deported by U.S. immigration authorities upon his arrival in the country to start college.

He also pointed to the joint lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over their decision to expel international students during the Covid-19 pandemic which led to DHS and ICE to rescind the order.

Bacow, however, insisted that these victories were not achieved on their own.

I always say that no individual accomplishes anything on their own and its true about institutions as well, he said. We were backed in this effort by ACE, we were backed in this effort by all the higher education associations, we were backed in this effort by countless colleges and universities.

In highlighting the accomplishments of the University under his tenure as president, Bacow pointed to a series of student and staff success stories.

Bacow spoke in particular about Calixto Senz, a former Harvard Medical School cashier who is now director of HMS microfluidics core facility. He pointed to Senzs story as emblematic of the Universitys support for workers through the Bridge Program, an adult education and training program that offers English language classes, citizenship test review, and other resources for Harvard workers.

The Bridge Program is aimed really at our employees and employees who really are sort of menial employees, Bacow said. Its an extraordinarily effective program.

With just over two months left in his presidency, Bacows speech Friday echoed a note on which he began his presidency. In both his keynote speech this weekend and his 2018 presidential installment ceremony, Bacow emphasized the importance of immigration in furthering the national interest by protecting human capital.

We live in a world right now where the only true scarce capital is human capital, Bacow said Friday, nearly a verbatim quote from his installation speech.

Bacow also pointed to the importance of including international students on college campuses to enhance the experience of our domestic students, during his speech on Friday.

What our institutions do now, when we take a kid whos had to struggle his or her entire life and we give them a good education a great education we are investing in the human capital that our nation needs, he said.

But Bacow closed out his speech by redirecting attention away from Harvard and toward public universities whose presidents, provosts, and other administrators made up a majority of the audience praising them for doing Gods work and being worthy of our support.

Now, if you want more examples of how this kind of work is really, really done, and done I think exceptionally well, dont look at Harvard, he said.

Its up to us to work together with you to enable the American dreams, he said.

Staff writer Miles J. Herszenhorn can be reached at miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MHerszenhorn.

Staff writer Claire Yuan can be reached at claire.yuan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @claireyuan33.

See original here:
Harvard President Bacow Demands Immigration Reform in Keynote Speech at Higher Ed Conference | News - Harvard Crimson

Two weekends ago, I traveled to Washington D.C. as one of ten students involved with Define America, the student group that aims to amplify and echo the voices of the immigrant community on campus and in the community. The trips purpose was to meet with our home state representatives and senators to lobby for immigration reform by holding them accountable to past promises and pushing them to support or oppose certain bills.

It seemed simple. We were going to ask probing questions, engage in difficult conversation, and walk out feeling empowered and hopeful about the future.

We could not have been more wrong.

What we encountered instead was a widespread sense of resigned defeat. As we spoke to each congresspersons staff, we were assured that Senator X or Representative Y cared deeply about immigration reform but that they were unable to enact meaningful change. As we asked question after question hoping to hear at least one encouraging response, we were repeatedly told that the issue of immigration was too complex and politicized to address at this time. The system is broken, they told us (as if our own experiences hadnt already taught us that). With each meeting, our groups morale waned as we heard that the issues with our immigration system were beyond repair.

The most honest yet disheartening feedback of the whole trip was that yes, there are bills being introduced and letters being signed in support of immigration reform, but no, there is no confidence anything will change. Because there has been no real immigration reform in decades, the time and effort needed to implement proactive policies is currently being drained by urgent attempts to stop the continued undermining of immigrant rights. Each time a congressperson tries to introduce legislation to fix the immigration system, we were told, they are met with a combination of bullheadedness from the opposition and cowardice from those supposedly dedicated to reform. With all the other problems our nation faces, there is only so much time for continual failed attempts.

I asked myself what could be done. The solution is simple, but implementing it is not.

Look at the steps that have been taken to swiftly allow Ukrainian refugees to enter the country. Then look at the countless systemic barriers their Hispanic counterparts seeking refuge face. One group is deemed the victim of an unjustified war perpetuated by an international war criminal while the other is stigmatized as criminals, drug dealers, and job thieves. Both groups face life threatening conditions at home and both are left with no option but to flee, but one is white, the other brown.

It is time we stop looking at Hispanic immigrants as statistics. These are human beings with the same fears and aspirations as any of us. Individuals that are willing to travel thousands of miles despite knowing they will face mistreatment in a foreign country because the conditions at home are worse. As long as the problems in Central and South America persist, people are going to keep coming.

Its hard to blame someone for doing everything possible to make a better life for themselves and their families. You would likely do the same. So, I urge you to stand up for immigration reform. It will be a difficult process, but it will only be harder and longer if those of us who yearn for change accept defeat. The magnitude of the challenge should inspire us to keep holding our representatives accountable by signing petitions, having difficult conversations, raising awareness, and humanizing immigrants. By taking simple steps in our individual lives, we can overcome the racism and polarization that stands as a roadblock to a more equitable and humane immigration system.

Sofia Cava is a Trinity first-year.

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We can't accept defeat in the fight for immigration reform - Duke Chronicle