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(Im)migration News Recap, Nov. 4-10

by Victoria Macchi

   Editor's note: We want you to know what's happening, why and how it
   could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly
   digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting
   from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration
   team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

   Pro-Immigrant at the polls

   With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, the
   [1]midterm elections were seen as a referendum on the ruling party.
   Immigration advocates see the Democrat takeover of the U.S. House of
   Representatives and victories for pro-immigrant candidates -- largely
   Democrats -- as a major win in the face of an administration focused on
   dismantling the country's immigration policies.

   The refugee rep

   Among the diverse candidates elected from coast to coast this week is
   [2]Somali refugee Ilhan Omar, now an elected representative from
   Minnesota. "I stand here before you tonight as your
   congresswoman-elect, with many firsts behind my name," Omar told the
   crowd at her victory party. "The first woman of color to represent our
   state in Congress. The first woman to wear a hijab to represent our
   state in Congress. The first refugee ever elected to Congress. And one
   of the first Muslim women elected to Congress." Also repping
   African-American immigrant families? [3]Joe Neguse, Colorado's first
   black congressman and the United States' first Eritrean-American
   representative.

   Neighbors on the border

   "I just want a secure border," says one south Texas resident. "I don't
   feel unsafe because I live on the border," says another. VOA is on the
   boundary between the U.S. and Mexico talking to locals as [4]border
   communities prepare for thousands of soldiers ordered there by
   President Donald Trump coming from one direction, and members of a
   migrant caravan walking north through Central American and Mexico from
   another.

   Immigration court backlog reaches 1 million

   It would take five years to clear the nearly 1.1 million cases in U.S.
   immigration court, a figure that's ballooned under Trump administration
   policy changes, according to data released this week by the
   [5]Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
   As the pile grows, court dates get pushed further into the future -- in
   some cases years -- despite there being slightly more immigration
   judges handling cases.

   Rejected on arrival

   In the Trump administration's latest [6]move to block certain groups
   from entering the U.S., the president ordered that would-be
   asylum-seekers illegally entering on the southern U.S. border from
   Mexico not be allowed to qualify for asylum. The ACLU, a civil rights
   watchdog, has already filed a lawsuit. The right to request asylum is
   part of U.S. and international law.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/a/immigration-supporters-optimistic-after-midterm-results-/4650630.html
   2. https://www.voanews.com/a/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-become-first-muslim-women-in-us-congress/4647991.html
   3. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-congress-1st-eritrean-american-vows-to-fight-toxicity-and-vitriol-/4649716.html
   4. https://www.voanews.com/a/migrant-caravan-texas-border/4646420.html
   5. http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/536/
   6. https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-administration-moves-to-limit-asylum-aclu-sues/4652212.html