This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement does not systematically confirm information submitted by agencies seeking to care for the unaccompanied immigrant children in the custody of the agency. ORR also does not regularly review past performance of those organizations, according to a report from the United States Government Accountability Office. The ORR also has a poor track record of reviewing licensing of organizations that seek government contracts. Most notably, “in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, ORR awarded grants to approximately 14 facilities that were unable to serve children for 12 or more months because they remained unlicensed,” the GAO found. At the height of the family separation crisis, Documented found dozens of shelters holding children in the New York area had a history of abuse and neglect. Read the report.
In other federal immigration news…
Latino Voters Have Big Influence in Battleground State of Arizona
A traditionally Republican state, Arizona has now become a battleground for the two presidential candidates. Polls show Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading there, with the economy and the coronavirus pandemic top issues on voters’ minds. “COVID is not a strong issue for Trump and he was hoping it would become less of a talking point as the election neared,” said Samara Klar, an associate professor of political science and a pollster at the University of Arizona. “With less than a month to go, it is now all that anyone is talking about.” Latino voters account for between a quarter and a third of all eligible voters in the state, and Trump’s crackdown on immigrants has also turned many of them away from him. Al Jazeera
State Department Halts Au Pair Program
The U.S. State Department has enacted a moratorium on any new au pairs seeking to travel to the U.S., according to a public notice posted to the federal register. The agency will not designate “new sponsor organizations or allow program expansions for existing sponsors,” according to the memo. The moratorium will restrict the size of the au pair program to the same levels as 2019. Federal Register
