This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
Immigration rights groups allege a mobile fingerprinting app called EDDIE has become key to President Trump’s deportation crackdown. In a 2017 lawsuit, immigrant rights groups gained access to 2,500 pages of documentation that showed ICE officials used EDDIE to run remote ID checks in the field. This allowed ICE to learn the immigration status of individuals and facilitate the deportations of people not targeted for removal, such as those caught up in another person’s arrest or deportation. Advocates say the app helps intensify racial profiling in immigrant communities. The Department of Homeland Security has proposed collecting more biometric data from immigrants. VOA News
In other national immigration news…
纽约州“能源补助”申请指南
Three Chicken Plants Pay Back Employees Wages
Three Mississippi chicken processing plants targeted in one of the largest workplace immigration raids in the U.S. agreed to pay back wages to workers after federal officials learned they failed to pay workers minimum wage and overtime. The U.S. Department of Labor disclosed that the three plants paid $45,719 in back wages to 129 employees. The plants targeted were a Canton complex owned by Peco Foods; a Morton complex owned by Koch Foods; and Pearl River Foods of Carthage. Border Report
28 Migrant Children and Parents Refused Separation and Now Face Deportation
Over the summer, ICE agents told migrant parents they could either be detained with their children as COVID-19 spread through immigration jails, or be separated. A total of 28 migrant children and parents refused to be separated, and now face deportation after losing an appeal to claim asylum in federal court. A federal judge ruled in July these children should be discharged from detention, but the order was later considered “unenforceable.” The families’ stays of deportation expired Sunday and they are now asking courts, Congress and ICE to hear their asylum claims before they’re removed from the U.S. NBC News
Severe Hurricanes Encourage More Central American Migration
Shelters and camps throughout Central America are filled with families who lost everything from severe flooding caused by two major hurricanes. More than 4.3 million Central Americans, including 3 million Hondurans, were affected by the recent Hurricane Eta. The numbers of displaced Central Americans only increased when Hurricane Iota, another Category 4 storm, hit the area last week. Constant violence and a lack of jobs had already driven people north from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Experts predict the region will see another mass migration to the U.S. due to the hurricanes and the pandemic’s economic crisis. Associated Press
Americans Growing More Open to Refugee Resettlement
Americans are more open to refugee settlement in the U.S. than recent immigration policies suggest, according to a study from Mariano Sana, an associate professor of sociology and faculty affiliate of Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project. Sana analyzed eight decades of opinion polls on immigration to identify the public’s thoughts over the years. He noticed people started supporting refugees when they learned about their struggles. Sana’s research also found a significant amount of Americans feel the the number of refugees residing in the U.S. is “about right” when given the option between “too many” and “too few.” Vanderbilt University
