At least 930 asylum seekers have come to Portland, Maine, in search of immigrant communities, aid and employment, report Jon Kamp and Alicia A. Caldwell of The Wall Street Journal. 

Maine is mostly rural and aging, and it needs newcomers to help fill labor gaps, Portland Mayor Kate Snyder notes. The city has set a decades-long precedent to welcome asylum seekers and resettle refugees, she added. 

But with Portland’s housing shortage, rising prices and lack of space, "[t]he pressure right now on emergency shelter is so incredible," she said. 

Nebraska and Iowa also have experienced an increase in newcomers. Advocates and lawyers cite available jobs and a lower cost of living as part of the reason. 

Meanwhile, border towns in Mexico continue to face record migration, in part because the U.S. has externalized its border policies, Joel Rose of NPR reports. And as CBS News reports, migrants are still struggling to get asylum appointments via the CBP One app. 

Elsewhere on NPR, Franco Ordoñez reports on several other border-management challenges for the Biden administration, especially with the forthcoming lift of Title 42 in May. And in the Los Angeles Times, Leila Miller breaks down which countries are the origin points for migrants to the U.S., in addition to the push and pull factors behind migrants’ decisions to flee. 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

REASONS FOR GROWTH — Those needs Mayor Snyder mentioned are not just in Portland: An increase in immigration can help address population challenges throughout the U.S., Matthew Yglesias writes in an analysis for Bloomberg. "[L]egal immigration remains a fast-acting and relatively straightforward option that deserves a consideration from Congress, separate from any controversies about asylum-seekers," he writes. "Educated, skilled workers in particular would help stabilize communities in decline while bolstering the economy as a whole." 

NO ANSWER — Migrants desperately cried for help in last week’s tragic fire that killed 40 migrants at a detention facility in Mexico, but no one came, reports Lizbeth Diaz of Reuters. "When I saw everything begin to fill with smoke, I worried a lot about my family," recalled Eduard Caraballo, a Venezuelan migrant and survivor. "My God, don’t let me die." In the aftermath, we’re praying for human dignity to prevail going forward.  

IMMIGRATION REFORMS STALLED — A decade has passed without significant action since Republicans and Democrats in the Senate worked together on comprehensive immigration reform, report Will Weissert and Adriana Gomez Licon of the Associated Press. "We need a total reset," said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "I think that people on the far left are just as wrong as those who believe they should close the border and let no one in." Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum recently looked back at the 2013 bill and the economic impacts of comprehensive reforms. 

IN THEIR SHOES — Dreamers have a lot to offer our communities — and Christians must "reflect on how uncertainty limits [Dreamers’] lives," writes Rich Nathan, the founding pastor of Vineyard Columbus Church, in an op-ed for the Ohio Capital Journal. "I urge Ohio senators to stand up for Dreamers and support bipartisan initiatives to offer them a legal path to citizenship." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan