"As an immigrant myself, I will never support anything that doesn’t allow for valid asylum claims. That’s what America is all about. But America is also about laws and America is about legal immigration," said Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Florida).  

Other Republican lawmakers are concerned about agricultural provisions, Sotomayor and Meyer note. More than a dozen agricultural groups led by the American Farm Bureau Federation expressed their concerns through a letter sent to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), warning that the bill "would be crushing to an already struggling and vulnerable industry." The groups urge against the bill’s passage "without concurrent, meaningful legislation to address the labor crisis faced by America’s farmers, ranchers and growers." 

Such concurrent solutions — together with a lasting solution for Dreamers — enjoy strong support among Americans, including majorities of Republicans. So does the value of America as a land of refuge. 

The Forum and the Evangelical Immigration Table weighed in yesterday with concerns about the current proposal and highlighting the kinds of solutions we need. "Enforcement alone will not make our border more secure or orderly," said our President and CEO, Jennie Murray. "Congress must provide alternative pathways for people seeking to come to the U.S. legally and maintain America’s longstanding commitment to humanitarian protections."   

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

SPEAKING OF SOLUTIONS — A new poll shows that voters are dissatisfied with how the Biden administration is handling immigration — and want solutions, reports Myah Ward of Politico. "[V]oters clearly want Washington to act with solutions that are balanced — that include both border security and pathways to citizenship and legal status for Dreamers and other immigrants," said Nick Gourevitch of Global Strategy Group, which conducted the poll.  

LIVES CUT SHORT — Manuel Alexander Chox Tambriz left his small village of Patzité, Guatemala, in March with dreams of reaching New York, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio writes for Documented. A few weeks later, he was one of many indigenous Guatemalans who were among the 40 migrants killed in the fire at an immigration processing center in Ciudad Juárez. "We are anguished, we feel desperate," said Manuel Carrillo Coj, Chox Tambriz’s uncle. "He wanted to make a life for himself." 

AI ASYLUM ERRORS — With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) translation as a cost-cutting measure for government and aid organizations, misinterpretations are putting Afghan asylum claims in jeopardy, Andrew Deck reports for Rest of World. "[Y]ou need human attentiveness," said Respond Crisis Translation founder Ariel Koren. " … [I]f you’re using [the machine] as the ultimate [solution], if that’s where it starts and ends, you’re going to fail this person." 

LOVING THE STRANGER — In an op-ed for the Miami Herald, Prospero Latino CEO and former undocumented immigrant José Dante Parra explains how the proposed immigration crackdown in Florida, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), is targeting not only vulnerable immigrants but also the people who help them. "With his bill to criminalize pastors, attorneys, immigrant advocates and business owners for extending their hands to people like me," Parra writes, "DeSantis is going after those who follow the Bible’s calling to love the stranger as you love oneself." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan