(Side note: Walls don’t necessarily deter migration, but they do make it much more dangerous, as Regina Yurrita of CBS8 in San Diego reports.) 

The proposal comes days after Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee "advanced a sweeping plan to increase immigrant detention, tighten asylum access, and make other changes to federal immigration laws," Gilmer notes. 

The House action comes just weeks ahead of the expected end of Title 42. Yesterday, U.S. bishops urged officials to tackle border challenges more holistically, per John Lavenburg of Crux. 

"Immigration will not be fixed by simply stopping people or sending them back," said Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who also chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration and is a Forum Board member. "Immigration issues will be allowed to become a more orderly, normal human process if we deal with the root causes of them in the sending countries. And if we in this country begin to see immigrants as not a threat, but rather as people who are in need, who deserve our assistance because of their human struggle." 

Welcome to Tuesday’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 Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

FLORIDA LEGISLATION — House Bill 1617, part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) sweeping immigration proposal, passed a Florida House committee yesterday, and the partner state Senate bill will get a hearing today, reports Matt Dixon of NBC News. At the Orlando Sentinel, Skyler Swisher reports that the House changed language that would have made it a felony to transport undocumented immigrants within the state. Faith leaders had strongly objected to the provision. Read the Forum’s take on other concerns with the bill. 

NEW DEVICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced plans to begin a pilot program using a smartwatch-like device to track migrants released from federal immigration custody, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The effort is part of an Alternatives to Detention program that the Biden administration has vastly expanded to supervise migrants determined not to pose a risk to public safety or national security, Montoya-Galvez notes. 

HEALTH CARE SHORTAGES — A new cap on a type of employment-based visa likely will interrupt the flow of nurses from abroad and exacerbate nursing shortages around the U.S., reports Dave Muoio of Fierce Healthcare. International nurses seeking to work here may have to wait until 2025. "As COVID burnout and historic Baby Boomer retirements continue to squeeze hospital staffing, the international talent pipeline is more important than ever," said Patty Jeffrey, president of the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment. 

SPONSORSHIP — The U.S. is urging organizations to sponsor immigrants from Cuba and elsewhere through parole programs, report Orlando Matos and Carmen Sesin of NBC News. "An NGO, a church, any organization can sponsor an immigrant to go to the United States under the program," said Benjamin Ziff, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Havana. So far nearly 16,000 Cubans have emigrated to the U.S. via the program. Meanwhile, yesterday the U.S. sent its first deportation flight to Cuba since 2020, per Ted Hesson and Kanishka Singh of Reuters. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan