The Forum Daily | Monday October 2, 2023
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THE FORUM DAILY

First off, a tip of the hat to Republicans and Democrats who saved the
immigration conversation for another day and worked together to keep the
government open. As we suggested Friday, now they should heed
Americans' call

that they work together on border security and immigration solutions. 

We do need them. September's apprehensions of undocumented migrants
between ports of entry were the highest since December, reports Camilo
Montoya-Galvez of CBS News
.
Unpublished stats from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) show
nearly 210,000 apprehensions last month, up from 181,000 in August.  

"[T]here is no long-term solution to the challenges we are seeing at our
border that does not involve the U.S. Congress modernizing our
hopelessly outdated immigration and asylum system," DHS said in a
statement to CBS. 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is planning a first: $10 million in
aid to assist another country's deportation efforts, reports Stef W.
Kight of Axios
. If
finalized, a six-month pilot program would help Panama deport migrants
who do not qualify for protections and who are on their way to the U.S.
 

And yet: "Unauthorized immigration, for all the obstacles America throws
at it, remains a boon for countless U.S. employers and a reasonable bet
for migrants who seek a better life," Marcela Valdes writes in The New
York Times
.
Key sentence: "Legal immigration today is close to impossible for most
people." 

Imagine if we created select, orderly legal paths. 

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

REFUGEE CAP - Faith-based refugee resettlement organizations have
cautiously welcomed President Biden's decision to maintain the annual
refugee ceiling at 125,000 while adjusting quotas to accommodate more
refugees from the Western Hemisphere, reports Jack Jenkins of Religion
News Service
.
As Jennie wrote Friday on LinkedIn
,
"The progress in recent months should allow us to evaluate how to keep
reducing the backlog of pending cases. Lawmakers must continue
reinvigorating and resourcing the resettlement infrastructure." This
week we'll be watching for the final fiscal year 2023 resettlement
number. 

**CLERGY**- A shift in the processing of green card applications is
putting the legal status of thousands of foreign-born clergy members at
risk, reports Giovanna Dell'Orto of the Associated Press
.
The State Department's recent decision to merge applications for
abused or neglected minors from Central America into the same queue as
religious workers has created substantial delays, and temporary visas
may expire. "We have done everything correctly, [and] from here onward
we believe that God will work a miracle," said the Rev. Gustavo Castillo
of Columbia Heights, Minnesota. "We don't have any other option." 

LEGAL PATHWAYS - Roberto Velasco, Mexico's top diplomat for North
American affairs, says that the recent increase in migrants at the
U.S.-Mexico border will continue until the U.S. creates other legal
pathways and tackles the underlying causes of migration, reports Alfredo
Corchado of The Dallas Morning News
.
"You need more legal temporary pathways to depressurize the situation on
our borders," Velasco said. "And you need more foreign investments to
help alleviate poverty." 

BENEFICIAL - Business leaders' need for foreign-born workers to
tackle labor shortages has the attention of Amy Pope, the new director
general of the International Organization for Migration, reports Jamey
Keaten of the Associated Press
.
"[T]hey are desperate for migration in order to meet their own labor
market needs and in order to continue to fuel innovation within their
own companies," Pope said. " ... Migration, on the whole, is a
benefit." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan  

  

 

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