Greetings from Houston, where we’re gathering our annual Leading the Way convening outside D.C. for the first time. Faith, law enforcement, business and national security leaders are here to talk about the need for Democrats and Republicans to work together on border and immigration solutions. Panels in tomorrow’s general session will focus on fentanyl, the border, labor shortage solutions, and temporary status.

We’ll also be honoring two Republicans and two Democrats for their willingness to work across the aisle on immigration solutions.

Reporters, please reach out if you’re interested in speaking with Jennie or with our great group of speakers. As a reminder, this is an abbreviated edition of the Daily, and we will not be in your inbox tomorrow or Friday. We’ll be back Monday.

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

Here’s some of what we’re reading today:

Here in Texas, the state House approved the problematic bill that would make a state crime of illegally crossing from Mexico, enable state police to arrest migrants and allow state judges to order deportations. It now goes to the governor for signature (Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune).

An interactive map from the American Immigration Council provides data on the contributions immigrants continue to make to America’s economy and culture (Andy J. Semotiuk, Forbes). And the Migration Policy Institute published a report showing that the immigrants who make up nearly 25% of Houston-area residents have "contributed significantly to the region’s strong post-pandemic economic performance and will play a significant role in shaping its future."

Unauthorized border crossings from Mexico dropped 14% in October, following three months of increases (Associated Press). In particular, the number of arriving Venezuelans has decreased after the Biden administration started deportations to Venezuela (Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News).

Some good stories of helpers: In Miami, Chicago and San Diego, lawyers are stepping up to assist migrants with the extremely complicated legal processes they face (Ana Rodriguez-Soto, Florida Catholic; Kasey Chronis, Fox 32 Chicago; Gustavo Solis, KPBS).

Thanks for reading, 

Dan  

P.S. Two clarifications from yesterday’s edition. First, regarding news about the effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, we intended to mention the powerful statement the Council on National Security and Immigration released before the effort was shelved. Second, we failed to credit Darika Verdugo for stepping in to help yesterday while others were traveling. Thank you, Darika!