The Forum Daily | Friday, December 22, 2023
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THE FORUM DAILY

Foster parents, some inspired by their faith, are caring for children
who crossed the border unaccompanied - and more are needed, Giovanna
Dell'Orto of the Associated Press

reports. 

About 140,000 unaccompanied children were encountered at the U.S-Mexico
border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, and nearly 10,000 were in
the government's care as of the most recent data. 

The stories Dell'Orto shares of some of the foster children and
families are moving at a moment when challenges seem great. 

Those challenges are putting greater pressure on Catholic agencies and
leaders, Kate Scanlon reports in a well-done look back at 2023 for OSV
News
.
Meanwhile, Steve Eng, advocacy director at the National Association of
Evangelicals, writes
of a
trip with Christian organization Border Perspective that was true to its
name. 

Finally, at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, the
holidays are an opportunity to offer a sense of hope to people who have
left everything behind, reports Sandra Sanchez of Border Report
.  

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the
Rio Grande Valley, said of giving migrants a warm holiday welcome,
"It's almost giving back what's rightfully theirs: a sense of value,
and we are, and so I think that's the best gift we can give them this
Christmas." 

Wishing you joyful holidays as we sign off until 2024! We'll be back
in your inbox Jan. 3. If you find the Daily helpful, please consider
supporting the Forum
as the
year closes out. 

And welcome to Friday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan Gordon,
the Forum's strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily
team also includes Jillian Clark, Isabella Miller, Clara Villatoro and
Darika Verdugo. If you have a story to share from your own community,
please send it to me at [email protected]. 
 

**U.S.-MEXICO** - The U.S. plans to send top officials to Mexico in
coming days to talk about border challenges, Chris Megerian and Mark
Stevenson report for the Associated Press
.
Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Public Safety has formalized a policy
to prevent the separation of migrant families, reports Benjamin Wermund
of the Houston Chronicle
.
State troopers' detention of fathers on trespassing charges had
resulted in dozens of families being separated earlier this year.  

**NURSES NEEDED** - Sanford Medical Center in Bismarck, North Dakota,
has continuously sought nurses from abroad to fill critical roles and
expand services - without success, reports Lisa Rein of The Washington
Post
.
Among 59 nurses from the Philippines, Kenya and Nigeria whom the
hospital anxiously awaits, "We're projecting no arrivals until the
first quarter of 2025 or later," Wendy Kopp, chief of nursing and
clinical services, had to tell colleagues this fall. The Healthcare
Workforce Resilience Act aims to alleviate these shortages but continues
to face political hurdles.  

**CLOCK TICKING** - Our country has a responsibility to offer
permanent refuge to our Afghan allies, Chaplain Ted Hamm writes in a
Greenville News

op-ed: "With the clock ticking, the burden is on our leaders to ensure
not only that our Afghan allies remain protected, but also that our
country lives up to its values as a defender of freedom and a safe haven
for those who need our protection." Council on National Security and
Immigration leaders reaffirmed their support

for legislative solutions in a paper published this week. 

And in local welcome: 

* Resettled Afghans spoke of their homeland and their gratitude for
being in Garden City, Kansas, which assistant city manager Derek Ramos
said "is experiencing a 'golden era' for growth and immigration."
(AJ Dome, Kansas Reflector
) 

* Basira Faizy narrowly escaped Afghanistan and now helps other refugees
through her work at Catholic Charities of Arkansas. (Katie Zakrzewski,
Arkansas Catholic
) 

* A U.S. Marine helped an Afghan interpreter and his family leave
Afghanistan on the last cargo flight in 2021. The family resettled in
Michigan, where the welcome broadened. (Liz Lewin and Nour Rahal, Fox 2
) 

**A BLESSING** - Supporting a refugee can be a blessing for both
sponsor and newcomer, reports Katie Ussin of News5 Cleveland
.
Zooming in on the story of a Northeast Ohio mother-daughter duo who
decided to help two Ukrainian women, Ussin sheds light on the
sponsorship process through Welcome.US . "It's
changed the life of my family," said sponsor Marianne Kartson. "It
changed how I see my community, and it gave me friends forever in Liana
and Valeriya."  

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

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