The Forum Daily | Wednesday, January 03, 2024
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THE FORUM DAILY

Welcome to our first 2024 edition of The Forum Daily - Happy New
Year! We hope you had a joyful holiday season. We'll do our best today
and the rest of the week to update you with the most relevant
immigration news.  

A positive starting point, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) recently set up a pioneer program which allows migrants to
pre-register for work permits while using the CBP One app, reports
Lauren Villagran for USA Today
.

The pilot program started in Brownsville, Texas, and has extended to El
Paso and San Ysidro, California. The average processing time for CBP
One-associated work permits is approximately 30 days, Villagran notes.

"All of the legal pathways that have increased order are worthwhile, and
CBP One is one of them. Anything that discourages people from crossing
the river," said Adam Isacson, of the Washington Office on Latin
America.

Work permit clinics also increased the number of newcomers able to work
legally across the country. In Massachusetts the number of those with
work authorizations went from 813 on Dec. 12 to 2,713 as of Dec. 28,
reports Samantha J. Gross for The Boston Globe
.
Programs like this are a continued effort of local and federal
governments.

As unemployment numbers in the United States reach an all-time low,
employers and advocates have been looking to add migrants to the labor
pool, reports Andrew Kreighbaum for Bloomberg Law
.

Advocates for more pathways towards legal employment for migrants are
calling for a change to the system. For some that means updating asylum
laws so there are fewer barriers for work permits, while others are
calling for an extension of parole options.

As Jennie commented to Kreighbaum, reducing hurdles to employment for
immigrants in the asylum system should be prioritized. "We feel we need
to maintain asylum as essential, and Congress needs to open up other
legal pathways for folks we desperately need."

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

**BORDER**- More than 225,000 migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border
in December according to preliminary Homeland Security statistic, report
Priscilla Alvarez, Rosa Flores and Holly Yan for CNN
.
 Border authorities have reported a decrease of crossings in recent
days and announced that four border ports that were closed will reopen
today, report Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters
.
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More news:

* More than 142,000 migrants have been deported under the Biden
administration. (Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post
)

* As over 7,000 people joined a caravan headed to the U.S. the last week
of December, (Daniella Silva, NBC News
)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the Mexican foreign minister,
Alicia Bárcena met and reached what Mexican President López Obrador
called "important agreements." (Edward Helmore, The Guardian
)

**CONTINUING CHALLENGE** - Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice
requested that the Supreme Court intervene in the current legal hurdles
that Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire along the border and
assist migrants in need of medical aid, reports Michael Macagnone of
Roll Call
.
Separately, the DOJ warned Texas last week of a potential lawsuit over
the state's new law that allows state police to arrest those suspected
of illegal border crossings, reports Joshua Fechter of The Texas Tribune
.
 

**STAFFING** - Hospitals in North Dakota deal with ongoing delays
while awaiting reinforcements from foreign-born nurses, reports Lisa
Rein of The Washington Post.

Facing dangerous staffing shortages of healthcare professionals, the
immigration system once again proves too slow for the needs of modern
America. "[The visa freeze] is taking away from the patients we serve,"
said Danita Edland, inpatient nursing director for intensive care and
cardiology in Bismark, ND.

**A NEW APPROACH** -Forum Midwest mobilizer Jason Lief proposes a
direct and compassionate approach to immigration in his op-ed for the
Des Moines Register
.
Inspired by Catholic activist Dorothy Day's words, he calls on everyone
to protect our neighbors. In San Diego, a group of neighbors embraced a
similar approach by becoming refugee sponsors through the Welcome Corp
Program, reports Maura Fox of The San Diego Union-Tribune
.
The holidays hit the group differently since after several months of
preparation, they welcomed the sponsored family in their community.

 

Thanks for reading,

Clara

 

 

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