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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. More news:
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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