As migrants arrive at cities across the country, Sarah Matusek of The Christian Science Monitor offers a helpful explanation of the conversation around work permits. 

People here under Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole are eligible for permits, as are asylum applicants who fear persecution in their home country, Matusek points out. The latter group must wait 6 months for a permit under current law.   

Some are concerned that easing the process would encourage more migrants to make their way to the country (to which we say: Let’s find alternate legal paths that meet America’s needs). But the wait can push people to work without permission, and as Jennie points out in the piece, easing the path to work permits could help address labor shortages. 

Massachusetts offers an interesting practical example, as Katie Johnston of the Boston Globe reports. The state has launched a job skills training program — including a stipend — for new arrivals while they wait for work authorization. Johnston points out that the state’s 222,000 or so open jobs are more than double the number of unemployed people. 

Salem Hospital is just one employer excited about the opportunity, having offered six housekeeping jobs to Haitian migrants currently living at a nearby shelter. "If we place these six people, it will be the first time in years that the department is fully staffed," said Joy Livramento-Bryant, a hospital workforce development specialist. 

Maine officials also are hoping to tap into the immigrant population for new workers, reports Patrick Whittle of the Associated Press. A new bill introduced by state Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D), a Somali immigrant, proposes an Office of New Americans, which would help newcomers find jobs and obtain professional accreditation and licenses.  

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 Isabella Miller, Jillian Clark and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

FACTIONS — As John Bresnahan of Punchbowl News takes a look at the Senate’s week ahead, the negotiations could be at the mercy of a divided Republican party, report Annie Karni and Karoun Demirjian of The New York Times. While many mainstream Republicans are hoping for a deal, factions of the party say they won't compromise, they report. Michelle Hackman outlines one of the sticking points, humanitarian parole, in The Wall Street Journal. 

TEXAS — Texas’ blocking federal access to a park along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, is "essentially an armed standoff between the state’s National Guard and federal agents," reports Jamiles Lartey of The Marshall Project. It’s among several Texas efforts that "likely violate federal law, the Constitution, and Supreme Court precedent," he reports. Valerie Gonzalez and Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press offer additional background. 

LANGUAGE BARRIERS — The U.S. has reverted to a pre-pandemic rule requiring non-English-speaking asylum seekers to acquire their own interpreters for immigration interviews, reports Adriana Gonzalez-Chavez of Cronkite News. Failure to provide an interpreter can hurt migrants’ cases. Language obstacles are constant in immigration processes: In her op-ed for Newsweek, former Ukrainian refugee Masha Rumer describes her experience helping others with the language barriers of the immigration system. 

FOR GLOBAL PROSPERITY — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is seeking $7.9 billion to better manage migration worldwide, reports the Associated Press. "The evidence is overwhelming that migration, when well-managed, is a major contributor to global prosperity and progress," said new IOM Director General Amy Pope. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan