The Forum Daily | Thursday, February 01, 2024
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THE FORUM DAILY

 

For asylum seekers, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is endorsing a
proposal to reduce job barriers such as language requirements and work
experience in temporary state jobs, report Zach Williams and Laura
Nahmias of Bloomberg
.

The proposal, according to Hochul, aims to promote independence for
those who rely on state services. "I'm anxious to get this moving
quickly," she said.

State agencies already have identified nearly 4,000 entry-level
government positions that could be filled by newcomers with work
authorization. The jobs are mostly in food service, equipment
maintenance, facilities management and office assistance, Williams and
Nahmias note.

In Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey (D) visited a provisional shelter
set up in a recreational complex in the Roxbury neighborhood hours
before migrants who have been sleeping on the floor at Logan
International Airport started relocating there, report Paula Moura and
Beth Healy of WBUR
.
"We need to make sure we have a place for people to go safely," Healey
said. "I continue to call on Congress to act. President Biden has put
forward a plan."

Healey also is working with resettlement agencies on a yearlong pilot
program to help migrant families get long-term housing and jobs, Chris
Van Buskirk reports in the Boston Herald
.

Welcome to Thursday'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, Clara Villatoro and
Ally Villarreal. If you have a story to share from your own community,
please send it to me at [email protected]
. 

**STILL ON HOLD** - The narrative on the Senate border compromise has
swung back to pessimism, Stef W. Kight and Zachary Basu report in Axios
.
Meanwhile, Miriam Jordan of The New York Times

analyzes how seeking asylum has become the path of choice for so many.
"We do need more boots on the ground," said security expert, George W.
Bush administration alum and CNSI leader
Michael Neifach. "We do need more border infrastructure. But you can't
fix this by just doing that. We need to understand that the border is
not the end of it."

**DANGEROUS** - Robert Downen and Uriel J. García of the Texas
Tribune

report that Texas' defiance of the federal government is encouraging
right-wing secessionists and far-right militias, which increases the
risk of border vigilantism and violence. As some politicians use
"invasion" rhetoric regarding the border, Frank O. Bowman, III writes in
Just Security

that per the Constitution's definition, the situation is nothing of
the kind. We've noted before that such rhetoric already has had
consequences
.

**A CALL FOR COMPASSION**- A state contractor of Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis' (R) administration dropped flyers promoting free migrant
relocation trips at a Latino church in Orlando, reports Ryan Gillespie
of the Orlando Sentinel
.
Local faith groups, as well as elected officials, are upset and calling
for compassion, reports Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global
.
"We must call upon our state government to literally stand down from
your political agendas and begin to look at the well-being of mankind,"
said Bishop Derrick McRae of The Experience Christian Center in Orlando.

**AMERICAN VALUES** - As he endures his own challenges in Chicago,
Venezuelan asylum seeker Kelvin Garcia also is volunteering to help
other newcomers, Angela Chen of ABC7

reports. Separately, After seeing the reality at the U.S. border
himself, College of Charleston (S.C.) professor William McCorkle calls
for compassion for people seeking asylum in an op-ed for The San Diego
Union- Tribune
.
Asylum seekers "believe in the dream and promise of America - an
America that George Washington said should be a refuge to all, not just
the highly educated and elite," McCorkle writes.

Thanks for reading,
Dan

**P.S.** A new exhibition, "Portraits of Immigrants: Unknown Faces,
Untold Stories" by Betsy Ashton, is now on display at Trinity Church in
Princeton, N.J. Krystal Knapp of Planet Princeton

has the story.

 

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