The federal government’s lawsuit against Texas’ pending new law that makes unauthorized border crossings a state crime will be in federal court today, reports Uriel J. García for The Texas Tribune. 

Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), set to take effect next month, makes illegal border crossing a misdemeanor punishable with a jail term of up to six months. "Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison," García notes. "The law also requires state judges to order migrants returned to Mexico if they are convicted; local law enforcement would be responsible for transporting migrants to [the] border."   

"At best, this could create a problematic ‘patchwork’ system of laws," the U.S. Department of Justice argues. "At worst, there may be a disastrous impact on the federal government’s ability to carry out its core immigration functions." 

Advocates protested SB 4 at Gov. Greg Abbott’s mansion yesterday, reports Melia Masumoto of KVUE. For more on the timeline and significance of this case, take a look at J. David Goodman’s analysis in The New York Times. 

Speaking of problematic state laws, Florida’s 2023 law that forces hospitals that receive Medicaid funding to ask patients’ immigration statuses has caused a drop in migrant women seeking mammograms and prenatal care, "even in emergency situations," Arek Sarkissian of Politico reports. 

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

MIGRANTS NEEDED — The need for workers across the country is real. In an opinion analysis, Eduardo Porter and Youyou Zhou of The Washington Post share a deep analysis of which states have the most significant shortages and thus would benefit most from migrant workers. "Rather than ship the newcomers to New York, [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott might instead offer them the opportunity for a trip with a job to the Dakotas — or Maryland, if he insists on hitting a blue state," they write. One crucial piece, they note: authorization for migrants to work.  

BORDER LIFE — For the 19 million Americans who live along the U.S-Mexico border, political rhetoric around closing the border is problematic, reports Lauren Villagran of USA Today. "When people talk about closing the border, that is a terrifying idea to people who live here," said Jeremy Slack, professor of geography at the University of Texas at El Paso. "The community doesn’t stop at the international line." 

PRESSURES — The Biden administration is looking for alternative ways to depressurize the border after the Senate’s bipartisan immigration deal deflated, report Tarini Parti and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal. But: "No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy overhauls and additional resources Congress can provide," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Meanwhile, veterans and advocates are frustrated after certainty for Afghans evacuated to the U.S. in 2021 was excluded from the Senate supplemental spending bill, reports Rebecca Kheel of Military.com. 

VOTE FAVORS SOLUTIONS — Tom Suozzi (D) said he would support the Senate’s border and immigration compromise, then won Tuesday's special election in New York for a House seat, as the editorial boards of both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post point out. "Many voters are fed up with border sloganeering," the Journal’s board writes. "They want to fix the problem." We’re hearing that too. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

P.S. Yesterday President Biden issued an executive order that temporarily protects most Palestinians in the U.S. from deportation, given the "humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territories," reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News.