Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is suing Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit that assists migrants at the border, William Melhado of The Texas Tribune reports.
The legal battle between the two started when Paxton demanded that the organization hand over "extensive documentation about the immigrant clients that it serves along the border," with a deadline of the following day, Melhado reports. If the state wins, Annunciation House might have to stop operating in Texas, 48 years after it began helping migrants with daily needs — including food and places to go that that aren't city streets — as well as legal services.
"If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal — so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks," Annunciation House Director Ruben Garcia said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the disagreement between Texas and the federal government over immigration policy and enforcement continues as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced a new military base outside of Eagle Pass, reports Ali Bradley for NewsNation. The base will house up to 2,300 National Guard soldiers working at the border.
A large number of them, up to 1,000, may come from Florida, Kirby Wilson of the Tampa Bay Times reports. That doesn’t count members of the Florida State Guard whom Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also has offered. Wilson takes a deeper look at DeSantis’ border-related actions.
Welcome to Wednesday’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].
HOUSE MEASURE — Bipartisan members of the House have put forward a foreign aid and border package, Caroline Coudriet and Briana Reilly report in Roll Call. Our policy team summarizes the border- and asylum-related details. "We appreciate bipartisan efforts and solutions, but we have significant concerns that this bill would cut off humanitarian protections and place asylum seekers in danger without including workable alternative pathways," Jennie said in a statement yesterday. Separately in The Atlantic, Jerusalem Demsas writes that the federal government’s dysfunction on immigration fails both migrants and the American communities receiving them.
TOGETHER FOR DREAMERS — In Wisconsin, a bipartisan legislative push seeks to empower DACA recipients to further their education and workforce integration — and help the state — by removing hurdles like high out-of-state tuition and barriers to professional licensure, reports Lina Tran of WUWM. Led by state Reps. John Macco (R) and Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D), the proposed legislation is designed to mitigate workforce shortages
in essential sectors.
CONTRIBUTIONS — The benefits of immigrants’ diligence, diversity and entrepreneurship in the U.S. underscore the importance to the nation’s future of reforming immigration policies, columnist Josh Farley writes in The Seattle Times. Farley zooms in on the story of Simón Sosa, who fled Venezuela in 2017 and now is managing green energy projects. Immigration naysayers, Farley writes, "cannot contend with a universal truth: Our country
needs immigrants, and an orderly way to bring them here."
A BLESSING — Florida groups are partnering to provide health care services to immigrants, reports Lizbeth Gutierrez for Bay News 9. Nancy Hernandez of Ministerio Mujeres Restauradas Por Dios started the clinic after the state’s new immigration law required hospitals to start asking about patients’ immigration status. "After seeing all those people that would come scared and asking for help, I decided to open this as a blessing for them," Hernandez said.
