The Biden administration is considering acting separate from Congress to reduce unauthorized migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, report Seung Min Kim and Colleen Long of the Associated Press.  

The administration has been looking at provisions of federal immigration law that Donald Trump used during his presidency, including to implement a travel ban in 2017 that primarily affected people from majority-Muslim nations, Kim and Long note.   

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said in a statement that "no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected." 

We’d add that the travel bans didn’t necessarily benefit our national security, as former Trump administration official Elizabeth Neumann wrote in January 2021. And many other Trump administration measures did not actually reduce the number of migrant encounters — on the contrary, in some cases they pushed numbers higher.  

Speaking of Trump, his immigration plans for a potential second term include mass deportations, more detention centers and military involvement, report Isaac Arnsdorf, Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post.  

On Tuesday the Niskanen Center released a paper in which Cecilia Esterline takes a closer look at what Trump might implement: "a meticulously orchestrated, comprehensive plan to drive immigration levels to unprecedented lows and increase the federal government’s power to the states’ detriment." 

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

ESSENTIAL — Unless Americans start having more children, immigration will be essential to future economic growth, George Glover writes in Business Insider. Population decline is a real risk in coming decades, but immigration can avert it — not to mention replenish the labor market. On the other hand, nations with restrictive immigration policies face more intense demographic challenges. For more, see our newest "Room to Grow" update. 

FOCUS ON AGRICULTURE — Kim LeQuire, manager of Kornegay Family Farms & Produce in North Carolina, wants to hear her district’s candidates for Congress address visas for ag labor needs and food security, Kyleigh Panetta of Spectrum News 1 reports. "There are still so many crops that need to be harvested by hand," LeQuire said. " ... We don't know really what's going on with our food when it comes from other places. And I think ... our legislators and the powers that be [need] to come up with something that's reasonable and that can work for everyone." 

TRANSLATION — Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have sent a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur M. Jaddou, asking for a policy change on document translation when they assist constituents with immigration issues, reports Nicole Acevedo of NBC News. USCIS’s translation help would be more efficient and help a greater number of people than the current setup, under which congressional offices must provide their own translations, they write. 

FROM REFUGEES TO LEADERS — Founded in 1997 in Long Beach, California, by Sophya Chhiv and her peers, Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) champions the empowerment of young Southeast Asian American girls, particularly those of Cambodian descent. As Nadra Nittle of The 19th reports, KGA provides culture-centered programs, advocacy and leadership training, pushing for wellness centers in schools and tackling punitive discipline.  

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

P.S. Take The Washington Post editorial board’s quiz on immigration issues and compare facts with perceptions.