The Forum Daily | Friday, March 1, 2024
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**THE FORUM DAILY** 

Yesterday, a federal judge blocked Texas' Senate Bill 4, reports Uriel
J. García of The Texas Tribune
. The
law, which was scheduled to take effect Tuesday, would allow state
police to arrest migrants who they suspect have not entered the country
legally. 

District Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction on the bill;
Texas has appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit. 

Ezra wrote in his decision that the law could do "irreparable harm" to
the federal government's authority: "SB 4 threatens the fundamental
notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,"
he wrote. 

Regarding the underlying challenges, states and the federal government
need to coordinate "so that we can see these needs being met in a way
that's cohesive," Jennie told NewsNation
 in
a video interview. 

The ruling came down the same day President Joe Biden and former
President Donald Trump visited the border, as Colleen Long, Seung Min
Kim and Jill Colvin report for the Associated Press
. 

Biden called for legislative solutions, highlighting Congress' failure
to advance border and immigration provisions that Republicans and
Democrats in the Senate had negotiated. Trump employed militaristic
language and focused on crime. Olympia Sonnier and Garrett Haake of NBC
News

analyze national data that debunks that rhetoric - and we'll also
leave this here
. 

Last but not least, our colleague Matt Soerens of the Evangelical
Immigration Table and World Relief offers perspective in an interview
with Jenna Browder of CBN News
, including the
support of 80% of evangelicals for border and immigration solutions. 

Welcome to Friday'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]
. 

**HALTED** - The arrest of two boat captains in Colombia has
temporarily stopped migration through the Darién Gap, reports Julie
Turkewitz of The New York Times
.
That has affected about 3,000 migrants waiting in the towns of Necoclí
and Turbo. The Darién Gap has become a significant migration path, with
the crackdown marking a shift in Colombian policy against human
trafficking in collaboration with U.S. agencies, Turkewitz notes. 

**WAITING** - Yuliia Boicheva and her family had a good life in
Ukraine before the Russian invasion. Now, after being forced to flee to
the United States, their future remains unclear, reports Emry Dinman of
The Spokesman-Review

in Spokane, Washington. For the 170,000 Ukrainians who entered the U.S.
through a temporary, two-year parole program, anxieties have been
rising. "You feel like you're sitting with a bomb, and we're just
waiting with this bomb," said Boicheva. [Some good news: Since this
story published, USCIS has announced a re-parole process
.] 

This week in local welcome: 

* The town of Harvard, Massachusetts, population 6,870, has warmly
welcomed two Afghan families, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and
the town itself. (Marcela García, Boston Globe
) 

* Martha Hulshof of Sioux County, Iowa, has helped 120 Ukrainians -
including the Todikash family - resettle there with the help of her
church and others. (Sheila Brummer, IPR
) 

* In Knoxville, Tennessee, a former Afghan interpreter has reunited with
his family and celebrates his culture through his new
restaurant. (Heather Ryerson, Inside of Knoxville
) 

**'A LOT OF FAITH'** - Religious workers are facing difficult
decisions amid a backlog for permanent residency, reports Juan Carlos
Chavez of the Tampa Bay Times
.
Andrés Arenas, a spiritual leader at Pentacostal church Iglesia Vida
Nueva, has waited two years for his permanent residency to be processed
and is unsure he'll be able to continue his pastoral work. "My work
and my life are in America, I don't know what to do," Arenas said.
"But we have faith - a lot of faith."  

**INCENTIVES** - Legal paths for migrants promise more benefits to the
U.S. than a restrictive border, Hein de Haas writes in a Wall Street
Journal

essay. Allowing more authorized migrants to fill necessary jobs could
reduce incentives for smuggling, he argues. In turn, "migrants will
become more visible and more able to contribute to the communities in
which they live and work." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

** **

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