|
THE FORUM DAILY
A new anti-immigration bill in Iowa is making immigrants consider whether to leave the state, reports Hannah Fingerhut of the Associated Press.
The legislation reflects pieces of Texas’ controversial (and currently court-blocked) SB 4 and would make being in Iowa a state crime for someone previously deported from, or denied entry to, the U.S.
The fragile, hard-earned trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community could be at risk.
Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said that someone's immigration status does not determine how the department keeps the community safe. "I’m not interested, nor are we equipped, funded or staffed to take on additional responsibilities that historically have never been a function of local law enforcement," he said.
An hour to the northeast in Marshalltown, Chief Michael Tupper [a Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force co-chair] expressed concerns last week, Zach Fisher of WHO 13 News reported: "It just seems like something that is being sold to us as a solution that’s just going to make things worse for us here locally. ... My job is to keep the city of Marshalltown safe, and in order to do that we need everybody in the community willing to work with us, talk to us, call us when they need help."
Welcome to Tuesday’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, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
TO WELCOME? — While Americans continue to demonstrate welcome and appreciate refugees’ individual stories, the country on a larger scale remains "in danger of turning its back on the global order set by the Refugee Convention," Dara Lind writes in The American Prospect. With global displacement at a record high, Lind concludes that despite the government's failings, "The U.S. isn’t full. Its people are demonstrating every day that they can make more room; that they can
support newcomers and therefore lead them to better support themselves."
DACA’S BENEFITS — A new report by Clemson University indicates that by not allowing DACA recipients to get professional licenses, South Carolina is missing out on about $68 million of economic output, reports Carlos Cristian Flores of WYFF 4. A bill that State Rep. Neal Collins (R) supports would pave the way. "You have return on investment," Collins said. "You have the idea that it's the American dream of getting a higher education and getting the best job that you can and to me it's just a win/win for everybody."
LETHAL JOURNEY — A boat carrying Chinese migrants capsized off the coast of Mexico, killing eight people, Reuters reports. The lone man to survive said the group had left Tapachula, Mexico, near the border with Guatemala. As it becomes more difficult to obtain U.S. visas and the economic situation in their homeland becomes less tenable, more Chinese nationals are trying to reach the U.S. border via Mexico.
COMMUNITY — Staff at the International Institute of Southwest Missouri (IISM) help guide newcomers as they navigate the complex U.S. immigration system, Chris Drew of KSMU reports as part of a "Sense of Community" series. Aline dos Santos Gomes, IISM immigration coordinator, notes that many immigrants do not understand how complicated the process can be. In
the final installment of the series, Michele Skalicky tells the story of two brothers who have made a new home in Springfield, Missouri, after first fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo as refugees.
|
|
