The Forum Daily | Thursday, April 11, 2024
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**THE FORUM DAILY**

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed Senate File 2340 into law yesterday,
reports Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register
.
The legislation allows Iowa state officers to arrest migrants who enter
the state after having been barred from the U.S.  

Set to take effect July 1, the law has similarities to SB 4 in Texas,
which is currently blocked pending court proceedings. Reynolds has
visited the U.S.-Mexico border several times and has sent a total of 120
Iowa public safety officers and National Guard soldiers to support
Texas' state efforts.  

Law enforcement leaders in Iowa had expressed concerns about the
legislation, as Zach Fisher of WHO 13

reported last month. "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," said Marshalltown Chief Michael Tupper, who is also a Law
Enforcement Immigration Task Force co-chair. 

Marshalltown has experienced what experts in South Carolina are also
seeing: Migrant workers and immigrants help boost rural communities'
economies and demographics, as Macon Atkinson of The Post and Courier

reports. "South Carolina's agricultural economy depends on migrant
workers," Atkinson writes.  

While some stay temporarily for agricultural work, others settle. On
Johns Island, Rodrigo Haddad de Sousa of the Anglican Diocese of South
Carolina says the community has been generally welcoming.  

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

**STRENGTH, CONTINUED** - Farmers need workers, and the Farm Workforce
Modernization Act would help, reports Cory McCoy of the Tri-City Herald
.
"Farmers have been faced with a real challenge attracting enough labor
to the farms, there's a shortage of people wanting to work in a farm,"
said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington), a co-sponsor of the bipartisan
bill. Meanwhile, more policymakers are citing increased immigration's
role in a surprisingly strong economy, reports Tobias Burns of The Hill
.
"From the lens of the labor market, immigration has been very good,"
former Fed economist Claudia Sahm wrote Friday
. 

**THE DARIÉN** - The visual storytelling is stunning: A team at the
Financial Times

will have you thinking in new ways about the perils of migrants'
journeys across the Darién Gap jungle, who's attempting it and why
- as well as the implications for U.S. policy and politics.  

**DESPITE THE RISK** - The journey to the U.S. is dangerous for
migrants from farther north, too, but young Guatemalans are attempting
it in hopes of a better future, reports Giovanna Dell'Orto of the
Associated Press
.
Glendy Aracely Ramírez, 17, is ready to depart even though her older
sister was one of 50 migrants who died in a smuggler's tractor trailer
in Texas two years ago. "I ask God for my family's health and that I
might get to the United States one day. My mom asks God that she won't
have to see another accident," Ramírez said. 

**BASE** - In a blog post for Human Rights Watch
,
Bob Libal outlines Texas' plans for a large military base to support
Operation Lone Star. The new base outside of Eagle Pass, Texas, could
cost taxpayers around $400 million, as John C. Moritz of the Austin
American-Statesman
 reported
last week. Libal concludes, "Instead of wasting hundreds of millions
more on border militarization, Texas should work to create a humane
system that respects and welcomes migrants and builds strong, resilient
border communities." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

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