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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."
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