JFI Biweekly Review: April 22-May 3, 2024 JFI Colleagues, Please see below for the latest updates from JFI including webinars and upcoming events. Congress Passes Long-Awaited Supplemental Funding Bills as USCCB Sends Migration-Related Requests for Upcoming Fiscal Year On April 23, the Senate passed three supplemental funding bills previously passed by the House of Representatives; collectively, the bills address issues related to Ukraine, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, and some domestic issues. Pertinent items included in the bills are: $481 million for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) $3.495 billion for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) A provision extending ORR eligibility to Ukrainian parolees who entered the U.S. between February 24, 2022, September 30, 2024 (applying retroactively to those who have entered since October 1, 2023). Shortly after these supplemental funding bills were passed and signed into law by the President, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, transmitted the bishops’ migration-related funding requests for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins October 1. These requests cover four of the twelve appropriations bills passed by Congress on an annual basis: Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Funding provided by these bills impacts agencies and programs that are crucial for the wellbeing of immigrants, refugees, asylees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied migrant children, survivors of torture, victims of human trafficking, and others. A Catholic Response to What's Wrong with the U.S. immigration system: New Resource Addresses Challenges Facing Religious Worker Visa Program We are excited about our new series that delves into the critical issues of migration, a subject that resonates deeply with the Catholic Church for both institutional and moral reasons. Migration, with its complex and multifaceted nature, demands our attention and calls for a nuanced understanding. This initiative isn’t about offering comprehensive solutions; instead, it aims to shed light on specific challenges within the U.S. immigration system and the issue of migration generally that warrant a closer look. The first issue in this series focuses on the Religious Worker Visa program. Religious workers, native- and foreign-born alike, provide many important services to American communities. Besides roles directly relating to and required for religious practice, these workers undertake all manner of duties, such as caring for and ministering to those who are sick, aged, and dying, and counseling those who suffer from trauma. This resource provides an in-depth overview of the program, some of the challenges that the church faces with respect to the problem, and some solutions. The following image links to a printable PDF document of the resource. The Religious Worker Visa program, relied upon by many faith communities in the United States, including the Catholic community, has been impacted by a change first implemented by the Department of State in 2023. There is also a new explainer from USCCB/MRS which addresses that change, its impact, and the Church’s response. SAVE The DATE JFI Webinar: Refugee Resettlement Please note on your calendars and save Wednesday, May 30, 2024 at 2 PM Eastern for the next JFI webinar. On that day we will present you with the latest updates on refugee resettlement. More importantly, we will be doing something a bit different than previous webinars and hope to make this one more noteworthy as well as informative. Webinar details will be forthcoming.  Migration-Related Stories, Op-Eds and Interviews by Catholic Bishops, and Catholic Agency Executives Iowa Catholic Conference: Statement on Immigration Notable New Publications, Reports, Resources, Articles, Etc. Center for Migration Studies: How Europe is Slowly Closing Its Doors to Asylum-Seekers Forced displacement around the world is at an all-time high, having reached 114 million persons by the end of 2023. Migrants are being driven from their homes by conflict, economic deprivation, climate change, and persecution. In response, the industrialized nations, including many in Europe, are emphasizing deterrence strategies to stem the flow of migrants to their countries. The European Union (EU), as well as individual European countries, have in the last several years launched several initiatives to prevent asylum-seekers from reaching their shores. A recent EU migration pact, approved by the European Parliament on April 10, would establish a common asylum system and emphasize burden sharing among Member States, but also would introduce strict procedures to screen asylum applicants. The adoption of restrictive policies by Europe has come in response to an unprecedented jump in irregular migration to the continent, mainly from Africa and the Middle East. Conflicts in Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and other hot spots have helped fuel the migration, along with, of course, extreme poverty and hunger. Relatively new wars in Sudan and Gaza threaten to increase the flow of persons attempting to find safety in European countries. CLINIC’s State and Local Immigration Project: March and April 2024 - Texas and Beyond During the month of March, there was a lot of movement in the courts around one of the anti-immigrant bills passed last year known as SB 4. The bill was signed into law on Nov. 21, 2023. It creates state crimes for illegal entry and reentry to Texas, authorizes state and local law enforcement to arrest people in Texas, and gives state magistrates and judges the authority to issue deportation orders. Since the law brings up various constitutional concerns, parties filed lawsuits in order to prevent it from going into effect on Feb. 6, 2024. Franciscan Action Network (FAN) U.S. Border Trip 2024: Photo Report FAN Director of Advocacy, Sr. Maria Orlandini, joined a delegation to the U.S.-Mexico Border organized by the Sisters of Mercy Justice Team. For the week of April 21-26, 2024, participants were immersed in the current situation at the border and educated on obstacles to asylum processing, humanitarian response, root causes of migration and the conditions in Mexico. The delegates strategized together on ways to raise consciousness to these realities in order to shift the public discourse to unity and compassion. National Bureau of Economic Research: Immigration's Effect on US Wages and Employment Redux In this article we revive, extend and improve the approach used in a series of influential papers written in the 2000s to estimate how changes in the supply of immigrant workers affected natives' wages in the US. We begin by extending the analysis to include the more recent years 2000-2022. Additionally, we introduce three important improvements. First, we introduce an IV that uses a new skill-based shift-share for immigrants and the demographic evolution for natives, which we show passes validity tests and has reasonably strong power. Second, we provide estimates of the impact of immigration on the employment-population ratio of natives to test for crowding out at the national level. Third, we analyze occupational upgrading of natives in response to immigrants. Using these estimates, we calculate that immigration, thanks to native-immigrant complementarity and college skill content of immigrants, had a positive and significant effect between +1.7 to +2.6\% on wages of less educated native workers, over the period 2000-2019 and no significant wage effect on college educated natives. We also calculate a positive employment rate effect for most native workers. Even simulations for the most recent 2019-2022 period suggest small positive effects on wages of non-college natives and no significant crowding out effects on employment. Healing the Divided Body of Christ: USCCB Resources With many divisions in the Church and the United States today, the USCCB created resources on how Catholics can be part of the important work to heal those divisions. In an upcoming virtual event on May 14th, join Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop Robert Barron, and Bishop Daniel Flores as they dialogue on the challenges of polarization and where Catholics can find hope in a path forward. You can also watch the most recent virtual event about what our faith teaches us about overcoming polarization here Other Upcoming Events, Opportunities, and Services Jesuit Refugee Service/USA Report Presentation: Navigating the US-Mexico Border: Digital Practices of Migrants and Their Psychosocial Needs, May 9, 2024 at 2 PM Eastern. The report features research by Dr. Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S.J., Professor of Social Work at Boston College School of Social Work, on the digital practices of migrants. The research includes investigation of digital tools as forms of risk and protection, the issues surrounding CBP One™, and migrants’ perceived needs along the US-Mexico border and migration routes in Mexico. This event will also feature discussion of policy recommendations to improve CBP One™ and processing at US ports of entry along the southern border. Speakers will be Dr. Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S.J., author of the report and Professor of Social Work at Boston College School of Social Work; Giulia McPherson, JRS/USA Vice President of Advocacy and Operations; and Josh Utter, JRS/USA Advocacy Officer. Please join us. Rev. John Dear Book Launch and Signing: The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence, May 15, 2024 at 7 PM. Join Franciscan Action Network and the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land for a launch of by Rev. Dear book. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear his compelling teaching of Jesus’ essential message of nonviolence, as presented in his new commentary on the synoptic Gospels. There will be an opportunity for discussion with Fr. John and copies of the book will be available for purchase. RSVP to attend in person. Salesian Summer of Service. The Salesian Lay Missioner program and Salesian Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry are partnering to offer a “Summer of Service,” in which college-aged young adults will be invited to spend from one week to two months living in community with Salesians in our various works while doing service. As part of community living, they will eat meals, share prayer moments, attend daily Mass with the local Salesian community, and receive formation and accompaniment from a local Salesian. Learn more about this opportunity. Irish Community Services (Chicago) Green Card Renewal Fund. Irish Community Services can help with the costs of renewing your Green Card. A limited fund is available to assist lower-income individuals and families with the costs of the Green Card renewal process or removing conditions from a Green Card. Get more information on our website. In solidarity, Tony Cube Stay Connected Visit the JFI website to learn about us, read policy recommendations and letters to Congress, find materials for your parish, get advocacy resources, access previously recorded webinars, and more! Send us an email to get connected.   USCCB | 3211 Fourth Street NE, Washington, DC 20017 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!