House Bill 4156 would have allowed state and local law enforcement to arrest people in Oklahoma based on their immigration status. Organizations like The Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police and Metro Law Enforcement Agency Leaders recently voiced their opposition to the law, alongside a range of state legislators.  

In Iowa, similar legislation troubles law enforcement officials like Storm Lake Police Chief Chris Cole, writes Chris Stein for The Guardian.  

"We want the community to trust the police and to come to the police when they need help or are victims of crimes," said Chief Cole. "So if there’s that fear present and a reluctance to call, then we have victims that we don’t even know are being victimized. And the criminals know that, so they take advantage of that."   

Separately, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee approved the Biden administration’s request to end part of the Flores settlement agreement from 1997 providing oversight for the protection of migrant children, reports Jaimie Ding of the Associated Press.  

The Justice Department said that a new regulation protecting migrant children was enough to replace the original settlement, and Judge Gee agreed. Lawyers representing organizations advocating for migrant children disagreed with the ruling, arguing that there is not a good enough framework in place to regulate the care of these children. 

Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s strategic communications assistant VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Dan Gordon, Samantha Siedow and Ally Villarreal. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

REFLECTIONS — In Florida, community members reflect on the impact of Senate Bill 1718 nearly a year after its passage, reports Lizbeth Gutierrez of Spectrum News 9. Among other things, the law requires hospitals to ask for a patient’s immigration status and employers to use E-Verify if they have over 25 employees, which led many to leave the state. "[I]t’s the consequences of these laws that impact our economy, it impacts our community, it impacts everything," says Jeannette Matta, founder of the human rights nonprofit Miel y Canela.  

WORKFORCE STRENGTH — Immigration continues to be an important part of strengthening the U.S. economy, writes Jason Furman in his op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. "We can expect that absent immigration, we would have a decreasing working-age population and shrinking employment for decades to come—especially considering the low fertility rate. This is already happening in Japan and will soon happen in many European countries," writes Furman. 

PROFESSIONAL WORKERS — The Bloomberg editorial board weighs in on the need for immigration reforms to ensure that investments in the American semiconductor industry aren’t wasted. "[C]ompanies need workers the U.S. doesn’t have," the board writes. "Shortages of skilled installers of hyper-precise chipmaking equipment have already delayed projects." Short of broad reforms, the board points to a "chipmaker’s visa" as one potential solution.   

HELPING OTHERS — Thousands of Afghan refugees are still waiting to be resettled and find safety in the United States. In Davenport, Iowa, Jordan Schnider is a closer to helping Ahmad Wasiq and his family to resettle through the Welcome Corps Program, reports Wafaa Ezzat of 6 KWQC. Wasiq worked alongside the U.S. military and is looking to make a new home in the Quad Cities. His case is one of many still waiting. "He would be a boon to any community... [H]e wants to help people. That’s what he wants his life to be about," said Schnider. 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara