Data collected by researchers at Syracuse University show that around 85% of arriving migrants headed to places that experienced GDP growth in 2019-2022. For some communities with declining GDP, political rhetoric conflicts with the economic need for more workers.  

Some counties are trying to change that by implementing plans to attract more immigrants. In Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Mejía and Donnan look at the impact migrants are having on their communities.  

Separately, economist and columnist Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times on how politically charged falsehoods aimed at immigrant communities could have an economic toll on the country.  

Krugman writes that while the human impact of such vitriol is obvious and horrifying, the economic impact is not something to be ignored. 

"Overall, the move of immigrants to some small cities has been very beneficial, one of the best hopes these cities have for economic resurgence," Krugman points out. "But that hope will disappear if immigrants are scared off by a climate of hate." 

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

FARM LABOR — Hardline immigration policies and anti-immigrant rhetoric could be putting farm labor in jeopardy, reports Sky Chadde of the Missouri Independent. Negative narratives around immigrants amid the campaign could add more pressure on the agricultural sector, Chadde adds. "At the end of the day, many farmworkers still fear deportation," said Laurie Beyranevand, director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School. 

RESOURCES — As the migrant population grows in some communities, local organizations are there to help. In Nebraska, the nonprofit Omaha Welcomes the Stranger supports migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who want to settle in the state, reports Cindy Gonzalez of the Nebraska Examiner. Meanwhile, in Delaware, a lack of funding is threatening organizations that help immigrant communities, reports Johnny Perez-Gonzalez of WHYY.  

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT — For some undocumented immigrants, their digital footprint could affect their path to legal status, reports Paige Gross for the Kansas Reflector. In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security started keeping a closer eye on things like social media accounts. Now, while some organizers can use the internet as a tool to tell stories of their undocumented communities, others are worried it could help the government track people down, Gross notes. 

‘RESPOND WITH COMPASSION’— Compassion over hateful rhetoric is key in this moment for the communities facing tension over immigration, writes pastor Jeremy Hudson from Springfield, Ohio, in his op-ed for USA Today. "While Washington can be blamed for policy failures, the responsibility for how we treat one another rests with us," writes Hudson. "[T]o my fellow Christians, I issue this challenge: Let’s follow Jesus’ example. Respond with care and compassion, as he did for the multitudes, and let no opinion leave our lips that lacks the concern he showed, even for those who disagreed with him." 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara