As another hurricane approaches the U.S. — we’re sending prayers and fortitude to our Florida friends — former President Donald J. Trump is amplifying misinformation surrounding the response to Hurricane Helene, including rumors about immigration, reports Stephen Fowler of NPR.
Claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is running out of money because funds have been diverted to address migration are false, Fowler reports. The misinformation has become so disruptive that FEMA has created a "rumor response" page.
The agency’s Shelter and Services Program does provide grants to local governments and communities that experience an increase in migrant arrivals, but the funds are walled off from FEMA’s money for storm responses, Fowler notes.
Separately, in a "60 Minutes" interview conducted last night, Vice President Kamala Harris discussed her plans on immigration, a team at CBS News reports.
Harris said that she would take border security even further than President Biden’s current efforts. But ultimately, she said, "We need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem."
Welcome to Tuesday’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, Soledad Gassó Parker, Camilla Luong, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
IMPROVING OUTCOMES — Research indicates that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) benefits native-born Americans as well as its recipients, researcher and University of California, Merced, assistant professor of economics Briana Ballis writes in a Brookings Institution commentary. Policies such as DACA "can significantly improve educational outcomes — not only for those directly eligible but also for their U.S.-born peers," she writes. DACA recipients are closely watching a federal court hearing set for Thursday, reports Renata Daou of the CT Mirror. Read our DACA resource for more context.
DAIRY — Immigrant workers originally from Latin America make up around 70% of the workers in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, writes Ruth Conniff of the Wisconsin Examiner. Conniff observes the demographic changes of the farming community at the annual dairy expo in Madison. She focuses on immigrants' dedication and importance in the growth of Wisconsin’s workforce, contrasting those contributions with some politicians’ demonization of immigrant workers.
GROWTH — Economist Zeke Hernandez of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania makes the case that more immigration is good for the U.S. economy in his new book, "The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers," report Augusta Saraiva and Enda Curran of Bloomberg. Along with economic contributions and growth, undocumented immigrants subsidize our health care, reports John Canham-Clyne of the Texas Observer.
ADOPTEE CITIZENSHIP — In an op-ed for USA Today, Isaac Willour, a corporate analyst and award-winning journalist, writes on his own experience as an international adoptee and the work still necessary for international adoptees to secure their American futures. He highlights the bipartisan 2024 Adoptee Citizenship Act (which the Forum supports) as a possible way forward for "Americans who came here as children and, through no fault of their own, fell through the cracks of the existing citizenship framework."
P.S. To get a dose of hope today, check out Olivia Young’s CBS Colorado story of a pastor whose family and church provided welcome and kindness.
