A new ProPublica series aims to "explain the real challenges — as opposed to the ones being made up to scare you — posed by immigration trends at the Southwest border over the past decade."
In the opening article, Mica Rosenberg and Jeff Ernsthausen set the stage: They cover the United States’ need for workers, the complex legal limbo in which many immigrants live, the changing demographics of newcomers and the "hardening in public opinion."
Economist Dany Bahar of the Center for Global Development has analyzed the connection between the U.S. labor market and migration. "There’s the elephant in the room: There’s just a lot of jobs, and people want to come," Bahar said.
Republican pollster Mike Madrid notes that immigration is more an emotional issue than a rational one for most voters, which Rosenberg and Ernsthausen suggest plays into proposals such as mass deportation. But on the rational side, such a move would cost the United States billions, report Lauren Villagran, Bart Jansen and Aysha Bagchi of USA Today.
In Texas, mass deportation would be devastating for millions of families, reports Francesca D’Annunzio of the Texas Observer. Texas is home to 1.4 million U.S. citizens who live with at least one undocumented family member, D’Annunzio writes, in addition to 1.6 million undocumented immigrants.
"[These operations are] traumatizing for entire communities, whether somebody’s directly impacted or not," said Caitlin Patler, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. "Your kid would go to school and next to them there would be an empty desk."
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP. 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].
STRONGER — Amid negative and false rhetoric about migrants in Aurora, Colorado, helpers are helping. "The Venezuelans that are here in Aurora, we’re here to work," Joel, a Venezuelan migrant who is among many volunteers at Village Exchange Center’s weekly food pantry, tells Lindsey Toomer of Colorado Newsline. Nonprofit Project Worthmore is expanding services, Kevin Beaty of Denverite reports. Meanwhile, other communities that have experienced the effects of negative rhetoric toward immigrants have emerged stronger, University of Dayton Associate Professor of Anthropology Miranda Cady Hallett writes in The Conversation.
LIMITED SHELTER — Migrants arriving in Chicago no longer can be certain of access to a shelter bed, reports Heather Cherone of WTTW. Only those who have been in the U.S. for less than a month will be eligible, and stays will be limited, she reports. After the city’s voters did not approve increased funds for unhoused individuals, Mayor Brandon Johnson is combining shelter assistance for migrants and longtime unhoused residents.
LEBANESE TPS — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that Lebanese nationals already in the United States would be eligible for Temporary Protected Status, as the Associated Press reports. The new protection combined with an earlier one from the summer will bring the total number of Lebanese people eligible to legally work and stay in the United States to about 11,000.
SUPPORT — Two Rhode Island nonprofits continue to support Haitian immigrants and the larger community, reports Sanai Rashid of The Brown Daily Herald. New Bridges and the Morija Haitian Seventh-day Adventists Church help connect immigrants with housing, employment, language programs and other services. "Our work wants to bring people together to see how we can really, truly make a big presence in the state," said Valery Derosiers, a New Bridges board member.
