Let’s start with welcome: Three communities in upstate New York are welcoming refugees through the Welcome Corps, a private-sponsorship refugee resettlement initiative, columnist Naj Wikoff writes in Lake Placid News.
Several local churches are involved, Wikoff notes. Sponsors shared their experiences at an Adirondack Friends of Refugees and Immigrants event Oct. 20.
To some tougher news: Families continue to worry over former President Trump’s immigration policy proposals, a team at CBS News’ 60 Minutes Overtime reports.
Anxiety over mass deportation affects fully immigrant families and those with mixed status — meaning one or more family members are undocumented while the rest are U.S. citizens.
When asked if there is a way to execute mass deportation without family separation, Tom Homan, who ran immigration enforcement for a period during the Trump administration, said, "Of course there is. Families can be deported together."
In an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Foday Turay writes that the talk about mass deportation alone is "extremely painful."
"It’s easy to think mass deportation wouldn’t impact your neighborhood or your community. But it’s impossible to tell who is undocumented," he writes. "Immigrants who live here without papers are essential members of the workforce — filling roles in childcare, health care, agriculture, and even law."
Per the Pew Research Center, about 22 million people live in mixed-status households, reports Gabriel Sandoval of the Associated Press. "For most Americans, it’s not a familiar thing to navigate your daily life thinking about somebody in your family possibly being taken," author and scholar Heide Castañeda said.
Welcome to Monday’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, Clara Villatoro and Ally Villarreal. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
THE POLLING — Mass deportation is too complex for a simple survey question, Christian Paz of Vox writes. He notes "substantial confusion among voters about what it might actually entail, as well as a generalized desire to do something — anything — on immigration." Our takeaway is that context is crucial — here’s ours. Speaking of context, mass deportation also would come with a "hefty price tag," the same 60 Minutes Overtime team separately reports.
FOR BUSINESS — Immigration is a workforce issue, consulting firm CEO and President and Texas Association of Business Chairman Massey Villarreal writes in a Houston Chronicle op-ed, in which he lays out solutions. "It is possible to both protect our country and protect our prosperity," he writes. Separately, Eli Hager of ProPublica analyzes where the nationwide business community’s immigration advocacy stands. "Businesses are inherently risk-averse," Jennie says in the piece — but she points out that many are still working behind the scenes with lawmakers.
REALITY — Southern border towns in the United States remain frustrated with immigration politics, reports Omar Villafranca of the CBS Evening News. Pictures of chaos at the border that some are painting do not hold true, Villafranca highlights.
GEN Z — Meet the most diverse voting bloc in U.S. history, as Alisa Reznick of KJZZ reports. About 22% have at least one immigrant parent. Their immigration politics are diverse, too, she reports. "Younger Republicans, some of whom may come from families with undocumented immigrants, are pretty much evenly divided on [mass deportation]," said political analyst and generational change researcher Mike Hais. [A reminder about Paz’s caveat above on such polling.]
P.S. In a World Relief blog, a former refugee and current certified nursing assistant and phlebotomist in Spokane, Washington, talks about his experiences and how they shape his own Christian ministry.
