A new rule allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to streamline visa processing for temporary agricultural workers in the United States, reports Andrew Rice of The Center Square.
The rule, which took effect yesterday, allows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to start processing H-2A applications at the same time the Department of Labor reviews employment applications, rather than requiring USCIS to wait.
Elsewhere in the agriculture world, Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’Lakes, highlights dairy farmers’ need for migrant workers to keep their farms going, reports Emma Hinchliffe of Fortune.
Ford avoids heated language on immigration, Hinchliffe notes. "The debate is, do we have enough of a workforce that will elevate and grow the economy over time?" Ford said.
Linda Pryor, a third-generation farmer and member of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, underscores in a USA Today op-ed that without immigrant workers, Amercian farmers are in trouble.
"I’m often told this problem is too complex to fix," she writes. "I disagree. We can have both a secure border and a legal, reliable workforce. It will require a straightforward approach, removing the unrealistic hurdles, and standing with the farmers who put food on every American table and the families who rely on a stable food supply."
Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Masooma Amin, Jillian Clark, Nicci Mattey and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
DACA RELEASES — Attorneys hope the release of two Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will make clear to federal officials that DACA recipients cannot be arbitrarily detained, reports Cindy Ramirez of El Paso Matters. The releases come as the administration outlined a plan to accept new DACA applications, reports Valerie Gonzalez of the Associated Press.
CHICAGO ARRESTS — Immigration enforcement in Chicago has intensified, including with a midnight raid on a South Side apartment building, reports Cindy Hernandez of WBEZ Chicago. Agents arrested 37 people, and U.S. citizens were among those detained, she reports. As DHS says more than 800 people have been arrested in Chicago but offers few details, advocates have created a tracking dashboard, report Kade Heather and David Struett of the Chicago Sun-Times. And church leaders are raising concern following an enforcement action at a homeless shelter, reports Jermont Terry of CBS News Chicago.
THE UNKNOWN — Alan Phetsadakone arrived in the United States when he was a toddler, entering as a refugee from his home country of Laos. Now he and many other longtime residents are facing deportation, report Stephanie Sy and Ian Couzens of PBS News. "It'll be a brand-new country, a brand-new life at such an old age," Phetsadakone said, describing what would happen should he be deported. "So I don't know where to begin. I don't know where to start. Everything I have known, that's here."
HOPE, COMMUNITY IN NATURE — In Minnesota, Luisana Méndez’s nonprofit helps immigrant women find community and hope through nature, reports Anna Adamson of Minnesota Women’s Press. Huellas Latinas, founded in 2021, has become a way for Latina and immigrant women to explore Minnesota’s outdoors safely together. With mounting tensions surrounding their futures in the United States, many women see it as a way to feel protected and stronger together, Méndez says.
