‘NO-BRAINER’ — In Forbes, Stuart Anderson writes about "two potentially game-changing measures for immigrant entrepreneurs and immigrants with Ph.D.s in STEM." Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-California) LIKE Act would create "a temporary visa for foreign-born entrepreneurs who qualify," Anderson writes, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy. A startup visa could create 1 to 3 million jobs over a decade, NFAP has estimated. Over at Law360, my colleague Danilo Zak told Alyssa Aquino: "This is another pathway where we’re trying to compete with these other countries for the best and brightest, so it's a no-brainer to start an official pathway. … Republicans understand how important this is for competitiveness. We need to be stapling visas to immigrant students’ diplomas."

IMMIGRANT LABOR — Today the Department of Homeland Security is making 20,000 more H-2B visas available for employees to hire workers amid the labor shortage, per Grace Dixon of Law360. "The move adds to the 33,000 H-2B visas set aside for employers looking to bring on seasonal employers between Oct. 1 and April 1, exhausted before the fiscal year even began, as well as the additional 20,000 added in December," explains Dixon. A portion of the newly allotted visas will be reserved for migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti. As Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global reports following our press call Wednesday, the U.S. "urgently" needs more immigrant labor to sustain its economy. Elsewhere, there’s welcome news for lawful permanent residents working at Tyson Foods: The company is expanding its Immigrant Connection Program to help its employees find a pathway to citizenship "with free legal counsel and no application fees," per Montse Ricossa of KWQC.

CLIMATE BILL — Repeatedly, undocumented migrant workers are cleaning up the U.S.’s natural disasters with inadequate equipment, little pay and little recognition, Zoya Teirstein reports for Grist. "The recovery workforce is largely undocumented and lacks the kind of job stability, health care benefits, and labor protections that government employees receive," explains Teirstein. In many cases, contractors or subcontractors have threatened to call ICE on unauthorized workers. And if they’re hurt on the job, they must pay their own medical bills. But a new climate bill — spearheaded and introduced Tuesday by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) — could change that. Known as the Climate Resilience Workforce Act, it would be "the first federal effort to recognize these workers and provide them with health care, wage stability, and a path to citizenship, among other things."

WELCOME — Despite financial and cultural challenges, Americans continue to step up to support Afghans as they resettle in the U.S., writes Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in an op-ed for The Washington Post. Pletka shares her own experience getting connected to a family of seven via the Immigrant and Refugee Outreach Center in McLean, Virginia. "Americans are wonderful, and it’s not just my neighbors and colleagues. They’re generous, they’re kind, they’re selfless," Pletka writes. " ... I know from the relief agencies I’m talking to that it’s not wealth that’s a factor in so much generosity. It’s character."

Today’s compilation of local welcome includes:

With the help of nonprofit Hello Neighbor in Pittsburgh, teen Eli Olifson "baked 814 cookies, brownies and muffins" ahead of his bar mitzvah to welcome Afghan refugees to the community. (Adam Reinherz, Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle)
Redeemer Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Danville, Pennsylvania, is seeking help from the community to secure a home for an Afghan family awaiting resettlement. (Joe Sylvester, The Danville News)
West Virginia University Libraries recently hosted a discussion on justice for Afghan women and refugee resettlement to garner community support. Renee Corbett, an outreach worker for the Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services with Catholic Charities WV, pointed to her organization and the Sponsor Circle Program as ways to help. (Katelyn Aluise, The Daily Athenaeum)

‘SPARKLE’ — Inspired by her family’s history of migration and language teaching, 13-year-old Lujain Alqattawi decided to use her language skills to give back, reports Eloise Barry of TIME Magazine. So, from her home in Maryland, the Kid of the Year finalist connected with a group of 9- and 10-year-old Palestinian girls living in Jordan to help them learn English. Her tutoring sessions have since blossomed to a nonprofit called "Sparkle." Her main goal? To continue empowering girls to become "more confident." Working with these young girls has not only helped her get closer to her heritage, but has also "helped me grow," she said. "We started with me, myself, and I, then my family, my neighborhood, my community, the world, the universe."

Thanks for reading,

Ali