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The only real
solutions for challenges at our border, and for immigration reforms Americans need, are solutions from Congress. 

So it’s good to hear that Sens. Thom Tillis (R- North Carolina) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) want to gather a bipartisan group of senators to restart the conversation on immigration reform after their two-week recess from Congress, as Jordain Carney reports in The Hill.  

"Yes … we want to sit at a table and ask members who have immigration, bipartisan immigration bills, to come and propose those bills to us and see if we can build a 60-vote plus margin for a group of bills. It may not be possible, but I think it is," said Durbin. Added Tillis: "The only way that we’re going to get real progress is [to] have a four-pillar discussion — so immigration reform, DACA, border security and then I think asylum reform is pretty important particularly with that’s going on with Title 42." 

More on the border aspects below. 

In the meantime, Irina Ivanova of CBS News reports on something we’ve been pointing out for a while: A key aspect of current labor shortages is the huge declines in immigration in recent years, starting under the Trump administration and speeding up with the pandemic.  

The gap — 2 million people, by one measure — is especially tough on the health care, food services, and leisure and hospitality industries, Ivanova reports. In health care, "one in five nurses, one in four health aides, and nearly one in two housekeepers and gardeners is an immigrant," according to recent research. Other demographic trends aren’t helping. 

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DIVIDED — After months of contentious internal debate (the New York Times’ Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Michael D. Shear and Eileen Sullivan have the goods on the back and forth), the Biden administration is preparing to lift Title 42. For ABC15, Luzdelia Caballero reports on conversations between local officials on both sides of the border. One of their common concerns? The smugglers who are driving so much of the traffic. Leo Lama, with Homeland Security Investigations in Tucson, told Caballero, "They don’t discriminate on nationality. They don’t care about what you’ve done or where you come from. They just care about whether you can pay them." Also worth a read: Arizona Republic columnist Robert Robb on why, while the border needs solutions, Title 42 isn’t the answer.  

THE KEYS — Recall that back in September over 10,000 Haitian migrants arrived in Del Rio, Texas, hoping for protection in the United States. Even though many of them had left a decade ago, between political turmoil and natural disaster, they knew their home was descending into chaos. Under Title 42, the Biden administration promptly expelled the majority of them. As living conditions and political instability in Haiti have gotten worse, smugglers have begun to sell migrants on trying to make it to the Florida Keys by sea, Tim Craig reports in The Washington Post. More than 800 have arrived in 2022 so far, and Coast Guard intercepts are on pace to be 15 times higher this fiscal year than two years ago. Agencies on the keys are strained by the increase, while many residents are "try[ing] to be compassionate and helpful when a migrant vessel shows up." 

SOCCER — Let’s be honest, given Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) desire to keep unaccompanied immigrant youth out of the state, Florida is not exactly carving out a reputation for being the most welcoming place. In Delray Beach, Sergeant Danny Pacheco created the Delray Kicks to help local police build bonds with the area’s many immigrants, often wary of law enforcement. NBC News reports that Pacheco and his fellow police officer coaches wanted to make sure kids knew they had a safe and
welcoming place to play while also extending that care off the field, helping with homework, English lessons, or even purchasing groceries. Reminds me of my friend, Luma Mufleh. As a refugee herself, she decided to launch a school for refugees, wrapped around the idea of playing soccer. Read about Luma’s remarkable work in her new book, Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children.  

‘GO TO DAYTON’ — Selin Hussainzada had to leave family members behind in order to escape a fallen Kabul last summer. Now she is among 136 Afghan evacuees who are starting new lives in Dayton, Ohio, the Dayton Daily News reports. "Go to Dayton," a colleague from Kabul told her during her temporary stay at a military base in New Jersey — and members of the community, including many faith groups, have helped Hussainzada and others land on their feet. "With everything going on in the world, it feels good to
help someone else," says Amy Forsthoefel, who has helped Hussainzada. "Everybody stepped up." Now Hussainzada is working for a translation service and considering law school, though she worries about her family still in Afghanistan.   

Elsewhere locally: 

All 91 Afghan evacuees resettled in Charleston, South Carolina, now have housing, and many have jobs. "It’s wonderful to see how welcoming Charleston has been," says Julia Poppell, Charleston area manager for Lutheran Services Carolinas. (Adam Parker, The Post and Courier) 

During Mission Month, students and faculty at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, are helping an Afghan family of seven get settled. (Pete McHugh, Manhattan College) 

ARRIVING UKRAINIANS — The U.S. has begun to admit more Ukrainian refugees under humanitarian parole at the southern border in Tijuana, Mexico, reports Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press. According to city officials, on Thursday, a government shelter in Tijuana grew to around 1,000 refugees. Many
Ukrainian refugees are likely to land in Philadelphia because of its exiting Ukrainian American community, as Jeff Gammage reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer. And for another perspective on welcoming refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere, read World Vision President Edgar Sandoval Sr.’s Fox News essay.

Thanks for reading,

Ali