At stake: "Trying to figure out how to get a handle on the congressional revolt, watching to see what legislative actions related to Title 42 emerge and trying to figure out how to be best prepared for what might happen at the border next month." 

Over at The New York Times opinion section, Spencer Bokat-Lindell centers on these broader questions the administration must answer (and soon): "How much of the Biden administration’s stumbling on this issue owes to factors outside of its control, and how much of it owes to internal division and mismanagement? As the midterm election season looms, what more could and should the White House be doing to improve the situation at the southern border?" 

For more on the legacy of Title 42, check out this episode of WBUR’s On Point featuring voices including Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council. I also shared my perspective on Title 42 with The Dispatch’s Sarah Isgur and spoke with WGBH’s Boston Public Radio about the impact of Title 42 on asylum-seekers, including the pushback from Texas and Florida governors. 

For your calendar today: The Global Immersion Project is hosting a webinar, "How Can We Support Ukrainians at our Border without Ignoring Everyone Else?" at 8 p.m. ET. Register here. 

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. And if you know others who’d like to receive this newsletter, please spread the word. They can subscribe here. 

HIGH-LEVEL SUMMIT — Top U.S. officials attended a summit in Panama on migration in the Americas, per Al Jazeera, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for more regional cooperation. "Here in Panama we talked about some of the most urgent aspects of this issue including … dealing with the root causes of irregular migration by growing economic opportunity, fighting corruption, increasing citizen security, combating the climate crisis, [and] improving democratic governance that is responsive to people’s needs," Blinken said.  

YOUTUBE VOTERS — A new report from Define American finds that YouTube is now a "critical space for shaping opinion on immigration — and even influencing voting patterns," reports Sabrina Rodríguez for Politico. The report surveyed over 3,200 likely voters in key swing states like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and offers recommendations to combat Great Replacement Theory rhetoric, which makes up much of YouTube’s "most successful anti-immigration videos." According to the findings, almost 20% of likely voters said they changed their views on immigration due to content they consumed on YouTube. And 21% "went so far as to change their vote for a political representative based on their reaction to immigration-related content they saw on YouTube." 

ICE'S ERROR — A government watchdog report published last week reveals that ICE paid almost $17 million last year for unused beds meant to house migrant families in Arizona and Texas hotel rooms, Rafael Carranza reports in The Arizona Republic. The March 2021 contract between San Antonio-based Endeavors and ICE came at a time when the government "had been struggling to cope with an increase in minors and families in its custody." But according to DHS’s Office of the Inspector General, from March to June of last year, at least half of those hotel rooms were empty. Meanwhile, "ICE records showed that Endeavors had no experience providing the services covered by the sole source contract," per the report. 

POINT OF NO RETURN — For WUSA, Tom Dempsey chronicles the harrowing escape from Afghanistan to Landover, Maryland, for Mohammad Sharif Haidary, his then-pregnant wife, and their three-year-old daughter. "We’re just trying to settle here," said Haidary, a former supervisor for the U.S. embassy in Kabul. "I can’t even think about going back." The University of Maryland and veteran-founded nonprofit React DC are helping Afghan refugees like Haidary’s family find temporary affordable housing. Afghan refugees also need moral and mental health support, writes Jonas Bull, Assistant Researcher for the Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. Prioritizing mental health support "marks an important commitment to long-term integration efforts and establishing a culture of inclusion." 

On local welcome: 

• More than 500 Afghans have resettled in Nashville, Tennessee, so far thanks to support from "mosques, teachers, electrical engineers, activists, grocers and more." (WPLN) 
• With support from Cornell University and Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR), Diana Ayubi and eight other Afghan refugee students from Bangladesh’s Asian University for Women were able to continue their education in the U.S. (Maia Noah, Ithaca Week) 

IMMIGRANT NURSES — Immigration would help counter the U.S. labor shortage, particularly in the home health care and nursing industry, writes Amy Stulick for Skilled Nursing News. But "there isn’t a lot of political will behind increasing opportunities for migrants and a lot of these lower skilled health care sectors, even though there’s this incredible demand," said Kristie De Peña of the Niskanen Center. One of the Forum’s policy experts, Dan Kosten, also dives deep into the role of immigrants for the future of the home health care sector. More broadly, JPMorgan’s chief global strategist David Kelly told Madison Hoff of Insider that speeding up immigration would "could fix this huge excess demand for labor problem pretty quickly." And while immigration remains problematically low, the immigrant share of the population is growing in many U.S. counties, as Hoff points out in another piece for Insider. Among the counties with the greatest percentage increases, four of the top five are rural. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali