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The debate over border management and security will get only louder in the days to come. But as we said Thursday, we see this moment as an opportunity to talk about solutions at the border and elsewhere on immigration.

The news since Friday only highlights the urgency: In the Dallas Morning News, Dianne Solis highlights concerns in border communities. For CBS News, Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas anticipates "significant challenges" along the border, even as he highlighted preparations like new processing facilities, additional medical staff and other personnel, and "expanded migrant transportation capabilities." And in Bloomberg, Greg Stohr and Jordan Fabian dive into the politics of it all.

But to take advantage of this opportunity, Republican lawmakers will have to break with their party’s political strategy of drawing any and all attention to the border. In The Washington Post opinion section, James Downie notes that Kevin McCarthy is traveling to the border today in "a transparent attempt to distract from newly released tapes recorded just after the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which McCarthy is heard telling other Republicans that he would advise then-President Donald Trump to resign." This is all part of a larger goal, "[b]ecause while immigration might not sway the electorate as a whole, it fires up the GOP base that McCarthy wants to keep on his side."

Elsewhere in the department of political distractions, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s truck inspections cost the state’s taxpayers $4.2 billion and resulted in exactly zero migrant detentions or drug seizures, Ariana Garcia reports in the Houston Chronicle.

Finally, on Christianity Today’s Better Samaritan podcast, I talked about border security and the responsibility we have to welcome those fleeing persecution and war.

Welcome to Monday’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.

STATE OF PLAY — Jordain Carney of The Hill examines the challenges that are complicating senators’ efforts to start a bipartisan conversation on immigration and border issues. Among the possible areas of agreement: bills that would prevent the deportation of military veterans and solutions for Dreamers and agricultural workers. "[A]dvocates float that a deal, at minimum, could pair a DACA fix, agricultural workers and temporary protected status (TPS) holders with some border security," Carney notes. (Sounds familiar.) "But there are plenty of sticking points—namely election year jockeying and increasingly entrenched divisions on immigration."

UKRAINIAN REFUGEES — With increasing numbers of Ukrainian refugees come increasing questions about Europe’s capacity to support them, per Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill. "Having just crossed the grim milestone of 5 million refugees from Ukraine it’s concerning that there’s no end in sight," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Said Rachel Levitan, vice president for international policy and relations with HIAS: "There may be a need for Europe to institute some system that would facilitate relocation of these very densely populated areas inside Poland if they ask for that support. But we’re not there yet."

TRUST — Eli Hoff of the Columbia Missourian has the gripping story of an Afghan family’s escape thanks to their trust in two endlessly persistent strangers in Jefferson City, Missouri, including a former Army counterinsurgency specialist. Just give it a read.

On the local welcome front:

• In partnership with Springfield Church of Christ, Northern Virginia Resettling Afghan Families Together (NoVa RAFT) was able to help set up "nearly 200 Afghan refugee homes with furniture, beds, kitchenware, linens and other household items," Bobby Ross Jr. writes in his personal take for The Christian Chronicle.
• Eastern Michigan University’s "welcome and embrace" of 12 resettled Afghan families "will foster their growth and provide them a chance to make a new life," reads a legislative tribute signed by the state’s governor and lieutenant governor. (Samuel Dodge, MLive.com)
• A $50,000 grant will help the International Institute of New England support more than 500 evacuees in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as future Ukrainian refugees. (Trea Lavery, Lowell Sun)

SERVING REFUGEES — Last week, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention hosted a webinar on the faith response to understanding and serving refugees better, reports Michael Smith of The Baptist Paper. "What can give us an accurate perception of those coming to the U.S. is to see past the headlines and start serving, start getting close to people who are starting new lives … and showing up in really uncomfortable places because that is what God calls us to do," said Women of Welcome’s Bri Stensrud. In doing the hard work to serve refugees, we must never forget to ask, "Who is my neighbor?" said Matthew Soerens of World Relief.

NEEDS — On what seems like a daily basis, The Forum Daily notes a new story about how we need to increase immigration in order to address demographic declines in the United States. In today’s installment, Howard Gleckman highlights in Forbes that 400,000 direct care workers left their jobs during the pandemic, and almost none are returning. Realizing that adult children are reducing their own working hours or paying more to care for their parents, Gleckman concludes that "[w]ithout an influx of foreign-born workers, there simply will not be enough people to care for our parents. And we all will suffer."

Thanks for reading,