The Forum Daily, formerly Noorani's Notes
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THE FORUM DAILY

 

Deadline extended! We've been getting such great feedback on our Forum
Daily survey that we're extending
it through Friday (April 29). Thank you!
A promising sign of progress to end your week.  

In the first of what Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) called a
"series of ongoing meetings," a bipartisan group of senators on Thursday
"discussed several topics, such as changes for migrant farmworkers
critical to the U.S. economy and changes for foreign workers stuck in a
yearslong green card backlog, as well as for their children who grew up
on legal visas but 'aged out' before their parents' green cards
became available," per Roll Call
's
Suzanne Monyak. 

In addition to Tillis, the meeting included Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas),
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Alex Padilla (D-California). The consensus
among the attendees seems to be that the meeting was a promising start
to more constructive talks about immigration solutions.  

Padilla said the group made a "commitment to just resume these
conversations in earnest," and Cornyn called it a "very candid and
useful discussion." 

Anthony Hill with WFTS

in Tampa breaks down how badly our antiquated immigration system is
treating young people who have been here most of their lives and why the
reforms senators are discussing are so important.  

And, a little wrap-up reporting by Crux's

John Lavenburg after 400 Hispanic Catholics gathered earlier this week.
He writes, "Representatives Daniel Newhouse (R-WA), and Salud Carbajal
(D-CA) told [Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario] Dorsonville, and many
Hispanic Catholic leaders at a midday press conference, that they "found
common ground" on immigration legislation for farmers and dreamers." 

From Northwest Iowa, welcome to Friday'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.  

**TITLE 42** - There's been plenty of pushback from both sides of
the aisle (Team Politico breaks down the Democrats' anxiety here
)
on the Biden administration's plans to end the pandemic-era Title 42
policy of immediately expelling migrants at the U.S. border. But, as the
Forum's Danilo Zak points out to KJZZ
's
Mark Brodie, Title 42 has never been an effective way to manage the
border and is symptomatic of a larger lack of border strategy. "The
reality is that Title 42 is part of the problem here," Zak
concludes, "and lifting it, at the end of the day, is going to make our
border management more effective, more secure and more orderly."
(Speaking of ineffective border policies, Jasper Scherer at the Houston
Chronicle

reports that 15 migrants arrested under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R)
Operation Lone Star

are challenging the policy in federal court, arguing it "is racially
discriminatory and infringes on the federal government's immigration
authority.") 

**FARM LABOR** - In an op-ed for The Hill
,
AgAmerica's Curt Covington explains how immigration can ease ongoing
labor shortages at American farms. With immigrants making up 73% of the
2.4 million-strong hired farm workforce, reforms like those included in
the Farm Workforce Modernization Act

would allow Congress to meet the needs of farm communities, Covington
writes. "Farmers have enough challenges on their plate," he writes,
underscoring the costly, inefficient process of the current H-2A visa
program. "Legislation should aim to take some of that responsibility off
their shoulders, not add more to it." 

**WELCOME WAGON** - The resettlement of Afghan evacuees has shown us
the U.S. needs to do better when it comes to welcoming refugees, Utah
Gov. Spencer J. Cox (R) writes in an op-ed for Fortune
.
(Camilo Montoya-Galvez at CBS News

has more on the system's challenges.) Drawing on Utah's - and
America's - legacy as a refuge for those fleeing persecution or
violence, Cox lays out ways states can lead, from establishing Refugee
Services Offices to engaging local businesses to facilitating community
support. "If we can muster the right blend of governmental will and
American altruism, we'll ensure better outcomes for all newcomers,
those who are here now and those who will soon follow," Cox writes. "...
Let's build on the lessons we've learned and the new solutions
we've created to roll out the welcome wagon nationwide." 

In local welcome: 

* By providing temporary housing, raising funds and hosting new
arrivals, Seattle-area families are "not only helping refugees navigate
their new world, they are establishing lasting friendships across
cultures." (Hallie Golden and Cheryl Murfin, Seattle's Child
) 

* Local organizations in North Dakota including Global Neighbors in
Bismarck and the Evangelical Bible Church in Dickinson are helping
Afghan refugees resettle. The State Department has approved the
resettlement of an additional "69 Afghan evacuees in the Fargo area, 15
in the Bismarck area and 12 in the Dickinson area." (Jeremy Turley,
Inforum News Service
)   

**WEEKEND LONGREAD** - It often feels like as the world becomes more
interconnected, it's also becoming more hostile towards migrants. For
his New York Times

column, Thomas B. Edsall delves into this relationship, looking at the
psychology of these attitudes and the emotional response to fear of the
"other." Drawing from a wide range of academic research, Edsall
concludes, "The issue now is whether the political system can begin to
organize our fear of one another in a constructive fashion that resolves
rather than exacerbates conflicts." In sadly related news, the Times'

Jazmine Ulloa reports on a new midterm election talking point for some
GOP candidates: connecting undocumented immigrants with voter fraud.
(FWIW, the only potential voter fraud I've heard of recently is this
.)
 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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