Without Congress passing the bipartisan America’s Children Act, undocumented Dreamers will continue to age out of the immigration system, Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy writes for Forbes.
Spearheaded by Reps. Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) in the House and Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) in the Senate, "[t]he America’s Children Act would create a process for individuals to apply for a green card if they were brought to the United States as the children of visa holders, maintained legal status for 10 years and graduated from college," Improve The Dream founder Dip Patel told Anderson. "It would also establish age-out protections
that lock in a child’s age on the date they file for a green card petition — rather than the date the green card becomes available, which could be decades after the original application."
Small but impactful administrative changes like policy manual changes and new regulations could also help prevent Dreamers from aging out of the system, even if temporarily, Patel notes.
Bottom line: "If Congress and the president do not solve the aging out problem, top talent from around the world will overlook the opportunities that America promises, knowing full well it may be a poor choice for those with families. … If these policies are not changed, America is not only failing us, but it is failing itself by depriving it of the contributions of children it helped raise and educate. America has invested in our talents and success, and the country should reap the benefits."
For the current state of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as it winds through the courts, check out our policy explainer.
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Joanna Taylor, Senior Communications Manager at the Forum, filling in for Ali today. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
TALENT COMPETITION — Twelve members of the Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI), along with a network of 37 former national security leaders, sent a letter to Congress today asking lawmakers to ease immigration restrictions for foreign science talent "in a bid to maintain U.S. science and tech leadership," report Alison Snyder and Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of Axios. The America COMPETES Act, which passed the House in February, includes a provision that would exempt certain STEM professionals from green card caps. "American leadership in technology, a cornerstone of competitiveness, rests in large part on our ability to leverage domestic and international talent," the letter states. "China is the most significant technological and geopolitical competitor our country has faced in recent times. With the world’s best STEM talent on its side, it will be very hard for America to lose. Without it, it will be very hard for America to win."
ASYLUM — For Christianity
Today, World Relief’s Matthew Soerens encourages Christians to look at migrants seeking asylum as brothers and sisters. "Christians who believe in the dignity of each life as made in the image of God should want our government to err on the side of care before casually returning anyone to a situation where they could be persecuted or killed. … Whether they ultimately can document a credible fear of persecution and qualify for asylum or not, individuals who come to the U.S. border looking for officers of the U.S. government – not bearing weapons
but with supplicant, pleading open hands – are not invaders: they are human beings, seeking help and mercy." And for Border Report, Salvador Rivera reports
that since the end of April, CBP has granted an estimated vulnerable 350 asylum seekers entry to the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
SPONSORSHIP CHALLENGES — Marianna Brucker of suburban Atlanta is one of the people making up "an informal network of Americans who are making it possible to resettle Ukrainian refugees," report Michelle Hackman and Alicia A. Caldwell of The Wall Street Journal. Brucker became
familiar with the plight of Ukrainians through her children’s nanny, a recent immigrant from Ukraine, and she wanted to help. She has since started a donation drive and offered up her own home to refugees. But without official government support, "[i]t’s basically the blind leading the blind over here. You’re on blogs, you’re on YouTube," said Brucker. "There’s no protocol that’s well-known for everyone on what steps to take or where to go or who to ask, which is really awful of us." Many sponsor circles working with Afghan refugees have similar sentiments. For more on how private sponsorship works, see our new policy explainer.
Meanwhile, in local welcome:
- In partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Eastbrook Church is financially supporting eight Afghan women in UWM’s Intensive English Program. "It’s a
great example of a public university working with private, even religious organizations in the community for a common goal — to support people who need it," said English Language Academy director Brooke Haley. "I think it’s kind of a beautiful model." (Emily Files, WUWM)
- The Muslim Women’s Resource Center in Rogers Park, Chicago, has been supporting an estimated 300 Afghans and other refugee communities with housing, translation, mental health services, and more. (NBC Chicago)
LEBANESE DIASPORA — For Arab News, Eduardo Campos Lima examines an online Lebanese archive of nearly 200,000 pages chronicling Arab migration to Latin America. The project is led by Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) a private Catholic university in Lebanon, and Brazilian-born Roberto Khatlab, director of USEK’s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center. Institutions across Latin America with Arab community ties are supporting the efforts, helping to document and digitize the cultural impact of the diaspora and connect its members to their heritage.
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