Meanwhile, $10 billion in Covid relief funding remains delayed because the GOP "won’t allow it without a prior vote on blocking a repeal of the Title 42 immigration ban," Alayna Treene notes for Axios. It’s an approach supported by a growing number of Democrats, per Politico’s Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett. 

In spite of a flurry of energy from Democrats and Republicans, the funding package did not include an Afghan Adjustment Act.  

"No AAA is a massive, missed opportunity for Congress to get something positive and bipartisan done, but glad that refugee benefits for Ukrainian parolees WAS included," the Forum’s Danilo Zak wrote on Twitter. "Also in the bill: $900 mil for Refugee and Entrant Assistance; $350 mil for Migration and Refugee Assistance." 

Welcome to Wednesday’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. 

RESETTLEMENT WOES — Per a Monday DHS announcement, an estimated 6,000 Ukrainians of the 19,000 who applied for the "Uniting for Ukraine" program have officially been welcomed into the U.S., reports Quinn Owen of ABC News. Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are still adjusting to life in the U.S. while concerned for the families they had to leave in Afghanistan, report Ben Fox, Jacquelyn Martin, and Julie Watson for the Associated Press. "My wife is alone there," said Hasibullah Hasrat, his voice breaking. "My son cries, asks where I am, when am I coming. And I don’t know what to say." Added Gulsom Esmaelzade, another Afghan refugee: "We don’t have anything back at home in Afghanistan and here we also don’t have any future." Passing an Afghan Adjustment Act would secure their futures.  

On the local front: 

• With the help of their son, daughter-in-law, and parish, longtime Catholic Charities volunteers Ellen and Peter helped buy 20 new washers and dryers for Afghan families in need in Northeast Wisconsin. (Michele McCormack, WFRV) 
• Syracuse City School District teacher Zac Lois, who helped organize an event to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with Afghan refugees, called it "an excellent opportunity for local resettlement agencies and veterans’ organizations to welcome Afghans to Syracuse who served as interpreters for U.S. forces and Afghans who supported the U.S. over the past 20 years." (JeanneTyler Moodee Lockman, CNY Central) 

DRAGNET — According to a two-year investigative report by Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has built a surveillance database that accesses the personal details of nearly every person in America. In their effort to target undocumented immigrants, Ed Pilkington of The Guardian reports that ICE bypassed ‘sanctuary’ laws in cities and states, operating in secret and with minimal public or Congressional oversight. The agency now has access to DMV data for three of every four adults living in the U.S., utility data, and more — which it leverages for deportations. "I was alarmed to discover just how easily federal immigration agents can pull detailed records from the most intimate corners of all our lives," said Nina Wang, a policy associate at the Center on Privacy & Technology and co-author of the report. "In its attempts to target an ever-growing number of people for detention and deportation, [ICE] has reached into the private homes and lives of almost every person in America." I’m sure Tucker Carlson will cover this story very closely. 

A FAMILY’S QUEST — The San Francisco Chronicle’s Deepa Fernandes tells the story of Jean-Simon Colas and his 7-year-old son’s quest to seek asylum and reunite with their family in California — for the second time in less than a year. (Colas and his son Jeffly were two of over 10,000 Haitian nationals expelled last year under Title 42.) In their second attempt, the pair made it to the Mexican border town of Reynosa, which attorney Jennifer Harbury described as a "humanitarian horror show" because of the dangers migrants face there. After joining thousands of other migrants waiting at the U.S.-Mexico border and spending their first night on the streets, Colas and his son were able to cross into Texas and finally make it to California. "I am so so happy," Colas told The Chronicle. While Jeffly was excited to see his mother and sisters, "he is not 100%," Colas said. "He has been suffering." 

MENTAL HEALTH — A new study found that the Hispanic population continues to have access to a limited number of Spanish-language mental health services, despite having grown nearly 5% between 2014 and 2019, reports Cara Murez of HealthDay News. According to the study, "the availability of Spanish-language services declined in 44 states, including those with the fastest Hispanic population growth: Oklahoma, North Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky and Maine." Said study co-author Martha Rojo, a clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: "Depression, anxiety or mental health overall, they’re difficult topics. It’s important to have a provider that not only can speak your language but understand the culture in order to really improve health outcomes." 

COMPETITION BILL — This week, both the House and the Senate are expected to convene for the first conference committee this Congress to try and find "compromise between their two versions of a sweeping competitiveness bill," report Haley Byrd Wilt and Harvest Prude of The Dispatch. As they note, the House bill’s immigration policies on global talent for immigrants in STEM fields are at stake. On Monday, twelve members of the Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) and a network of 37 former national security leaders sent a letter to Congress urging them to "keep the House’s immigration provisions, arguing the policies will help America compete with China in science and technology."  

Thanks for reading, 

Ali