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

It is a weird thing leaving
a job you love. 

After 18 years in the immigration movement, 14 of them leading the
Forum, I find myself going back to moments that inspired me.  

From a church basement in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to immigrants and
refugees advocating for their communities, to the courage of Trump
voters to change their minds on immigration, it has been an incredible
honor to be a small part of the work.  

In thinking about what I have experienced, I see two consistent
elements.  

First, people changed. Immigrants thought about their roles differently.
Native-born Americans thought about immigrants differently. Each thought
about their community, their friends and families, their nation,
themselves, differently. And they became leaders.  

More importantly, they were invited to change.  

Whether a Dreamer or a farmworker deciding to speak for herself, or a
conservative woman realizing her voice needed to be heard, they were not
hectored into changing. People were given opportunities to see they were
not alone, to have their questions and concerns answered. They were
invited.  

Which brings me to the reason why I loved my time at the National
Immigration Forum.  

From Board to staff, we worked hard. We had fun. We navigated the peaks
with the valleys. But there was always an organizational curiosity to
our work. We always wanted to know what we didn't know. Every day was
a winsome opportunity to change, both ourselves and the people or
organizations around us. Which made every day the best day to be at
work.  

So, as I close out my time at the Forum, thank you for the friendship
and support, and thank you for the invitation to change. 

(You can read my full thank you note here
.) 

Welcome to Friday's edition of The Forum Daily. If you have a
story to share from your own community, please send it to my
fabulous colleagues at [email protected]
. The team behind The Forum Daily is
brilliant, hard-working, and hilarious. Support their work by telling
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**'SHADOW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'** - Opponents to immigration have
successfully stymied many of the Biden administration's attempts to
improve our nation's immigration system. Today, 500 miles from the
border, U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays is set to hear oral
arguments in Lafayette, Louisiana, on whether the Biden administration
can lift Title 42. For NPR's National Desk
,
Joel Rose dives deep into the legal strategy. Justice Action Network
founder Karen Tumlin told Rose that the 16 other lawsuits brought on by
GOP-led states are using the courts to "keep a shadow Trump
administration in office on immigration issues." 

MIGRANT BABIES DESERVE TO LIVE - Following Texas' lead, Arizona Gov.
Doug Ducey's (R) office announced Wednesday that 20 migrants were
voluntarily bussed from Yuma, Arizona, to Washington, D.C., earlier this
week, reports Stacey Barchenger of The Arizona Republic
.
The response comes in anticipation of the Title 42 lift, with Arizona
officials saying that the Biden administration needs to act on the
border and further support border communities. For more on the
controversial initiative, see Mark Phillips' piece for ABC 15 Arizona
.
Over in Texas, in an innovative pro-life argument, Gov. Greg Abbott (R)
criticized the Biden administration Thursday "for providing baby formula
to migrant families during national shortage," Dan Carson reports for
Chron
.
The Washington Post's

Glen Kessler dismantles the argument, pointing out that the
administration is following the law. Gov. Abbott, migrant babies deserve
to live too.  

RECORDS OF ABUSE - For the Los Angeles Times
,
Andrea Castillo and Jie Jenny Zou investigate how ICE quickly released
sick immigrant detainees, completely avoiding responsibility for their
deaths. 25-year-old nurse technician Johana Medina Leon, who fled El
Salvador for the violence she faced as a transgender woman, was one of
them. "The circumstances surrounding Medina Leon's release and death
were discovered among more than 16,000 pages of documents disclosed as
part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by The Times against the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security seeking records of abuse at immigration
detention centers," Castillo and Zou note. "The documents provide a rare
look into one of several known instances in which detainees were
discharged on the edge of death, underscoring long-standing complaints
from advocates about uncounted deaths of people who have been in ICE
custody." 

COMBATTING MISINFORMATION - Josh Kelety of the Associated Press

does an excellent job talking with experts to debunk myths from a viral
video making false claims about immigrants in the U.S. The falsehoods
revolve around the data for immigrants seeking asylum, crime rates,
migrants' use of welfare benefits, and more. For example, "green card
holders, lawful permanent residents, are not eligible for food stamps
[or] Medicaid for five years after they get their green card," per
Denise Gilman, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of
Texas at Austin School of Law. For more on how you and others can help
combat misinformation about immigrants and immigration, see our helpful
infographic
. 

'THEY WELCOMED ME'- For Christianity Today
,
Suzanna Edwards, a new Refugee Resettlement Specialist at World Relief
in Greenville, South Carolina, writes a beautiful reflection about what
refugees have taught her. Referring to Afghan refugees, Edwards writes:
"Though it was my job to welcome them, they welcomed me, inviting me to
drink tea, to share in their meals, to have my hands canvassed in henna,
and to hold their newborn babies." Edwards has had the opportunity to
work with Guatemalan mothers, Congolese families, Ukrainians and more
- always putting her faith and love for neighbors first. After joining
a local pastoral conference and visiting migrants in Tijuana, Mexico,
Beth Lloyd and Will McCorkle, local college professors based in
Sommerville, South Carolina, also express the need for Americans to be
more welcoming in an op-ed for the Charleston City Paper
. 

On the local front: 

* With support from the city of San Antonio and a $150,000 grant from
Open Society Foundations, Texas non-profit Culturingua will help Afghan
refugees resettle and integrate into the community via workforce
development and entrepreneurship training programs. (Edmond Ortiz,
Community Impact
) 

* In partnership with Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) and
an all-volunteer Branford Refugee Resettlement (BRR)/Helping Families
Settle group, Afghan refugees Laila and Mosa Sadat have been able to
resettle and begin a new family in Branford, Connecticut. (Pam Johnson,
Zip06
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali 

 

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