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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. 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 your friends about this newsletter. They can subscribe here. ‘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:
Thanks for reading, Ali |
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