Recent research from economist Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development homes in on the effects of the Trump administration’s restrictive policies, arriving at a price tag of $9.1 billion a year for the U.S. economy from restricted refugee admissions alone. 

Between fiscal years 2016 and 2020, refugee admissions declined 86%, Clemens notes. And a 68% drop in affirmative asylum applications occurred between March 2017 and September 2019. 

Not only did our reputation as a place of welcome and a beacon of freedom for displaced people throughout the world falter, cutting refugees and asylum seekers harmed the U.S. economy.  

"Beyond claiming a need for protection, refugees and asylum seekers are economic actors," writes Clemens. "All are consumers, most are (or become) workers, and many are (or become) investors. All incur fiscal costs by using public services directly or indirectly, and all generate fiscal revenue either directly or indirectly." 

Anderson also notes that national-security concerns around refugees are unfounded, as former DHS official Elizabeth Neumann wrote in a National Foundation for American Policy report [and has written elsewhere].  

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

WAITING — More evidence that Title 42, and uncertainty around it, are not the real border solutions we need: An estimated 50,000 migrants are currently waiting in Mexican shelters for an opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S., reports Stef W. Kight of Axios. One DHS official was critical of the focus on Title 42, noting that migration levels are high already with Title 42 in place, Kight notes. Internal government data show that 8,000 people are trying to cross the southern border daily. A reminder that we’ve suggested 42 Border Solutions That Are Not Title 42.  

‘UNREASONABLE DELAYS’ — Ali Mohammed, a Kurdish refugee, applied for U.S. citizenship as soon as he was eligible in April 2020. He’s still waiting. On Wednesday, Mohammed and 12 other applicants sued the federal government, citing "unreasonable delays in the processing of their applications," The Wall Street Journal’s Michelle Hackman reports. The delays stem from the National Archives and Records Administration having fielded only emergency requests for stored paperwork during COVID, as Hackman reported earlier. Since that report, the Archives fully reopened its facilities and is now responding to all incoming requests, she notes. But Mohammad and the other plaintiffs have not heard when their citizenship applications will move forward.  

MILITARY RECRUITMENT— Immigration can be a solution to U.S. military personnel and recruitment challenges that detract from our national security, retired Lt. Col. Margaret D. Stock, a member of the Council on National Security and Immigration, writes in an op-ed for The Washington Post. While thousands of immigrants would qualify, obtaining green cards required for enlistment is a "herculean task" due to the backlogs, Stock notes. Broader solutions would help, too: "Our lawmakers could boldly address the need for reforms across the U.S. immigration system, from the asylum process to refugee vetting to legalizing agricultural workers and [D]reamers, to make it easier for immigrants to get green cards." Meanwhile, Bloomberg columnist Allison Schrager underscores how educated migrant workers could help combat labor shortages elsewhere. 

AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT — The State Department has asked to be released from a court-ordered plan requiring faster visa processing for Afghan allies, per The Hill. The department cites last year’s change in power in Afghanistan, as well as COVID, but some advocates are skeptical. Meanwhile, for WBUR, Julie Wittes Schlack gives her personal take as a volunteer welcoming Afghan refugees and her experience trying to explain America to them. Among the enigmas are how health care, credit, and higher education in the U.S. work, just to name a few. "Despite the fact that all three of these young men are taking English classes and making remarkable progress, fluency in our language will not help them understand much of what they need to master," she writes.

On the local front: 

• With support from Ethik Collective, Afghan refugee Hanifa Javadi opened her own sewing and handicraft business in Salt Lake City, Free Women, which has "brought in $130,000 and employed close to 30 women refugees" from 2020 to 2021. (Tasia Jensen, Grow) 
• Jonathan Bressler, a medical student in Wausau, Wisconsin, and volunteer for Ethiopian Community Development Council Inc., is helping Afghan refugee Mohammad and his family "negotiate medical appointments and deal with health issues" — and learning from them, too. (Keith Uhlig, Wausau Daily Herald)  

Thanks for reading, 

Dan