The move extends humanitarian protection for an estimated 343,000 previously covered Venezuelans in the U.S., allowing them to temporarily stay, live and work here. 

"This extension not only protects Venezuelans here from being thrown into legal limbo within the United States, but also by protecting them from being transferred back to Venezuela, it allows them to safeguard their lives and physical integrity," said José Antonio Colina, the head of Miami-based Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile. 

However, the administration did not "redesignate" Venezuela for TPS, meaning that relief applies only to Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. before March 8, 2021.  

"There are a lot of people in our community that are currently not able to live up to their full potential; they are living with anxiety and without any sort of security," said Tomás Kennedy, a spokesperson for Florida Immigrant Coalition. "Good on the extension, but disappointing on the re-designation." 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily and thank you to the alert reader who let us know about a misspelling we picked up from a source publication last week. Jina Krause-Vilmar is the CEO of Upwardly Global. 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]. 

TIN AND MO — For The New York Times, Sam Dolnick chronicles the journey and friendship of Tin Chin and Mo Lin, who became inseparable at a homeless shelter in New York. After Lin, an undocumented immigrant from China, was jumped and beaten badly at the shelter, a light bulb went on for Chin: Maybe Lin could qualify for a U visa, available to immigrant crime victims who help authorities. Four years later, the visa finally came through. "God or Buddha above sent me to help Mo," Chin said. "He’s undocumented, and I was an ex-immigration officer. It’s not really a coincidence that I met him." With photos by An Rong Xu, the story shows how, in Dolnick’s words, "friendship can be the defining bond in a person’s life, offering a kinship that family cannot, a refuge through lonely, hungry days."  

GROWING ALLIANCE — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, FWD.us and the National Roofing Contractors Association are among several groups that have recently joined the Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus (ANIC), a diverse coalition of businesses, faith, law enforcement, education, and national security leaders working to advance meaningful immigration reforms, Jeff Brumley reports for Baptist News Global. "Our communities desperately need common-sense immigration solutions for Dreamers, TPS recipients and farm workers, especially when many of them are deemed essential workers," said Stephen Reeves, director of advocacy for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. "The uncertainty of their immigration status poses a severe risk to the spiritual, emotional, educational and economic stability of our communities."  

TURNING TO REFUGEES — An increasing number of Iowa businesses are recruiting resettled refugees and other immigrants to help fill positions amid the labor shortage, reports Lauren Johnson of KCCI. Fifteen years ago, Lily Okech left Sudan to found her own small business in Des Moines, Cleaning for Hope. "I decided to start a cleaning company not only for me but to support our community," Okech said. Added her mentor and business partner Caryn Kelly of Shine Housekeeping, "I really think that people just need a place where they can heal first of all, learn and grow and eventually be independent. And be truly a part of the fabric of our society." Now both Okech and Kelly are partnering with the Refugee Alliance of Central Iowa to help refugees build their careers.  

‘INTUMBERO’ — A former refugee herself, Drocella Mugorewera has started a business to help "Black women, refugees and immigrants better improve their economic conditions and cultural situations," per Georgiana Vines in The Knoxville News Sentinel. Her new program will involve interactive training and workshops. "Information is power," said Mugorewera, who is originally from Rwanda. "I want to help people align together their beliefs, mindset, and perspective with action for ‘Intumbero,’" a Rwandan word meaning "vision for a brighter future." 

More today on local welcome and support: 

• Resettled Afghan Farzad Sharafi and his wife are settling into their new home in Rochester, New York, with help from local faith nonprofits Catholic Charities Family and Community Services and Saint’s Place in Pittsford. "Saint’s Place support me with warm boots, warm shoes, and everything is good," said Sharafi, whose work building community through skateboard was recently covered in Rochester’s CITY News. (Randy Gorbman, WXXI) 
• Mohamed Malim, a former refugee from Kenya, "advocates and empowers other refugees" through fashion, with his clothing line, Epimonia. Half of the profits go to refugee organizations across the country. (Noor Adwan, Sahan Journal) 

CAREER LADDER — Don't miss the interactive graphics in this one. Opinion writer Peter Coy at The New York Times has more on the new book "Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success," by economists Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. The authors found that children of immigrants in the U.S. are "exceptionally good" at working their way up the economic ladder, in part because they are willing to relocate to places with more job opportunities. "America really does have golden streets that allow immigrants to quickly make more than they could have earned at home," Abramitzky and Boustan write.  

Thanks for reading, 

Dan