Thursday, July 21
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THE FORUM DAILY

President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
understand the urgent solution needed to help with challenges both at
the U.S.-Mexico border and in the global economy: providing legal
pathways to would-be migrants, Eduardo Porter writes in an analysis for
Bloomberg
.  

The two leaders talked about the possibility of a new U.S.-Mexico worker
agreement when they met last week. In Biden's words, making legal
pathways available "is a proven strategy that fuels economic growth as
well as reduces irregular migration." And, Porter notes, Mexican
migration may be increasing, thanks to difficult conditions at home and
the thirst for labor in the U.S. 

"The arguments for a more liberal immigration policy are solid," he
writes. "A robust and still growing body of economic research has
repeatedly debunked

the claim that immigrants take Americans' jobs and cut their
wages."    

For a deeper dive, see the Forum's brand new paper on bilateral labor
agreements
.
Our bottom line: Such agreements help address U.S. labor shortages,
manage irregular migration and strengthen our leadership within the
hemisphere. 

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] .  

**HUMAN SMUGGLING** - Here's another argument for better legal
channels. With the United States' continued use of restrictionist
border policies such as Title 42
and
limited pathways to earn temporary work visas, researchers say "the
demand and cost for human smugglers increases," per Jasmine Aguilera
of  TIME Magazine
. These
factors, combined with difficult geography and conditions at home that
are driving migration, "sustain what some experts describe as
sophisticated human smuggling operations that increasingly involve
organized crime groups," Aguilera notes - with the recent deaths of 53
migrants in Texas standing out as a painful manifestation. "Migrants
know full well about the dangers, and yet they're still coming, still
willing to go into the desert, they're still willing to get in the
back of a semi-truck, which just means that the things that they are
running from are so much worse," said Jason De León, executive director
of the Colibrí Center for Human Rights and the Undocumented Migration
Project.  

**'MY PRAYER'** - In an op-ed for The Christian Post
,
Lawrence Yoo, lead pastor at Waypoint Church in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, urges Christians and U.S. senators to approach immigration
policy with compassion and respect for the rule of law, as the Bible
directs. Recent bipartisan legislation on gun safety proved that
senators can find consensus, Yoo writes, and they should turn next to
targeted immigration reforms: "improvements to border security, a path
to citizenship for Dreamers, and reforms to ensure a legal, reliable
agricultural workforce." He concludes, "My prayer is that our U.S.
senators will now similarly start solving the long-standing challenges
of immigration policy in ways consistent with the biblical values that
guide my life and the lives of many Americans." 

**HEALTH GAPS** - Migrants, health care workers and others in
Tapachula, Mexico, are feeling the effects of Mexican and U.S. policies
that keep migrants stuck in the city for months, reports Laura Bargfeld
of Cronkite Borderlands Project
.
Some migrants who need care are turned away despite a law that permits
all people in Mexico to have access to basic health care, whether they
are citizens or not. (The individual stories are compelling.) And while
nonprofits, including shelters, and local health officials are stepping
in and stepping up, organizations are often underresourced. "Nothing
here is enough," said Laura Benitez, the project manager for Global
Response Management's site in Tapachula.  

**LOCAL WELCOME** - Local resettlement agencies and organizations are
spearheading Afghan welcome efforts in Texas as thousands of
humanitarian parole

applications are pending, reports Addie Offereins of WORLD Magazine
.
In Austin, the Global Impact Initiative helps Afghans with resettlement,
job training and optional commercial-driving courses. Nearby at Hope
Clinic, started by health care professionals who attended Gateway
Church, resettled Afghans receive care from about 15 doctors, nurse
practitioners and physician assistants. Such initiatives are helping
Afghan transplants build community: "[We're] just building
relationships, because that's the No. 1 need right now. [Resettle
resettled Afghans] are so lonely," said "Rachel," who lives in
Dallas.  

Elsewhere in local welcome:   

* Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia is expanding its English as
a Second Language (ESL) program due to an increase of international
students, with more than half coming from Afghanistan. The mission of
the program is to "prepare these students in the summer for the new
school year, so they don't fall behind their English-speaking peers
come fall." (Sierra Krug, WRIC
) 

* In Eggertsville, New York, nonprofit Wheels4Workers is offering bikes
to refugees to help with transportation needs: "The bikes are donated by
the public, fixed up by Wheels4Workers volunteers, and then are given to
refugees for free." (Revathi Janaswamy, Spectrum News 1
) 

**'MILKED'** - The economic relationship between Mexican
immigrants and Wisconsin dairy farmers is the subject of a new book,
Lindsey Margaret Allen writes in Civil Eats
.
"Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy
Farmers and Mexican Workers" highlights the dairy industry's
dependence on immigrant labor for survival. The story "captures the deep
kinship between dairy farmers and farmworkers, drawing a stark contrast
with the anti-immigrant sentiments farmworkers face at-large in American
society," Allen writes. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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