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