Wednesday, August 3
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THE FORUM DAILY

Border Patrol agents are forcing Sikh men to remove their turbans, and
then disposing them, reports John Washington of Arizona Luminaria
, in partnership with The Intercept
.  

In a letter to Border Patrol

on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona documented
dozens of such instances, explained the significance of the turban, and
said the actions "blatantly violate federal law," agency policy, and
religious freedom protections in the U.S. 

"They told me to take off my turban. I know a little English, and I
said, 'It's my religion.' But they insisted," one Sikh man said
last month via an interpreter. 

According to the ACLU of Arizona and the Phoenix Welcome Center,
Yuma's Border Patrol has confiscated at least 64 turbans this year
alone. With many asylum seekers fearful to register a complaint, the
number likely is much higher, notes Maria Jose Pinzon, a program manager
for Phoenix Welcome Center.  

"The turban is sacred to Sikhs," said Deepak Ahluwalia, a private
immigration attorney and advocate for Sikh rights in San Jose,
California. "... It can be weeks and even months before these young men
or women can cover their head - which is not only part of their faith,
but part of their identity." 

Welcome to Wednesday'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] .  

PRODUCE PRICES - Immigration reforms will help combat labor shortages
in the ag sector and reduce prices of produce, Rachel Spacek reports in
the Idaho Statesman
,
following last week's Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus press
conference
.
"It is absolutely critical that we empower the beginning of the supply
chain, the farmers, to improve their efficiencies, because their
efficiencies result in the affordability of goods all the way downstream
to households like yours and mine," said Lori Taylor, one of the
speakers and founder and CEO of the Produce Moms of Indiana.  

FAITH ADVOCACY - Jeff Brumley of Baptist News Global

has more on the letter

which over 450 faith leaders and groups signed this week, pushing for
more funding from Congress to help families previously separated at the
U.S.-Mexico border. "The family separation policy violated the sanctity
of family and failed to live up to our nation's values," the letter
reads. "... Now, we urge Congress and the administration to do more to
heal those harmed by family separation. Without additional services,
many families cannot and will not be successfully reunited." In a
separate letter, faith and other organizations are asking the president
to end the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols, a.k.a. "Remain in
Mexico."  

IMMIGRATION VOTES - As the Senate considers a revamped budget
reconciliation package, Republicans are likely to force votes on tough
immigration- and border-related amendments, reports Caroline Simon of
Roll Call
.
One possibility is a vote on whether to codify pandemic-era Title 42
expulsions as border-management policy. "Adoption of amendments that
would end access to asylum or expand Trump's border wall will not
repair our broken immigration and will put reconciliation at risk," Sen.
Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) tweeted on Monday. 

TPS

**BACKLOGS** - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is behind on
processing applications for Temporary Protected Status, leaving
thousands of Venezuelans with few options to work and support their
families, Andrew Kreighbaum reports in Bloomberg Law
.
While DHS recently extended Temporary Protected Status

for Venezuelan and Syrian nationals, the lengthy processing times
"threaten to undercut the Biden administration's expanded use of such
programs" - and does little to help first-time applicants. "Hopefully,
Congress will realize that people cannot live from renewal to renewal
every 18 months," said Juan Escalante, digital campaigns director at
FWD.us. "In the meantime, we need the government agency who carries out
this program to take it seriously." 

CHIP

**INDUSTRY** - The U.S. needs continually to attract and retain more
foreign talent if it wants to compete with China and solve labor
shortages in the semiconductor industry and STEM fields, writes Esther
D. Brimmer, executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of
International Educators, in an op-ed for The Hill
.
"With the efforts to pass a comprehensive U.S. competitiveness and
innovation legislative package falling short, the time is now for the
United States government to leverage the vast potential of international
education to fully assert its global competitiveness" by advancing
immigration reforms that increase the talent pool, she writes. The New
York Daily News
'
Editorial Board sounds a similar theme. 

**AFGHAN STUDENTS** - Schools, churches and neighborhood organizations
are among the local groups who have helped welcome nearly 1,500 Afghans
in the Dallas area in the past year, and The Dallas Morning News

Editorial Board is pushing for the welcome to continue. About half of
the new arrivals are children, and the Dallas Independent School
District says it is planning for more arrivals. Support for refugee
students continues for five years after their arrival in the U.S. and
includes helping families with the transition and training teachers on
cultural and religious practices. "Refugee children have many challenges
before they come to the United States, and when they come here they have
a new set of challenges," said Zeljka Ravlija, coordinator of the
refugee services program and a onetime refugee from the former
Yugoslavia. "But despite these challenges, they progress amazingly even
within the short span of one year." 

Also locally:  

* Maryland-based Homes Not Borders recently organized a benefit concert
for Afghan families in need of support. "The consciousness goes away
sometimes as other things - other world events - eclipse the things
going on in Afghanistan," says Melinda Baird, who performed at the
concert. "But the need is still there." (Héctor Alejandro Arzate,
DCist/WAMU
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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