Thursday, August 25
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

THE FORUM DAILY

The Biden administration issued a rule

Wednesday to "preserve and fortify" Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals

(DACA), reports Laura Daniella Sepulveda of the Arizona Republic
.
The rule is scheduled to take effect Oct. 31. 

"This rule is a positive step to protect hundreds of thousands of
'Dreamers,' who contribute to our country in so many ways. But it is
not a permanent solution," our policy expert Laurence Benenson said
.
"DACA continues to be under threat in the courts, and only Congress can
provide the certainty of legislation." 

A July 16 injunction prevents the Department of Homeland Security from
granting DACA, and the two-year work permits that accompany it, to new
applicants. Current DACA recipients can renew, for the time being. 

"We need to stop playing around with this issue, and really have
legislation at the federal level, because if we don't we will continue
with this vicious circle. It's a very difficult way to live," said
Dulce Matuz of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. "The rule announced
today is the bare minimum - we need a permanent fix." 

As Rick Jervis points out in USA Today
,
"DACA recipients represent a wide swath of the work force. ... The
DACA-eligible population earned $23.4 billion in 2017, up from almost
$19.9 billion in 2015, according to a recent report
." 

DACA recipients and other Dreamers are central to our communities as
well as our economy. Congress must act
. 

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

**HOSPICE WORKERS** - Current immigration policy is hurting the
hospice-care industry as it faces widespread worker shortages, reports
Holly Vossel for Hospice News
.
"What we've seen is that immigration policies aren't helping, they
are jeopardizing health care access without enough workers to provide
care," said OpusCare President and CEO Dr. Ismael Roque-Velasco. Trump
administration restrictions, including those set during the pandemic,
have increased backlogs of would-be immigrant workers, and an aging
population and workforce also have contributed to the shortage. "We need
to renew a pathway specifically for those with a health background and
training to come and work," said Ben Marcantonio, interim president and
CEO, and COO, of the National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization.  

BORDER SOLUTIONS - The U.S. and Mexico are communicating better and
both sides are investing more resources on both sides of the border,
Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said Wednesday, per Guillermo Contreras
of The San Antonio Express-News
.
Salazar also spoke of the need to better address root causes of
migration - and the need for Congress to offer solutions. "[T]he
political dynamics that we have now ... (are) essentially a barrier to
the long-term solutions that we need on the border," Salazar said. "We
need U.S. senators ... to spend a lot more time understanding the
realities of Mexico and the problems we face both at the border as well
as the commercial issues that are so profoundly important to Texas, to
the border states in both the United States and Mexico." 

**SMUGGLING INVESTIGATIONS** - With asylum-seeking Guatemalans paying
smugglers as much as $15,000 to enter the U.S., "prosecutors are
increasingly trying to track where that money goes as the illicit
business evolves," reports Sonia Pérez D. of the Associated Press
.
In January, David Coronado Pérez and nine others, three of whom were
lawyers, allegedly helped him launder money he made getting Guatemalans
to the U.S. - $51,000 in coins, $200,000 additional in cash, about 100
slot machines, and late-model vehicles. Even when smuggling operations
turn deadly, most migrants still don't want to identify their smuggler
out of fear, Pérez D. notes. Elsewhere, The Guardian
's
Sarah Johnson sheds light on stories of people threatened by gangs that
demand ransom to keep their kidnapped migrant relatives alive. "They
told me, 'If you can't pay, do something. Sell your organs to pay
for your family. If you don't, they will not exist in this world,'"
one relative said. 

**FOR**AFGHAN EVACUEE

**S** - For The Atlantic
,
journalist Bushra Seddique tells the story of her harrowing escape from
Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal, with illustrations by Sally Deng.
"It is hard to be an exile, but it would be harder still to be silenced.
I smuggled my laptop past the Taliban and carried it across continents
to a free country so I could write this story," she writes. Meanwhile,
in an op-ed for The Orlando Sentinel
,
Valeria Alvarado-Velez, a high school student in Miami-Dade County,
advocates for the Afghan Adjustment Act
:
"In establishing a clear pathway to permanent legal status [for
resettled Afghans], we not only would be true to ourselves as an
American people, but also honor a shared humanity and respect for the
work of Afghan servicemembers and others who helped us." 

On Afghan welcome: 

* The New Americans Legal Clinic in West Michigan, formed to help
hundreds of Afghan evacuees apply for asylum, has completed 50% of their
asylum applications. (Marisa Oberle, FOX 17
)

* In British Columbia, YWCA Metro Vancouver launched a six-week Afghan
Women's Employment (AWE) program that delivers professional training,
counseling and resources in Pashto and Dari, Afghanistan's two
official languages. (Rushmila Rahman, BCBusiness
) 

A CHILD'S PERSPECTIVE - In "Until Someone Listens," a new picture
book in English and Spanish, 13-year-old co-author Estela Juarez tells
the traumatic story of getting separated from her mother, Alejandra
Juarez, who was deported in 2018, reports Gary White for The Ledger
.
"Some see people like my mom as ugly weeds that need to be plucked out
of the dirt," Estela writes in the book, with co-writer Lissette Norman.
"But they're not weeds. They're wildflowers, all with pretty shapes
and colors, each one a different kind of beauty." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from The Forum Daily

or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States