|
|
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 EVACUEES — 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:
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 |
|
