Wednesday, September 7
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THE FORUM DAILY

Farmers in Idaho and South Carolina are among those nationwide
advocating for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act
,
Safia Samee Ali reports for NBC News
.  

Farmers are saying the bill could counter labor shortages and result in
lower food prices. "I would hire domestic workers, but they don't seem
to exist," said Stephanie Mickelsen, an Idaho potato farmer.  

Added Charles Wingard, a family farmer in South Carolina who grows leafy
greens, "We supply to big grocery chains, and they don't care that
we've got labor problems. They only want us to fill the orders and
make sure the truck is loaded properly and delivered on time. There's
always a pressure there."  

In The Hill
,
Rafael Bernal reports on the prospects for the legislation - and
underscores farmers' support for it. "Without immigrant workers,
without these ag workers, these guest workers, we don't put food on
the American table," said Shay Myers, CEO of Owyhee Produce, an onion
grower in Oregon and Idaho. "And that's just an open secret. And we
need to realize that that's the case and fix the problem." 

The Washington Post
's
Editorial Board broadens the scope on the need for immigration solutions
to address labor shortages and demographic challenges: "[W]ithout a more
forward-looking immigration policy, one more closely aligned with
labor-force demands in an economy starved for workers, the nation's
long-term economic growth prospects will be stunted." Labor Secretary
Marty Walsh sounded a similar theme on MSNBC

yesterday. 

Welcome back to Jennie Murray, who will return to the Forum next month
as our new president and CEO
.
And 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] . 

**FEWER REFUGEES RESETTLED** - Late yesterday the Biden administration
released refugee resettlement data for August
, and as usual, our
own Danilo Zak is on top of the numbers
. They are
disappointing: The 2,229 resettled refugees were a 14% drop from July,
and with only September to go, we're on pace to resettle fewer than
22,000 refugees total this fiscal year - more than 100,000 fewer than
the 125,000 "ceiling." Danilo points out that as the president considers
the ceiling for the next fiscal year, questions are increasing
about why
the number actually resettled remains so low. We also resettled no
Uyghur refugees in July or August - just as a new UN report

on China's treatment of Muslim minorities sheds light on "firsthand
allegations of human rights abuses based on interviews with 40 people of
Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz ethnicities," reported Jessie Yeung of CNN

last week.  

**ON THE BORDER** - Migrants from different countries are taking
different routes to the U.S., Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press

reports - and Mexicans are making up a smaller percentage of migrants
encountered overall. "What we know with absolute certainty is that the
smuggling organizations control the flow," said John Modlin, the Border
Patrol's Tucson, Arizona, sector chief. "They decide who goes where
and when they go to the point." Meanwhile, Eileen Sullivan of The New
York Times

takes a look at how asylum seekers awaiting hearings are integrating,
despite the challenges and politics surrounding their arrival. And for
Catholic News Service
,
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, retired bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn,
N.Y., writes that governors' busing of migrants to other states
underscores "that immigration reform is long overdue." 

**'COLORADO ... GAVE US A HOME'** - Michelle Fulcher and Ryan
Warner of Colorado Public Radio

share the personal stories of two resettled Afghans, their families, and
a local couple who jumped in to help. Broomfield City Councilwoman Heidi
Henkel and her husband, Scott, who served in Afghanistan, founded the
Broomfield Resettlement Task Force for Afghan families, which has helped
evacuees such as Siddiqi and his family. "Colorado opened its arms and
embraced us and gave us a home," said Siddiqi, a former interpreter
(including for Scott Henkel). The task force continues to raise money
for evacuees via the Broomfield Humanitarian Fund, which assists with
English language lessons, employment, housing and social services.  

Elsewhere today in local welcome: 

* Eight churches in the Roanoke, Virginia, area are among the
organizations that have welcomed resettled Afghans as part of the
Commonwealth Catholic Charities Community Sponsorship program, Heather
Rousseau of The Roanoke Times

reports. In a separate piece
,
Rousseau writes of evacuees' challenges which, the Afghan Adjustment
Act

could help address. 

* Ahmad Hilal Abid, an Afghan-born man who immigrated to the U.S. and
settled in Seattle in 2018, first used his garage to help other
immigrants with English, their classwork and cultural learning - and
with building community. Now he helps almost 30 students ages 7-16 -
in a larger space. (Jayce Carral, The Seattle Times
) 

* Meena, who worked at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, has resettled in
Chicago and is working at RefugeeOne , a
newly formed asylum team, assisting Afghan evacuees even as her own
application is pending. (Elly Fishman, WBEZ Chicago
) 

**SPOILER ALERT** - We've mentioned the new Netflix series "Mo"
before. It's set in Houston, and in the Houston Chronicle
,
Elizabeth Trovall explores how the show's portrayals of immigrant life
and challenges compare with reality. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. A couple of sports notes: While we cheer Frances Tiafoe's victory
over Rafael Nadal in the U.S. open and await his quarterfinal match
today, take a minute to reread his great back story
.
And as football season begins, reporter Jeong Park's personal
immigration story in The Los Angeles Times
,
including college football as refuge, is worth a read.  

 

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