Friday, September 9
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THE FORUM DAILY

We send our condolences to Queen Elizabeth II's family and those
mourning her in the U.K. and around the world. When you have a moment,
please read Zubeida Malik's touching and personal op-ed for
inews.co.uk

about how Queen Elizabeth's monarchy made her immigrant mom "feel
British, and like she belonged." 

Now for today's Daily:  

As Missouri and Kansas farms continue to face labor shortages, a group
of agriculture industry leaders is calling on the states' senators to
pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act
,
reports Kassidy Arena for KBIA
. 

"This is not just about cost," said Enrique Sanchez of American Business
Immigration Coalition Action. "These are national security issues as
well. Food security is national security. A nation that cannot feed
itself is not a nation that is secure."  

John Pepitone of FOX4

has more. "It's urgent that we get that passed so that farmers like me
and other farmers in Kansas can get the labor that we need," said Lyndsi
Oestmann of Ottawa, Kansas, a member of AmericanHort. "So we don't
have to worry day-to-day and week-to-week if we are going to have enough
labor to get the job done that we need to get done." 

Welcome to Friday'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] . 

AFGHAN CHILDREN - There are more than 230 unaccompanied Afghan
children in the U.S. while their parents or guardians remain in
Afghanistan, a team at NBC News

reports. Quick reunions are unlikely: Only one flight with evacuees
leaves Kabul weekly, and some countries where Afghans wait while
applying to enter the U.S. have stopped accepting Afghans. "These
children have experienced far more trauma than any child ever should,"
said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Service. "The urgency of this moment means doing
whatever it takes to reunite these vulnerable children with their
families. ... These children can't afford to wait decades for the
United States to keep its promise to those left behind." 

Locally: 

* A newly launched pilot program at the International Institute of
Minnesota - "the nation's first guaranteed income program" for new
arrivals - is providing 25 immigrant families $750 a month for a year,
including Afghan families who recently arrived. (Hibah Ansari, Sahan
Journal
) 

GREEN CARDS - U.S. immigration authorities expect to use all
employment green cards available for the fiscal year ending this month,
a USCIS priority after not all were used last year, Michelle Hackman
reports for The Wall Street Journal
.
"We know so many people have been waiting and so many people have been
nervous about another loss-of-visa situation, and those are real
people," said the agency's director, Ur Jaddou. In fiscal year 2021,
the agency had 120,000 extra employment-based green cards available. But
due to staffing shortages and backlogs, USCIS couldn't process 68,000
of them in time. 

ONLY

**TEMPORARY** - A recent Biden administration initiative under which
at least 24 deported veterans have returned to the U.S. offers no
guarantee of permanent status, per Suzanne Monyak of Roll Call
.
They are granted humanitarian parole, a temporary status that "has no
inherent path to citizenship and no guarantee it won't be revoked or
allowed to expire." While advocates believe the initiative is a step in
the right direction, the process has been "slow-moving," and lawyers
note there are limited legal options for pathways to citizenship. "...
[T]o correct a lot of these issues, legislation is needed," said Robert
Vivar, co-director of Unified U.S. Deported Veterans. "How are you going
to tell my children that they can have their daddy back, but then
you're going to tear us apart again after a year?" said Juan Quiroz, a
U.S. Army veteran and father of four. "It doesn't make sense." 

**BANNON** - On Thursday, Stephen K. Bannon was charged with money
laundering, fraud and conspiracy in the "We Build the Wall" fundraising
effort, reports Shayna Jacobs of The Washington Post
.
Prosecutors say Bannon kept $1 million in donations for the cash drive,
but the indictment focuses on alleged funneling of funds through a
nonprofit to pay the organization's president and CEO, "despite
explicit, repeated pledges to donors that their money would not be used
for that purpose." Bannon "acted as the architect of a multi-million
dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country -
including hundreds of Manhattan residents," Manhattan District Attorney
Alvin Bragg said in a statement.  

WEEKEND READS - "I began to see that Kansas City was just as much my
home as anyone else's," writes Diana Martinez Quintana, a DACA
recipient and policy entrepreneur at policy think tank Next100
, for the Kansas Reflector
.
"The only difference for me was that I needed to fight to be able to
stay." And in The Los Angeles Times
,
Maria Duarte, an essayist, poet and DACA recipient, writes eloquently
about living in limbo in this country: "I do not know Mexico; I know
California. I have formed a life here ... adjusting to the nuances of
this melting pot. What else can I do to be considered worthy of
citizenship, to be given a piece of paper that will allow me to live
without fear?" 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. Don't miss this letter 385
state and local elected officials from across the country sent President
Biden on Thursday, calling on him to rebuild the refugee resettlement
program with urgency. The International Refugee Assistance Project

has more details.  

 

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