Monday, September 19
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THE FORUM DAILY

Happy Citizenship Day (it was Saturday). USCIS is marking the occasion
this week

by welcoming 19,000 new citizens in more than 235 naturalization
ceremonies. For Fresnoland

(and in The Fresno Bee
), Dympna
Ugwu-Oju features immigrants' journeys to citizenship. "I'm excited
to participate in democracy," said Clarissa Petrucci, a native of
Mexico. "We all feel that pride, and we are thankful to be in this
nation."  

Meanwhile, the follow-up continues on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R)
sending of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, last week.
Tal Kopan of The Boston Globe
 has
a good look at the political thinking - and the "complicated picture,"
which goes a layer deeper.  

"First of all, playing with these people's lives to score cheap
political points is outrageous," said John Sandweg, a former acting
director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We obviously have a
problem at the southern border. It's a problem that existed under the
Trump administration as well as under the Biden administration.
... [But] this is reprehensible and disgusting." 

From the faith perspective, Jonathan Merritt of Religion News Service

writes about DeSantis' and other governors' "crisis of faith":
"[A]pparently, when it comes to the Bible's repeated commands along
the lines of 'do not mistreat or oppress an immigrant,' [DeSantis
is] willing to make some compromises." Don't miss this piece. 

DeSantis promises to transport more migrants from border states soon,
per Steve Contorno of CNN
.
 

Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is representing 30 of the 48 migrants
flown to Martha's Vineyard under Gov. Desantis' order, is asking
U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura
Healey to open a criminal investigation, per Rachel Tucker of WFLA
.
For The Washington Post
,
Aaron Blake analyzes whether what governors are doing is illegal or not
(bottom line: it's murky).  

I'll give the last word to Daniela Gerson, an assistant professor of
journalism at California State University, Northridge, in an op-ed for
CNN
:
 

"The descent into cruel political stunts distracts from how our broken
immigration system is not a partisan problem. It's an American one.
And one that Congress has failed to act on for decades. Our laws reflect
neither the reality of our labor needs nor our humanitarian aspirations.
Dumping asylum-seekers on an island they did not choose to go to and
that is unprepared for their arrival is not only cruel, it also
distracts from the hard work of finding a solution to a broader
patchwork system overrun with problems." 

Welcome to Monday'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] .  

MODELS OF

**WELCOME** - The Biden administration will use the Sponsor Circle
Program for Afghans (and, later, Ukrainians) as a model to develop
a private-sponsorship program for refugees admitted through the U.S.
Refugee Admissions Program and is turning to organizations to help
launch a pilot program by the end of this year, Julie Watson and Amy
Taxin of the Associated Press

report. Meanwhile, Natalie Sarrett of Send Relief writes in the Biblical
Recorder

of Christians' support of Afghan evacuees, homing in on ministry
centers in Atlanta, Boston and Denver. "There are millions of Afghans
fleeing violence and persecution, and this is an amazing opportunity for
churches in the United States to respond and follow Christ's call to
welcome the stranger," said Send Relief Vice President Josh Benton.  

Locally: 

* More than 30 Afghan students at Newcomer Academy in Kentucky got an
opportunity to meet Dr. Nadia Nadim, a professional soccer player for
Racing Louisville FC and former Afghan refugee. (Ford Sanders, WHAS11
) 

* Former Afghan army officer Setara Wafa, who resettled in Seattle after
fleeing Afghanistan in August 2021, is now helping new arrivals get
their bearings. (Julie Calhoun, KING5
) 

**PRAY FOR REFORMS** - As the U.S. Catholic Church's National
Migration Week

starts today, Archbishop Jośe Gomez of Los Angeles is calling on the
community to pray and for policymakers to pass immigration reforms,
reports John Lavenburg of Crux
.
"My brothers and sisters, once again we are called to help our neighbors
and leaders to feel compassion for the common humanity and destiny that
we share with one another, including our immigrant brothers and
sisters," Gomez said. "So let us keep praying for our nation and working
hard for immigration reform and let us remember to keep our lives
centered on Jesus."  

IN NEED OF REPRESENTATION - A shortage of pro-bono lawyers is
available for newly arriving migrants in need of support and
representation for their upcoming immigration court cases in New York
City, reports Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio of Documented
.
"I don't have anyone who can help me," said Katherine Cadenas, an
asylum-seeker from Venezuela who arrived in early August. "Everything is
up in the air. How can I even present anything?" Some migrants are
turning to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, which
offers pro bono immigration legal assistance programs specifically for
unrepresented immigrants in deportation proceedings. But immigration
attorneys across the city say they are already stretched thin. 

'PROMOTORAS' - Latino community health workers ("promotoras" in
Spanish) have become key in bringing health services to immigrants in
rural areas, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Priyanka
Runwal of National Geographic
.
"Them being from the community, their lived experiences, and having that
track record of being trusted by the community members makes a big
difference in any type of preventative effort," said Gloria Coronado,
health promotions program manager at the Yuma County, Arizona, Public
Health Services District. During the peak of the pandemic, promotoras
in Arizona collected swab samples as outbreaks rose among immigrant
farmworkers, while in a small town in Montana, Latino health workers
helped to vaccinate an estimated more than 80 percent of the people in
their community. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

 

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