Student visa holders with science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) degrees can continue to work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduation after an appeals court upheld the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, reports Daniel Wiessner of Reuters. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers are among the major business groups that have advocated for OPT to help address a lack of qualified U.S. workers. (The Forum supports OPT as well.) 

OPT is one of the few temporary options for some of the 1 million or so students from all over the world who come to the U.S. each year to study. To be clear, there’s more we could do to retain their skills and talent — and senators are renewing an effort to make more green cards available to such students, Haley Byrd Wilt of The Dispatch reports.  

Last week, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) proposed an amendment to the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would exempt STEM graduates from green card caps.  

"America should always be focused on maintaining a strong STEM workforce because it strengthens our economy and enhances our ability to compete on the world stage," Durbin said. "By denying international students with STEM degrees from U.S. universities the opportunity to continue their work here, we are losing their talents to countries overseas and won’t see the positive impacts of their American education."  

In May, 49 national security leaders wrote a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass such a measure.  

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP. Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day, so we’ll be back Tuesday. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

DACA, DREAMERS — In light of the DACA ruling on Wednesday, more than 600,000 current DACA recipients who know no other home than the U.S. will continue to live in limbo, uncertain of their futures, Catherine Rampell writes in her Washington Post column. As a result of congressional inaction, "dreamers’ precarious livelihoods continue to volley back and forth between the executive branch and the judiciary," she notes. But support for congressional action spans nearly all Americans, including traditionally more conservative faith leaders, law enforcement officials, employers and national security experts. Action is needed for more than current DACA recipients, as Council on National Security and Immigration leader Lynden Melmed highlights in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News. Melmed homes in on the plight of so-called "Documented Dreamers" who age out of legal status via their parents’ visas.  

FARMWORKER SOLUTIONS — Leah Treidler of Wisconsin Public Radio has more on dairy farmers’ support for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act to address increasing food prices and labor shortages. "Congress needs to act to provide farms with meaningful access to a visa program for year-round workers. ... If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we have taken our safe, dependable food supply for granted. And we can no longer afford to do this," said Brody Stapel, board president of Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule Thursday to improve the conditions for immigrant farmworkers temporarily living in hotels or short-term rentals, Daniel Wiessner reports in another piece for Reuters.  

MIGRANT TRANSPORT — CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus says that governors sending migrants to other states are inciting, not deterring, migration, report Andrea Castillo and Hamed Aleaziz of The Los Angeles Times. "It’s safe to say what’s going on is a pull factor, which is somewhat ironic given the criticism from some of these same governors involved in this [have] about various pull factors that they claim already exist," Magnus said. For more on migrant transport, see our FAQ. 

ATTENTION ON IRAN — Rowan University president Ali Houshmand, who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a young adult, is using his platform to stand in solidarity with Iran as human rights protests continue, reports Jeff Gammage of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "The majority of people in Iran have become absolutely sick and disgusted with a regime that projects a very dark and rigid and restrictive lifestyle for everyone. Women are treated horribly," Houshmand told Gammage. "This regime is not one that can be reformed." 

HURRICANE IAN RECOVERY — To help with Hurricane Ian relief and rebuild efforts, a growing number of undocumented immigrants from New York, Louisiana and Texas are coming to the rescue, reports Catherine E. Shoichet of CNN. "What you have now is basically immigrants who are sort of traveling white blood cells of America, who congregate after hurricanes to heal a place, and then move on to heal the next place," said Saket Soni, executive director of the nonprofit Resilience Force. Many migrants are praying for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "to lead a good recovery, they’re praying for him to be the best governor he can be," Soni said. "Because they need him and he needs them." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the U.S. will provide about $240 million in new assistance to address migration and root causes across the Americas. Reuters reports that the sum will include $82 million for refugee and migrant communities and more than $160 million in security assistance, including addressing corruption in partner countries.