"We need a bipartisan fix here. I’ll tell you right now if we don’t solve immigration ... we’re talking about worrying about recessions, we’re talking about inflation. [But] I think we’re going to have a bigger catastrophe if we don’t get more workers into our society, and we do that by immigration," Walsh said.  

Farmers also have been sounding the alarm, as Heather Sells of CBN News reports, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act could address labor shortages, reduce food prices, and keep our food made in America — a national security concern. (The video is worth a watch.) For more on food prices and food security, read former George W. Bush administration officials Douglas Baker and Chuck Conner’s op-ed in Fox News earlier this year.  

Eleanor Mueller of Politico writes how — in the absence of broad immigration reform — employers are calling for at least "a smaller-scale immigration fix" that could include the farm workforce bill.  

"The question is, do you want to keep importing your food or your labor? And we want our food to be domestically produced. So we need labor," said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition. 

Meanwhile, a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that "temporary work visas allow firms to expand and hire more U.S. workers," Stuart Anderson writes in Forbes. A survey of businesses that participated in the 2021 H-2B visa lottery "reveals little benefit, and substantial costs, due to restricting firms’ access to these visas," the report’s authors write. " … "[G]aining access to immigrant hires raises firm revenues . . . and also weakly raises, rather than lowers, their employment of U.S. workers." 

They add that increasing the availability of H-2B visas permanently would spur even greater benefits for American workers, businesses and the economy. 

Paging Congress and the administration, Republicans and Democrats: We need immigration solutions to fight inflation, help American workers and strengthen our economy. And Americans want reforms this year. 

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].   

Also a quick reminder for reporters: A group of Christian women is visiting the border at El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, this week with We Welcome, and some of the participants are available for interview. Reporters, please send inquiries my way. 

IMMIGRANTS HELP REBUILD — The Lake Charles, Louisiana, area faced a series of hurricanes and other weather disasters in 2020 and 2021. Now, new Latino immigrants are helping rebuild and reinvigorate the city, reports Alena Maschke of The Advocate. "[Migrants] come here to work, to help their families. Where there is work, they will go," said Martin Benitez, an immigrant himself and a general contractor from Houston who has been part of the region’s rebuilding efforts. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimated that in 2020 that there were 4,830 immigrants from Latin America living in the region in 2021, up from 2,475 in 2020. "I have lived through some tough things here, but it has been worth it," said Aleida Cabieles, originally from Honduras. "I feel like Lake Charles has given me more than my own country." 

CUBAN MIGRANTS — The U.S. Coast Guard returned 319 Cuban migrants detained at sea just this past weekend for a total of 921 this month, reports Rafael Bernal of The Hill. Before the revocation of the policy commonly known as "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" in 2017, most Cubans attempted to arrive in the U.S. by boat, but now thousands are seeking asylum at the southern border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported more than 220,000 encounters of Cubans during fiscal year 2022. For more on the experience of Cuban migrants at the border, Lisette Poole’s photo essay in Americas Quarterly is certainly worth a few thousand words. 

SOLIDARITY AMONG SCHOLARS — Researchers at Michigan State University have helped welcome and resettle 12 Afghan scholars, reports Sophia Saliby of WKAR. Previously, the scholars worked together in an agricultural research project in Afghanistan. When the Taliban took control, Kurt Richter, the project leader at Michigan State, helped facilitate the Afghans’ evacuation, first to Albania, where they were able to enroll in a special Master of Science program in horticulture while they waited to come to Michigan. "We had to leave everything behind for a better and a safer life and a better future," said Latifa Salangi, one of the resettled scholars.  

‘LOVING THE STRANGERS’— Catherine McNiel reflects in Christianity Today  about the Christian call to love the strangers among us through her own experience meeting Syrian refugees. The piece is an excerpt from her book "Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies." McNiel notes that the topic goes beyond politics: "How we treat strangers is such a hot topic for social and political debate in our world today that it might be hard for us to remember who’s talking in this story: This is not a pundit or a reporter, not a conservative or a liberal. This is Jesus, the Son of God, from the right hand of the Father. Those of us who follow Jesus must take this seriously, regardless of the current political climate." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan