Our new President and CEO Jennie Murray is out with a new post: that puts the current immigration moment in clear terms: "Make no mistake, this fall and winter will be pivotal in determining whether Dreamers get to keep their protections, our farm workforce is brought into the 21st century, and we tackle challenges at the border in a constructive and humanitarian way.  

"Americans, immigrants and the U.S. economy stand to lose a lot over the next few months if Congress fails to move immigration policy reforms forward before the end of 2022," she continues. 

Click through to see Jennie’s top three areas of urgency. 

Also new today: FWD.us is out with a poll indicating that majorities of voters of all political stripes support a solution for Dreamers from Congress, paired with border security. The findings reinforce Forum polling from August and February. 

FWD’s survey was conducted before this month’s appeals court ruling that underscores the uncertainty for DACA recipients, not to mention other Dreamers.  

The implications are real for people who are afraid for their future. One is Jorge Xolapa, a filmmaker originally from Mexico who arrived to the U.S. when he was 9 years old, as Amy Taxin reports for the Associated Press. "I am going to succeed, because it’s not up to a paper … but it does give me uncertainty because at this point it’s like I’m in a limbo," he says in an accompanying video. (For a local take, read DJ Simmons’ story in the Charlotte Observer.) 

Dreamers are not alone in their uncertainty: Some recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) face the possibility of their status running out after settlement talks in a lawsuit collapsed Tuesday. More than 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal could lose legal protections — and work authorization — that most have held for decades, reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post. 

Congress can step in to address border challenges and, at a time of labor volatility, cement the contributions of millions of immigrants who have long contributed to our country — agricultural workers in addition to Dreamers and TPS recipients.  

Welcome to Thursday’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].   

MORE CHALLENGES FOR AFGHANS — The upcoming World Cup in Qatar is affecting the operation of evacuation flights for Afghans hoping to resettle in the United States, a team at NBC News reports. Qatar plans to suspend weekly flights from Kabul to Doha, the first stop for thousands of Afghan evacuees, and already has put bookings on hold until January. The move seems likely to aggravate the already significant backlog in the evacuation of our Afghan allies who remain in danger. Separately, veterans of the U.S.-trained Afghan special forces who remain in Afghanistan are being recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine, Lynne O’Donnell writes in Foreign Policy. "They are jobless and hopeless, many commandos still waiting for resettlement in the United States or Britain, making them easy targets for recruiters," O’Donnell writes. Thought: Let’s pass the Afghan Adjustment Act and get them here instead. 

‘THE DOOR SLAMMED’ — Thousands of Venezuelans are stuck on the Mexican side of the U.S. border after being returned under Title 42, with many now facing hunger and sleeping on the streets, Santiago Pérez reports in The Wall Street Journal. "We had tremendous confidence, we sold everything to get here and suddenly the door slammed in our faces," said migrant Félix Rodríguez. Most migrants are afraid of going back. "This situation is just going to empower those people who want to take advantage of migrants who are trying to realize their American dream," said migrant Luis Conde. The photos are worth a look — as are those by Omar Ornelas of the El Paso Times, showing a migrants’ camp on the banks of the Rio Bravo River. 

PERCEPTIONS — In a new study, Define American analyzes local media outlets’ coverage of immigrant communities and their influence on audience perception of immigrants, with North Carolina as a case study. "Local journalism is more important than ever in understanding immigrant communities," said co-author Liz Robbins of Define American. The overview with key findings and recommendations is worth a look to start. Separately, a new poll suggests that a third of Americans hold beliefs that are in line with "Great Replacement Theory," reports Ryan Mancini of MassLive. "Grappling with immigration policy will continue to be among the most challenging tasks for political leadership," said Raymond La Raja, associate director of the poll and a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "There is no dodging the strong emotions that drive people’s politics on this issue."  

PROCESSING MISTAKES — During fiscal year 2022, 1 of every 6 cases in U.S. Immigration Court was thrown out because Border Patrol agents did not file requisite Notices to Appear, according to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. "This is exceedingly wasteful of the Court’s time," the report reads. "It is also problematic for the immigrant (and possibly their attorney) if they show up at hearings only to have the case dismissed by the Immigration Judge." 

SOMETHING POSITIVE — To end on a brighter (if hunger-inducing) note — read Deanna Pan’s piece in the Boston Globe on the legacy of Chinese restaurant Kowloon, "a testament to one family’s ingenuity and drive when all the odds were stacked against them." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan