THE FORUM DAILY

The headline says it all: "Lack of immigration reform hurts businesses
and farmers, puts nation's food supply at risk."  

Farmers say Congress needs to act on the Farm Workforce Modernization
Act
<[link removed]>
to keep farms running long-term and keep Americans fed, a team at USA
Today
<[link removed]>
reports. "Without immigrant labor, our dairy farm wouldn't be here,"
said Lisa Graybeal of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "Immigration reform is
something we've been working on for decades, and lawmakers keep
kicking the can down the road ... Can we at least get an immigration
bill for the ag sector so we can have food security?" 

The reporters point out that farm workforce shortages have contributed
to higher food prices, and that 2023 is forecast to be the first in U.S.
history that we're a net importer of food. "That's a huge red flag
when you rely on other countries for your food," Graybeal said. "That's
a national security issue."  

OK, so there's more than what's in the headline. With the midterms
approaching, the reporters go on to look at the challenges and politics
that have made immigration reforms so difficult, and how immigration
challenges and politics are playing out in key states where immigrants
are important to the workforce. 

As for us, we're keeping the faith that immigration reforms
<[link removed]>,
this year, from Democrats and Republicans can be the solution to
challenges - at the border, on our farms and elsewhere in our labor
force. The urgency is simply too great to ignore.  

Happy Halloween and 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] <mailto:[email protected]>. 

**HARD WORK NEEDED** - To address the border, the U.S. needs to
implement long-term, bipartisan solutions, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the
American Immigration Council writes in a Houston Chronicle
<[link removed]>
op-ed. "[W]e must recognize that [irregular migration] begins far beyond
any actions taken by a single president at the border," he writes. "We
must also remember that migrants are people, often fueled by desperation
but with the same hopes and dreams of a better life as many of our
ancestors. ... Until we work hard to engage other countries and offer
people alternate pathways to come here legally, migrants will continue
to drag themselves through danger to find the American Dream." Speaking
of solutions, read The New York Times
<[link removed]>'
editorial board's case for the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act
<[link removed]>.
We see the bill as a good starting point for the border-solutions
conversation we clearly need. 

More on the border: 

* Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) is keeping shipping containers along
portions of the Yuma sector despite a federal request to remove them.
The initial effort near Yuma cost $13 million, and Ducey says the next,
$95 million phase of the project began last week. (Catherine E.
Shoichet, CNN)
<[link removed]> 

* Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that he and other GOP state
leaders are using $874.6 million in "emergency" budget transfers [quotes
in original] from the state prison system's total budget to fund his
border-security effort, Operation Lone Star, for another 10 months.
(Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune
<[link removed]>) 

**AMERICAN VALUES SURVEY** - The newly released 2022 edition of the
Public Religion Research Institute's American Values Survey
<[link removed]>
puts our divisions in pretty stark relief. Look, for example, at the
even split (49%-49%) on whether the country's culture and way of life
have improved or worsened since the 1950s. On immigration, the survey
indicates that 30% of Americans agree with tenets of Great Replacement
Theory. The good news is that's down from 36% in 2019. [Please keep
sharing our resources
<[link removed]>,
y'all, including our infographic
<[link removed]>.]
Also on the brighter side: Nearly six in ten Americans (57%) say that
immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be provided a pathway to
citizenship if they meet certain criteria, support that "has remained
remarkably consistent since 2013."  

**AFGHANS IN LIMBO** - Asrar, a former Afghan colonel who spent two
decades hunting Taliban fighters before resettling in North Carolina, is
now facing obstacles to permanent residency, reports Michelle Hackman
of The Wall Street Journal
<[link removed]>.
Asrar was among some 80,000 Afghans who were evacuated to the U.S. last
year. Because he was employed by the Afghan government and not the U.S.,
he must apply for asylum to stay, as it stands now. "We evacuated them,
and now we're questioning whether they should qualify for asylum?"
said Margaret Stock, a military expert and immigration attorney based in
Anchorage, Alaska. "America did right by us once, I have confidence they
will help us again," Asrar said. Meanwhile, in New York's Hudson
Valley, the local-level desire to welcome evacuees continues amid
concerns for people still stuck outside the U.S., Noorulain Khawaja
reports in Spectrum News 1
<[link removed]>.
The Afghan Adjustment Act
<[link removed]>
would help people such Asrar and those still stranded.  

**TPS AND FAITH** - Congress should offer a path to permanence for
people who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Nelson Ramos writes in
an op-ed for The Christian Post
<[link removed]>.
Ramos, now pastor of the Spanish-speaking congregation of Greenville
Christian Fellowship in North Carolina, and his sister have been in the
U.S. with authorization for more than three decades. "Congress can end
this state of legal limbo by passing bipartisan immigration reform that
removes the cloud of uncertainty that TPS recipients like myself
constantly live under and provides a pathway to legal permanent status
and, eventually, citizenship," he writes. " ... Our faith should also
compel us to advocate for a solution." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

**P.S.** A church in Kansas City decided to celebrate Halloween in a
meaningful way by launching the fundraising campaign "Pumpkins for
Peace." The funds will benefit Ukrainian refugee families, reports
Gabriel Johnson of KSNT
<[link removed]>. 

 

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