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 to keep farms running long-term and keep Americans fed, a team at USA Today 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, 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].

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 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’ editorial board’s case for the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act. 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)
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)

AMERICAN VALUES SURVEY — The newly released 2022 edition of the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Survey 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, y’all, including our infographic.] 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. 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. The Afghan Adjustment Act 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. 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.