Wednesday, December 7
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌


 

THE FORUM DAILY

The chair of the Federal Reserve doesn't often weigh in on
immigration. But a recent speech was an exception. 

Jerome Powell didn't mince words, as Stuart Anderson writes in Forbes
<[link removed]>,
citing "Trump-era restrictions on immigration that have led to a
continued worker shortfall" that economists say, "is damaging and even
destructive."  

Here's Powell, addressing inflation directly during his speech
<[link removed]> at
the Brookings Institution: "In the labor market, demand for workers far
exceeds the supply of available workers, and nominal wages have been
growing at a pace well above what would be consistent with 2 percent
inflation over time," said Powell. "Thus, another condition we are
looking for is the restoration of balance between supply and demand in
the labor market."  

Powell also mentioned the "plunge in net immigration," as well as
increased deaths during the pandemic, resulting in more than a million
"missing workers" - and said policies to add workers to the labor
force would benefit workers and the economy. 

The framework Sens. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Kyrsten Sinema
(D-Arizona) are working on would be a great first step toward the
policies Powell is alluding to - and a very timely opportunity to pass
solutions to address challenges at the border, as the Wall Street
Journal
<[link removed]>'s
editorial board writes. "[B]oth parties can help the country by seizing
the moment," the board concludes. 

Meanwhile, Deepa Fernandes of WBUR
<[link removed]>
interviews our colleague (and recent honoree
<[link removed]>)
Gaby Pacheco of TheDream.US about the framework.  

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP, and the great Forum
Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro and
Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please
send it to me at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>.  

**'MAKE IT RIGHT'** - You'll be hard-pressed to find a more
compelling argument for the Afghan Adjustment Act
<[link removed]>
than the piece in the Chicago Tribune
<[link removed]>
by Jack McCain, who served in Afghanistan and is the son of late Sen.
John McCain. "It is too late to fix the dysfunction our withdrawal
unleashed in Afghanistan," he writes. "But there is still time to make
it right. ... It is now up to Republican Sens. John Cornyn, Jerry Moran,
Thom Tillis, Pat Toomey, Roger Wicker, Dan Sullivan, Marco Rubio and
Mike Rounds to ensure we keep our word. These men served in Congress
with my father, a prisoner of war who understood that it was important
to extend safety
<[link removed]> to
people who fought alongside us. These final few weeks of the 117th
Congress are our best chance to keep our promise." Meanwhile, Rep.
Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) is optimistic about the bill passing this
month, reports Jessie Degollado of KSAT 12 News
<[link removed]>. 

**NEED MORE WORKERS** - The Farm Workforce Modernization Act would
address labor shortages and reduce food waste
<[link removed]>,
as our policy expert Arturo Castellanos-Canales tells Ohio Capital
Journal
<[link removed]>'s
Marty Schladen, who reports that Ohio farmers need solutions that make
it easier and cheaper for them to harvest and sell their
products. Diana Gordon, professor emerita at the City University of
New York and a writer on immigration, sounds a similar theme in an op-ed
for The Daily Yonder
<[link removed]>:
The bill "would ease the labor shortage that is driving farmers out of
business and reward essential workers who put food on our tables, many
of whom have been doing so without immigration status for more than a
decade." The worker shortage isn't just on the farm: Ed Zagorski of
the Watertown Daily Times
<[link removed]>
in Wisconsin reports that Clearview, a local nursing and rehabilitation
center, is recruiting internationally to try to fill vacancies.  

**MILITARY PARENTS** - The Protect Patriot Parents Act, which would
protect the parents of military members from deportation, passed the
House yesterday, reports Chloe Jones of The Tribune
<[link removed]> in San
Luis Obispo, California. Spearheaded by Rep. Salud Carbajal
(D-California), the bill would make these parents eligible for lawful
permanent resident status, Jones notes. "The families of our service
members deserve our respect for their sacrifice, not deportation,"
Carbajal said in a press statement. "... Bills like the one we approved
today ... have languished for too long and left too many families in
limbo. We owe it to them to send these bills to President Biden before
Congress adjourns at the end of this month." Seems to me like the least
we can do. 

**HOME FOR NOW** - For the Deseret News
<[link removed]>,
Kyle Dunphey headed to Ukraine to document the journey toward safety and
refuge of 41-year-old Elvira Karnaukh and her family, who are among an
estimated 8 million refugees who have fled the country since the war
began in February. That number is in addition to the 6.5 million people
who have been displaced within Ukraine's own borders, Dunphey notes.
After landing in Poland, Elvira learned that she was eligible to apply
for Uniting for Ukraine
<[link removed]>
via the nonprofit WelcomeNST <[link removed]>. (Dunphey has
more on the organization here
<[link removed]>,
as we noted yesterday.) "It's always best to live on your native land.
It's better to be and feel at home," Elvira said. "So the first
question I asked was, 'Can we come back?'" For now, they live
temporarily in Lehi, Utah, with their host family, the Norbys. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. While we're waiting for the World Cup quarterfinals -
"Sometimes a soccer game is just a soccer game," Stuart Anderson writes
elsewhere in Forbes
<[link removed]>,
as he tells the story of Iranian former soccer star Iraj Dabirsiaghi.
"Sometimes it leads to a nice life, a good family and a billion-dollar
company." This story about a family's journey to an American dream is
worth the full read. 

 

DONATE
<[link removed]>

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org <[link removed]>

 

Unsubscribe from The Forum Daily
<[link removed]>

or opt-out from all Forum emails.
<[link removed]>

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States