On Wednesday, the Biden administration told a federal court that it will appeal a ruling that would require it to end Title 42, reports Suzanne Monyak of Roll Call.  

The government does not seem to be seeking a delay on the ruling’s Dec. 21 effective date. But instead said it would attempt to delay its appeal while another lawsuit over the policy, by a group of Republican-led states, progresses. The latter suit is a challenge to the administration’s earlier attempt to end the policy. 

Monyak calls it "a move that underscores the complicated legal and political currents of U.S-Mexico border policy," and that resonates. Meanwhile, Dianne Solis of The Dallas Morning News reports on the administration’s ideas for a post-Title 42 approach when it planned to end use of the policy last spring. 

In the meantime, the administration must be prepared to respond to a likely increase in arriving migrants when the policy does end. As the Washington Post editorial board writes today, the potential cooperation between Republican and Democratic senators on a bill that would address the border and Dreamers offers a solution.  

"[D]espite the political difficulties the proposal would raise on both sides of the aisle, it represents a plausible way to avert short-term chaos at the border, while finally putting to rest the decade-long debate over dreamers, for whom three-quarters of Americans support legalization," the board writes. 

About that proposal, for which text still hasn’t been released: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), the lead Republican on the effort, said yesterday that he doesn’t see the bill getting attached to a larger spending bill, as Caroline Coudriet and Monyak report in Roll Call. That would leave time extremely short, as the reporters note. 

Welcome to Thursday’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]. 

1 MILLION NEW CITIZENS — Congratulations to the almost 1 million immigrant adults naturalized as American citizens in fiscal year 2022! Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News reports that the number is the third-highest annual tally in U.S. history, per U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The welcome news comes a year after President Biden’s directive to promote naturalization by eliminating bureaucratic barriers in the citizenship process, speeding up case adjudications, and producing information campaigns to make the process more accessible, Montoya-Galvez notes. "It is good for the nation for people to fully become part of this nation, join it in the fullest way that they can," said USCIS Director Ur Jaddou. "That has been a priority since the beginning of this administration and we’re going to continue the focus on ensuring that people who wish to become Americans, can be."  

DOCUMENTED DREAMERS — Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) should support legislation that calls on Congress to protect "documented Dreamers," lifelong Iowa resident Dick Hartvigsen writes in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register. Such Dreamers are here legally thanks to a parent’s visa — but only until they turn 21, at which point they face "self-deporting" to a country many do not call home, Hartvigsen notes. "Supporting this bill helps mitigate Iowa’s brain drain by encouraging skilled families who built their roots in the state to remain here. … I hope that Grassley, with his power and influence, will join Sen. Joni Ernst and Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, and Cindy Axne in supporting this solution." KXAN’s Jala Washington has the latest on the pending National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the fate of documented Dreamers. 

ZERO TOLERANCE — Patrice Taddonio of PBS writes about new FRONTLINE documentary "After Zero Tolerance," which features Anavelis and her then 6-year-old daughter, Genesis, from Honduras. They describe their painful separation three years ago and challenging reunification now. Forewarning: It’s tough. Meanwhile, attorneys are challenging laws that were the foundation of "zero tolerance," Adolfo Flores reports in BuzzFeed News. Research by Kelly Lytle Hernández, a UCLA history professor, shows how lawmakers a century ago openly used eugenics to justify legislation — and used racist language to boot. "We started doing research trying to figure out a legal framework that would allow us to challenge this systemic racism in the legal system," said attorney Kara Hartzler. 

LABOR REFORMS — Having more immigrant workers would help stave off high interest rates and inflation, and improve economic growth, Ricardo Hausmann and Dany Bahar of the Harvard Growth Lab write in an op-ed for MarketWatch. But without immigration reforms, labor shortages are challenging to combat, they note. The challenges are acute on dairy farms, per Taylor Leach in Dairy Herd Management. "This is not going to change or turn around unless one thing happens — immigration reform," said Dan Basse, President of AgResource Company, during the recent Professional Dairy Producers Dairy Insights Summit in Wisconsin. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan