Politically, there’s plenty of blame to go around, she notes. In the end, "The shortage in immigrant workers as a result of Trump-era policies and the failure of Congress to act are major contributors to our current labor shortage, which, in turn, spurs inflation. … All of us pay for the failure to reform our immigration laws." 

Here’s more evidence that the stakes are high for action voters want this year: Yesterday House Republicans introduced a 13-page border security proposal for the next Congress, Caroline Coudriet of Roll Call reports. It’s heavy on policies that have done little to stem migration and conspicuously light on compassion; among other things, it would defund nonprofit groups that are aiding migrants at and near the border. 

Meanwhile, Gloria Rebecca Gomez of the Arizona Mirror shares the stories of Dreamers themselves. "Who here has heard the question: Where do you want to be in five years?" asked Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Oscar Romero. "Imagine not being able to answer that — with your life in this country revolving on a two-year cycle." 

"My future is in the hands of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Thom Tillis," said fellow DACA recipient Delia Rodriguez. "With their help, we can find a national solution that takes my life plans out of limbo and allows me to pursue my ambitions without fear and anxiety." 

The clock is ticking on the senators’ proposal, which would strengthen border security and offer many Dreamers the opportunity to earn citizenship, as Gomez reports. 

Sinema has some other news today. But "[f]or those who support my work to secure the southern border, ensure fair and humane treatment for migrants and permanently protect ‘Dreamers’ who are Americans in all but name, those will remain my priorities," she writes.  

Welcome to Friday’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]. 

FOR OUR AFGHAN ALLIES — GOP Senators removed Special Immigrant Visa language from the National Defense Authorization Act text Tuesday, reports J.P. Lawrence of Stars and Stripes. That increases the urgency for the Afghan Adjustment Act, which Cindy M. Wu separately advocates for in an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle. "With the recent increase in Afghans arriving to Houston over the past year and the ongoing delay in passing the Afghan Adjustment Act, it has become increasingly apparent to Texans that our country is failing to live up to the promise to give our Afghan allies a home," writes Wu, a faith leader and nonprofit program manager. Jeff Heidkamp, a former pastor and public-school teacher who is now an immigration law clerk in Minneapolis, makes the same case in an op-ed for Religion News Service. 

Locally: 

• In partnership with Catholic Charities of Arkansas’ Refugee Resettlement Office, several churches have helped resettle 88 Afghans in the Little Rock area. (Chris Price, Arkansas Catholic) 
• Through the nonprofit Welcome.US, Google recently donated refurbished laptops to more than 500 refugee families who resettled in southern California. (Yusra Farzan, The Orange County Register) 

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES — Fourteen Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have committed suicide this year alone — the highest number in 13 years. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is planning to introduce a bill this week to address agents’ mental health, report Benjamin Siegel and Lauren Peller of ABC News. "The folks who are manning the southern border are bearing the brunt of our failed policies," said Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan). "We are willing to work with anyone on the right or the left to deal with that crisis." In the meantime, CBP plans to further expand the number of on-site clinicians and hire more than a dozen operational psychologists. Combined, they would implement "an evidence-based suicide prevention and intervention program," per a CBP spokesperson. 

BORDER DEMOGRAPHICS — The demographic makeup of people seeking refuge at the southern border is changing, Tristan Richards of Cronkite News reports. That’s posing challenges for an American government whose policies mainly are geared toward Mexican migrants. Our policy expert Danilo Zak makes a key point about the large increases in migration from countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua: "All of those countries are going through crises." The Darién Gap jungle in Panama has even become a "major migrant pathway" in recent years, he notes. "It’s not because it’s less dangerous, it’s because people are fleeing more extreme circumstances." 

EUROPEAN BORDER VIOLENCE — Thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have faced "an unprecedented rise in violence," at European borders between 2021 and 2022. That’s according to a 3,173-page report by nonprofits of the Border Violence Monitoring Network, which gathered testimonies from 15 countries, Jennifer Rankin of The Guardian reports in a tough read. The report alleges that border guards in 13 countries began using "gruesome ‘deterrence tactics,’ such as prolonged beatings, shaving of heads, forced undressing, sexual assaults and dog attacks, among others." As we grapple with more than 89 million people displaced worldwide, we must remember their human dignity and human rights. 

METRO MOVES — Really interesting: A new study by the Bush Institute reveals the top metro areas where immigrants are moving "and thriving," with many heading toward the Sun Belt region, reports Stef W. Kight of Axios. Metro areas "experiencing large inflows of foreign-born people are benefiting tremendously by attracting these people," said Cullum Clark, director of the economic growth initiative at the George W. Bush Institute-SMU. Make sure to look at the map showing the highest net domestic migration from 2010 to 2020 and the list of top ten metro areas for immigrants’ well-being.