Just yesterday, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) announced a new agricultural bill that would offer migrant farmworkers a pathway to permanent residency, report Suzanne Monyak and Ellyn Ferguson of Roll Call. 

The revised legislation mimics the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed in the House with bipartisan support.  

The new proposed legislation, known as the Affordable and Secure Food Act, aims to reduce inflation by combating agricultural labor shortages and revamping the H-2A visa program, they note. 

"It is inarguable that passing this legislation will be better for American agriculture than not passing this legislation. It is inarguable that this will be better for family farms than not passing this legislation. It is inarguable that this will be better for farmworkers if we pass this legislation than if we don’t," Bennet said. 

Locally, Rachel Cohen of Boise State Public Radio News and the outlet, KUSA-TV 9 News, have the story. 

Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, offered her perspective in our press statement as well: 

"This bill would help stave off inflation, put food on the table at an affordable price, and give American farmers the relief they’ve been seeking. It also would boost our food security by keeping more of our food homegrown. Time is short, but we hope Congress will come together to provide key reforms Americans want this year." 

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s strategic communications manager, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

MIGRANT PROTECTION PROTOCOLS — Yesterday U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the Biden administration’s termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. Here’s the catch: "While Kacsmaryk suspended Mayorkas’ memo and the ‘corresponding decision to terminate MPP,’ the immediate, practical implications of the order were not clear on Thursday, as any U.S. effort to return migrants to Mexico under a formal policy has to be greenlit by the Mexican government," notes Montoya-Galvez. MPP, known as "Remain in Mexico," resulted in over 70,000 migrants being returned to Mexico to await court hearings from January 2019 to December 2020. The administration is now determining the next steps. Our policy experts note however, that the ruling does not force the Biden administration to resume placing arriving migrants into MPP. Stay tuned.  

TITLE 42 PLAN — The Biden administration released an updated plan this week to address the potential challenges with the end of Title 42 on Dec. 21, reports Rosa Flores of CNN. The plan includes six pillars: surging resources to the border, increasing processing efficiency, imposing consequences for unlawful entry, bolstering nonprofit capacity, targeting smugglers, and working with international partners. According to the document, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inherited a "broken and dismantled immigration system." One solution includes hiring 1,000 Border Patrol processing coordinators and adding 2,500 government contractors and personnel. Separately, city leaders in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, are preparing for the potential increase of migrants crossing the border when Title 42 is lifted, per a team at NBC News. Meanwhile, CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf has an analysis of where immigration policies stand and where we might be headed pending efforts to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

MASS KIDNAPPING — Hundreds of asylum-seeking migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez into El Paso earlier this week were part of a mass kidnapping in Mexico, per an interview with nine migrants. Most of the kidnapped migrants were Nicaraguans, who say they were held against their will while ransoms were demanded in Durango, Mexico, reports a team at Reuters. "The kidnappings are a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants as they travel across Mexico, crisscrossing areas rife with drug violence and weak rule of law," Reuters notes. Elsewhere, José Ignacio Castañeda Perez of the Arizona Republic dives deep into how organized criminal networks continue to prey on vulnerable migrants as they journey to the U.S. The Council of National Security and Immigration also published a helpful blog on the difference between human trafficking and smuggling.  

PROTECTING AFGHAN ALLIES — Congress must pass the bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act this year. Without it, thousands of Afghan allies under temporary humanitarian parole may get deported, writes Trudy Rubin in a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We made that promise to protect the Afghan people who risked their lives to help us," Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), who newly co-sponsored the bill, told Rubin over dinner. "[W]e know how hard it will be in the future conflicts to find foreign allies if we can’t keep our word." Rubin agrees — and warns us of the consequences of inaction. "Passing this bill should be a no-brainer. Its death would add another chapter to a history of U.S. betrayal of its allies." Meanwhile, Tim Young of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service retweeted that Sens. Patrick Joseph Leahy (D-Vermont) and Roger Frederick Wicker (R-Mississippi) signed on as sponsors yesterday.  

A PERMANENT SOLUTION — More than 200 advocates from across the U.S. gathered at Capitol Hill this week to push for a permanent solution for Dreamers, report Ted Hesson and Richard Cowan of Reuters. Addinelly Moreno Soto, a DACA recipient from Texas, along with her husband, was one of them. "How much longer do we have to prove ourselves — that we are worthy of being here permanently?" she asked. "That is the frustrating part. I have children. What about them?" Moreno Soto hoped to speak with U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) to discuss the urgency of the situation. "The end-of-year push comes as a window is nearly closed for Congress to find a compromise to protect Dreamers, many of whom speak English and have jobs, families and children in the United States but lack permanent status," Hesson and Cowan note. 

Thanks for reading, 

Clara