The Forum Daily | Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022
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THE FORUM DAILY

Just a little bit of news in the past day, as details of what's in the
government-funding bill emerge. 

Spoiler alert: It's a lot less than we'd hoped. 

Not included: the combination of solutions for the border, for
America's farmers and ranchers, and for Dreamers that so many
Americans wanted before the end of this year
<[link removed]>. 

Not included yet, though there's hope: the Afghan Adjustment Act
<[link removed]>.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
are making a last-minute push to add it via an amendment, as Nancy Vu of
Politico tweeted
<[link removed]>. 

There are a few spending items that made the cut, as Ellen M. Gilmer of
Bloomberg Government
<[link removed]>
reports: $16.5 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
including $1.6 billion to address increased migrant encounters at the
border. A new CBP Shelter and Services grant program would get $800
million that would go to "state and local governments and nonprofits
that do humanitarian relief work at the border."  

Separately, as J.P. Lawrence reports in Stars and Stripes
<[link removed]>,
the bill would extend the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program, as well
as provide 4,000 additional visas. And there's a proposed $2.4 billion
to reimburse states' support for Ukrainian refugees, as Caroline
Coudriet of Roll Call tweeted
<[link removed]>. 

Those are significant, but they're not the bigger-picture reforms we
very much need. Zachary B. Wolf has a good analysis on CNN.com
<[link removed]>
of the current situation, why immigration reforms are stuck, and what
needs to happen. 

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP, and today's great
Forum Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Becka Wall 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]>. 

**ABOUT OUR AFGHAN ALLIES** - We're not the only ones rooting for
the Afghan Adjustment Act to get into the final spending bill. Thirty
retired U.S. military leaders sent a letter to Congress Saturday
advocating for the measure, as Matt Leach and Megan Myers reported
in Fox News
<[link removed]>.
On Monday The Wall Street Journal
<[link removed]>'s
editorial board weighed in. And don't miss the op-ed in the Dayton
Daily News
<[link removed]>
by Susan Marticello, a proud American sponsor of a large family of
resettled Afghans. Known as "Mama Susan" to 20 Afghans in the Dayton
area, she points to their willingness to go to school, study, apply for
jobs and college. "[W]e owe it to them to let them make America their
permanent home," she writes.  

**BIDEN PITCH** - This sounds familiar: The Biden administration is
looking at immigration reforms in 2023 as a way "to provide legal status
for so-called 'Dreamers' and increase the labor supply to help lower
inflation," Hans Nichols reports in Axios
<[link removed]>.
As Nichols notes, "finding a legislative compromise that's acceptable
to the GOP-controlled House, as well as the president's progressive
base, will be a massive challenge. [But] Biden officials are willing to
try." We know that inflation remains a huge concern for Americans -
and, again, that Americans want reforms that could address inflation as
well as the border. Let's hope incoming House leadership is willing to
listen. 

**ON THE BORDER** - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has sent the Texas
National Guard to the border to set up barbed wire, a team at The
Washington Post
<[link removed]>
reports. "What Texas is doing by preventing people from seeking asylum
is patently unlawful and should stop immediately," said Lee Gelernt of
the American Civil Liberties Union. Meanwhile, the Biden administration
is now seeking to have Title 42 end on Dec. 27, per a tweet
<[link removed]> from Hamed
Aleaziz of the Los Angeles Times. On the ground at the border, the
on-again, off-again pending end of Title 42 is causing "confusion and
tension," The Guardian
<[link removed]>
reports. That's making life difficult for the humanitarian
organizations trying to respond on the ground. "[T]he majority of the
work falls to faith communities to pick up the pieces and deal with the
consequences," said Dylan Corbett, director of the Hope Border
Institute, which helps migrants in El Paso and Juárez. To the north in
Dallas-Fort Worth, faith-based organizations are stepping up, as Dianne
Solis reports in the Dallas Morning News
<[link removed]>.
 

**IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS** - With nearly one 1 in 4 entrepreneurs
<[link removed]>
in Massachusetts being foreign-born, the state's "policymakers must be
doing everything they can to foster immigrant entrepreneurship," writes
Marcela García of the Boston Globe
<[link removed]>.
The nonprofit English for New Bostonians
<[link removed]> got the memo and has been
able to offer free or low-cost programs for English as a Second
Language, serving over 1,000 immigrants yearly, notes García. To
further help immigrant entrepreneurs survive and grow, in 2015 the
company launched, English for Immigrant Entrepreneurs, or E4IE classes.
"What's great about these classes is that they end up creating a
community of immigrant business owners who help each other," Claudia
Green, the nonprofit's executive director, said. "They share
information and tips, and they build confidence together." 

**'WE FEEL AT HOME'** - Thousands of migrants, including many from
Venezuela, have been bused from the border to Washington, D.C., this
year. They've found welcome from volunteers - including fellow
migrants, Héctor Alejandro Arzate reports in DCist
<[link removed]>.
This past weekend, volunteers threw a Christmas party where children and
their families - about 300 people total - received donated toys and
enjoyed traditional Venezuelan foods. "Even though we're far away from
our country, Venezuela, we feel at home," said Arianny Ramirez, who
helped prepare pan de jamón and is a recent migrant herself. "With that
warmth, that love, the gaitas, the pan de jamón, the hallacas, and
everything together. It's very beautiful." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

 

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