The Forum Daily | Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022
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THE FORUM DAILY

Bringing you a slightly abbreviated edition because we're an
abbreviated team today. 

In Congress, we've gone from hope for a package of border and
immigration solutions to having asylum restrictions hold up the
must-pass spending bill. 

"Lawmakers are at a standstill over a proposed GOP amendment tied to a
Trump-era border policy, which could force Democrats to take a
politically tricky vote," Caitlin Emma and Jordain Carney report in
Politico
<[link removed]>.
The measure could threaten the viability of the spending bill in the
House, they note. 

This is what happens when lawmakers pass up an opportunity to implement
real border solutions combined with other urgent immigration reforms.
Andrea Castillo of the Los Angeles Times
<[link removed]>
has a good writeup on what might have been. 

The policy in question is Title 42, which the amendment from Sen. Mike
Lee (R-Utah) would keep in place. A public-health-related measure
implemented under the pandemic, it remained in place as a crutch for
turning away many asylum-seekers. Because it has no penalty for repeat
attempts, it has led to inflated numbers of border encounters.  

In a sense, it also has built up pressure that could be released when it
does end, as Khaya Himmelman reports in Grid
<[link removed]>.
Nouran Salahieh of CNN
<[link removed]>
and a team at the Associated Press
<[link removed]>
spoke directly with migrants and have more on the situation on the
ground. 

These challenges are real, but there are better ways to address them
<[link removed]>.
For starters: Expand capacity - at legal ports of entry and among
asylum officers and immigration court judges. Better fund local
governments and humanitarian nonprofits who are helping respond. (See
also this newly published fact sheet
<[link removed]>
from the Council on National Security and Immigration.) 

Because here's the thing: Migrants at the border are human beings,
with God-given dignity and the lawful right to seek asylum here. Some
may be ineligible, and that's why we have an asylum process. But the
answer is not to gut or indefinitely quell the United States'
leadership as a beacon of hope and refuge. 

As we seek spiritual sanctuary this holiday season, let us not avert our
eyes from human beings who need their own miracle.  

We have a new resource that I'm confident will help you empathize with
them. Take a few minutes to take your own Journey to the U.S. Southern
Border
<[link removed]>. 

Welcome to Thursday'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 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]>. 

**WILL IT BE ENOUGH?** - Bipartisan co-sponsorship. Vocal support on
the Senate floor. Extra time on the clock. Will it be enough to get the
Afghan Adjustment Act onto the spending bill as an amendment? We might
find out today. One of the co-sponsors (and vocal supporters) is Sen.
Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), as Andrew Bahl reports in the Topeka
Capital-Journal
<[link removed]>.
Former interpreter Masood Akbari of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is among our
allies whom the act would help, as Mollie Swayne of KCRG
<[link removed]>
reports. And Rachel Bonar of Omaha, Nebraska, a member of Mormon Women
for Ethical Government, makes a compelling case in the Omaha
World-Herald
<[link removed]>. 

**ARIZONA** - Speaking of better funding, two Arizona entry
points will receive millions of dollars from the federal government for
their ports of entry, reports Sarah Lapidus of the Arizona Republic
<[link removed]>.
The San Luis crossing will be modernized, while the port of entry in
Douglas will be rebuilt. Elsewhere along the state's border with
Mexico, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) plans to remove the shipping containers he
placed along the border, Howard Fischer reports in the Arizona Daily
Star
<[link removed]>.
The federal government filed a lawsuit over the containers last week.  

**UKRAINIANS** - The U.S. has welcomed more than 200,000 Ukrainians
since March, a "generous welcome [that] shows the power of the U.S.
government to expand immigration pathways when there is a political will
to do so," Michelle Hackman writes in the Wall Street Journal
<[link removed]>. 

**BIBLICAL AND PERSONAL** - Hopes for immigration reforms have slimmed
for this year, but the words of Kim S. Phipps in the
Harrisburg Patriot-News
<[link removed]>
show the continuing urgency for solutions - including from the faith
perspective. Phipps is president of Messiah University in Mechanicsburg,
Pennsylvania. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

 

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