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. 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 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. Nouran Salahieh of CNN and a team at the Associated Press 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. 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 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. 

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]. 

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. Former interpreter Masood Akbari of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is among our allies whom the act would help, as Mollie Swayne of KCRG reports. And Rachel Bonar of Omaha, Nebraska, a member of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, makes a compelling case in the Omaha World-Herald. 

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. 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. 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. 

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

Thanks for reading,  

Dan