First and foremost, I and the whole Forum team send you our best for the holidays. We hope you’re finding meaning and joy — and avoiding the worst of the winter weather. 

As we celebrate, we’ll also be keeping everyone at the border in our hearts and in our prayers: migrants, Border Patrol agents, the people who work for local governments and nonprofits, and others. 

As we noted yesterday, the challenges they face are great. In El Paso, Texas, Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency as the city runs out of room to shelter migrants and temperatures drop, Addie Offereins of WORLD Magazine reports. 

"This is, of course, a big political issue," said Matthew Soerens, U.S. director of church mobilization for World Relief. "But for us, it’s first and foremost about people and people who, as Christians, we believe are made in the image of God." (The Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit, sounds a similar theme in Detroit Catholic.) 

The increase in migration comes with Title 42 still in place. The policy, a public-health measure first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, could end with a Supreme Court directive any day now.  

On Thursday, two measures failed in the Senate that would have extended the policy indefinitely, as Caroline Coudriet and Suzanne Monyak of Roll Call report. And that’s a good thing, as our colleague Danilo Zak noted. Quinn Owen of ABC News takes an in-depth look at data illuminating that ending Title 42 could "reduce border crossings long-term and ease the burden on the immigration system while allowing migrants to make legally authorized humanitarian claims." 

Danilo is also out with a timely new white paper on what a holistic response to border challenges looks like. For perspectives straight from the border, read Anyra Cano of Fellowship Southwest in Baptist News Global and Forum Daily drafter extraordinaire Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez’s new blog post. And if you haven’t yet, do check out our interactive journey. 

These challenges come after Congress failed to act on border and immigration reforms this year — solutions that most Americans support. There’s plenty of need for grace for both Congress and the Biden administration here. We’ll pray, and keep working, for better outcomes in 2023.  

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Forum Daily. The Forum is closed next week, and we’ll be back Jan. 3. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and today’s 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]. 

A TOP 2023 PRIORITY — We held on to hope yesterday that the Afghan Adjustment Act would make it into the Senate spending bill at the last minute, but no dice, as Al Jazeera reports. "Our view has been that it’s unacceptable to kick the can down the road to the next Congress after all the blood, sweat and tears Afghan veterans and their allies have poured into this bill," Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, told Yonat Shimron of Religion News Service earlier this week. Jennifer Shutt of States Newsroom reports on positive comments on the bill from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky): "That ought to be addressed. I think it’s important." Given the support among Republicans, Democrats, military veterans and so many Americans, Congress must prioritize this bill early in 2023. Support for Afghans and Ukrainians has been a big part of what 2022 taught us, our President and CEO Jennie Murray shares on LinkedIn.  

STILL WAITING — Dreamers — and their employers, schools and communities — are also without a solution, reports Tom Strode of the Baptist Press. "For too long, Congress has let partisan politics and convenient talking points impede necessary action, and this inaction is impacting the real lives of both Dreamers and those at the border," noted Hannah Daniel of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (and a Forum alumna). "Especially as the DACA program is likely to end in the near future, courageous leadership will be needed to do what is right and protect these individuals who have been a part of our communities for decades." In The New York Times, Greisa Martínez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream and a DACA recipient, makes the still compelling case for Dreamers, who have been waiting far too long.  

‘GET BACK INTO THE GAME’ — Let’s not forget about farmers and ranchers —and food consumers — either. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed the House with bipartisan support, did not make the Senate’s final agenda. Given its importance, movement next year could be possible, Victor Reklaitis reports in a MarketWatch piece on several solutions necessary to address labor shortages and inflation. Even with shifts in the incoming Congress, "It’s a missed opportunity if Congress doesn’t get back into the game of legislating on all aspects of immigration," said Theresa Cardinal Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Vanessa Yurkevich of CNN has more on the continuing urgency for reforms. And Kanishka Singh of Reuters reports that U.S. population growth was a bit higher in 2022 than its record low in 2021 — "driven by net international immigration." 

FOOD CORNER — Let’s end with something — well, "lighter" doesn’t seem like the right word. For a special project by Picture Me Here, a 10-year-old program connecting Colorado refugees and immigrants via creative workshops, check out the new cookbook Culture Dish: Stories & Recipes by Refugee and Immigrant Women, per Allyson Reedy in 5280 Magazine.  

Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays again! 

Dan