It’s always tough to catch up after 10 days away, The Forum Daily included, but we’ll do our best today and in the coming days. Let’s start with something positive: Around the country the U.S. continues to welcome and support immigrants — the holidays were no exception. 

On Christmas Eve, when 140 migrants unexpectedly arrived outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in D.C., volunteers got them to a church and provided food — and Christmas carols, per Mike Allen of Axios. Elsewhere in the D.C. area, an "SOS" for food and toys for migrant families resulted in thousands of responses, Theresa Vargas reported in The Washington Post. And in Alabama, dozens of immigrant families were able to reunite with loved ones able to visit from Mexico, reports Mary Scott Hodgin of NPR News.  

In other key headlines, Title 42, originally a pandemic-era policy meant to be lifted on Dec. 27, blocking many migrants from seeking asylum, is still in place. The Supreme Court ruled last week that the program would continue while the court considers a lawsuit challenging its legality, Benjamin Wermund and Taylor Goldenstein of the Houston Chronicle report.  

Edgar H. Clemente and María Verza of the Associated Press have the latest on who’s benefiting from the situation (hint: it’s neither Americans nor migrants). José Ignacio Castañeda Perez of the Arizona Republic has a helpful explainer on Title 42, the border and what happens next. The Forum also responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling.   

At the border itself, the situation remains challenging, as many outlets have covered: In El Paso, Texas, hundreds of migrants are sleeping in the streets, as they lack U.S. sponsors and financial means to travel elsewhere, Rosa Flores and Karol Suarez of CNN report. 

For The New York Times, James Dobbins and Miriam Jordan paint the big picture of the lasting impact of deterrent-focused policies such as Title 42, and the realities of finding solutions. 

"There is not a set of policies to deal with growing numbers of people from other parts of the world," said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. "Title 42 has long lost most of its effectiveness as a deterrence tool." 

Selee also points out that more people are coming from countries Title 42 doesn’t cover. But the Biden administration is looking at expanding the list to cover Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, Ted Hesson and Mica Rosenberg report in Reuters. Alfonso Flores Bermúdez and Frances Robles of The New York Times report on the increase in Nicaraguans in particular. Advocates are concerned about the possible expansion, Sandra Sanchez notes in Border Report. 

We must do better. 

I’m certain we missed compelling stories as we were catching up. Please send them to us at [email protected]. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and today’s great Forum Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz — with a shout-out to Becka Wall for her suggestions over the break. 

2023 GOP AGENDA — House Republicans’ agenda for the first two weeks of the new Congress includes two immigration and border-related bills, reports Emily Brooks of The Hill. Meanwhile, Forum VP of Policy and Advocacy Larry Benenson tells Samantha-Jo Roth of the Washington Examiner about what should be on the agenda: With Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) at risk, "there will be a real need and recognition that Congress will need to act." But a divided Congress means that "[p]rospects for reform will only grow tougher in the next two years," Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal reports. Tougher, yes, but let’s work on what’s urgent and possible.  

REMEMBER OUR AFGHAN ALLIES — Speaking of urgent and possible: the Afghan Adjustment Act. Congress’ failure to pass it last year despite strong bipartisan support means tens of thousands of resettled Afghan allies and their families still have only temporary status with an expiration date as soon as August, reports Farnoush Amiri of the Associated Press. "We lost everything in Afghanistan" under the Taliban takeover, ally Mohammad Behzad Hakkak said. "And now, we don’t know about our future here." Meanwhile, for CBN News, Tawnya Brown, Senior Vice President of Global, Refugee, and Immigrant Services at Bethany Christian Services, calls on churches to continue welcoming Afghans — and on Congress to act. "It’s the church’s role to come alongside the voiceless, the resourceless, and the homeless without judgment and without agenda," she writes. "We must ask ourselves, ‘How do we care for people who do not see a future in front of them?’" 

CUBAN MIGRATION — Several Cubans who were awaiting deportation have been released from detention after Immigration and Customs Enforcement accidentally leaked their confidential data online last month, reports Syra Ortiz-Blanes of the Miami Herald. "I am super happy. It was a saga to get out of Cuba," said Ronald Rodriguez Torres, after being released from Broward Transitional Center, a detention center for migrants in Pompano Beach. He hopes to study and work so he can work in physical rehabilitation, as he did in Cuba. "Thanks to this country, that is giving me a fighting chance," he added. Meanwhile, the arrival of hundreds of migrants forced Dry Tortugas National Park to close yesterday, Brian Hamacher of NBC Miami reports. 

FILLING NEEDS — Immigrants are expected to continue filling gaps in the workforce in Texas as the economy grows and more businesses relocate there, reports Arcelia Martin of The Dallas Morning News. This comes against the backdrop of the U.S.’s acute labor shortages, including the "struggle to fill Texas’ nearly 870,000 open jobs," Martin notes. Meanwhile, a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that 36% of nation’s innovation in the past three decades is thanks to immigrants, per Augusta Saraiva of Bloomberg. Locally, immigrants are filling bus-driver needs in Winooski, Vermont (Auditi Guha, VTDigger), a new program in Maine seeks to help immigrant women contribute fully (Ari Snider, Maine Public), and immigrants are helping one another at Maine’s AK Health and Social Services (Evan Popp, Maine Beacon). 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

P.S. — A Syrian family that once established a chocolate business in Damascus has now built a chocolate empire in Nova Scotia, Canada, by the name of Peace by Chocolate, reports Ian Austen of The New York Times. What a treat!