It’s a message Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has alluded to clearly. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh underscored it today at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, reports Joshua Kirby of The Wall Street Journal. 

"We need immigration reform in America," Walsh said during a panel about the future of jobs. "... The threat to the American economy long-term is not inflation, it’s [about] immigration. It’s not having enough workers." 

Walsh noted that while many foreign students come to the U.S. to get educated, they face the possibility of deportation if they can’t get a work visa in time afterward.  

In Bloomberg Law, Laura Foote Reiff, shareholder and co-founder of Greenberg Traurig’s business and immigration and compliance group, goes into detail about the need to update employment-based visas and reform quotas. [Reiff is also board president of America Is Better, the Forum’s sibling (c)4.] 

Without needed changes, "employers will continue to struggle to fill jobs in many industries, such as nursing, and other highly skilled positions. … Such reforms would help bolster the U.S. economy and national security, and would bring our immigration system into the 21st century." 

Meanwhile, immigrant workers holding H-1B visas for specialized skills are feeling the brunt of big tech’s layoffs as they urgently try to find a new sponsor or start over elsewhere, Anna Kramer reports for WIRED. 

The U.S. must do better to pass labor reforms. Combined, these efforts would address worker shortages; provide a reliable, legal workforce for employers; and uplift immigrant talent to maintain the country’s global competitiveness.  

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and I have extra big thanks for Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz for running with The Forum Daily while I’ve been out with a sick toddler. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

FEAR OF DISCRIMINATION — Ohio driver’s licenses and state ID cards will show holders’ citizenship status as a result of a new law, raising concerns about discrimination, reports Peter Gill of The Columbus Dispatch. The new law, set to take effect on April 7, will require voters to present photo ID at polling places. Advocacy groups have noted that the new law might increase chances for everyday discrimination against noncitizens, who use their IDs often — on visits to a doctor’s office, applying for a loan or insurance, or interacting with the police, for example. With the law’s implementation, "I’ll feel bad, ashamed, to show people my ID and people might look down upon me if they know I’m not a citizen," Chhabi Bhujel, a Nepali immigrant, said. 

THE DARIEN GAP — Almost a quarter of a million migrants crossed the dangerous Darien Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama in 2022 on their journey north, nearly double the 2021 total, the Associated Press reports. At least 36 migrants died during the journey, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM), noting that the true number is likely higher given that some migrants are never found. "The stories we have heard from those who have crossed the Darien Gap attest to the horrors of this journey," said Giuseppe Loprete, IOM chief of mission in Panama. "Many have lost their lives or gone missing, while others come out of it with significant health issues, both physical and mental, to which we and our partners are responding." 

SEA JOURNEYS — Growing numbers of Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving by sea continue to be turned back, reports Richard Luscombe of The Guardian. The U.S. Coast Guard turned back 177 Cuban migrants last Thursday, while Customs and Border Protection agents took into custody a group of Haitians who swam ashore to Miami. The Coast Guard has intercepted and returned more than 4,900 Cubans at sea since Oct. 1. Locally, however, many have been supporting arriving migrants. "Hermanos de la Calle" (Brothers of the Street), a nonprofit organization that normally assists homeless people, has been placing migrant families in shelters or hotels, reports Ivan Taylor of CBS Miami. Migrants must show proof that a sponsor is waiting for them in the state, since Hermanos offers only short-term support. 

U.S. CAPACITY TO WELCOME — A wealthy nation like the U.S. has the capacity to embrace and welcome asylum-seeking migrants with dignity, primary-care physicians James Huang and Kate Sugarman write in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post. To help address increased border crossings, the country must "see the people crossing the border as human beings with the potential to live full lives," they write, in response to the Biden administration’s latest immigration policy. Council on National Security and Immigration leader Elaine Dezenski also recently weighed in on Biden’s proposal, noting some positives — but also the need to do more. "The recent attention by President Biden on the southern border is welcome, but the Administration and Congress need to work together to pass needed reforms to fix a dysfunctional immigration system," she writes. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan