Monday, January 23
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THE FORUM DAILY

Families are still being separated at the border.  

Hilda Hernandez, originally from Honduras, was separated from her
3-year-old granddaughter Shayra when they arrived in Eagle Pass, Texas,
to request asylum, reports Rick Jervis of USA TODAY
<[link removed]>.
Customs and Border Protection officials separated them despite documents
showing that Hernandez is her granddaughter's main caregiver.  

"I did everything the right way. I did everything legally," Hernandez
said through tears. "You feel so helpless. I just want my little girl
back." 

Families like Hernandez and her granddaughter are being separated via a
U.S. law designed to protect asylum-seeking minors from child
traffickers
<[link removed]>
and other threats, Jennifer Podkul of Kids in Need of Defense told
Jervis: "The intent is child protection. But the result is a lot of
needless separation." 

The Biden administration has been working on reuniting about 3,900
families separated
<[link removed]>
during Trump's "zero tolerance" policy in 2018. But efforts do not
address nonparental guardians such as grandmothers and aunts, per Casey
Revkin, executive director of Each Step Home. 

Hernandez worries about Shayra, who remains in a federal children's
shelter in San Antonio. "She's suffering, I know she is," Hernandez
said. "Please I just need them to return her to me." 

In terms of border data, December's
<[link removed]>
show 251,487 encounters, a 7% increase from November. Although Title 42
remained in place, less than 20% of all December encounters were people
returned under the policy. In the long run, that's good: more
processing at ports of entry means a more orderly process. The figures
predate the Biden administration's new border initiatives -
January's data will be interesting. 

Welcome to Monday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP, and the great Forum
Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro 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]>. 

**REALITY IN CONGRESS** - Last week, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South
Carolina) told House Republicans that the only way forward on
immigration reforms is to work with Democrats on a larger package beyond
just border security, Greg Sargent writes in The Washington Post
<[link removed]>.
Sargent notes that House Republicans are delaying a vote on a
border-only bill (as first reported in Punchbowl News
<[link removed]>). The scope of
the bill "has rattled dozens of House Republicans, many of whom worry it
would prevent migrants and unaccompanied children fleeing violence from
seeking asylum in the United States - a traditionally protected tenet
of the country's immigration laws," Marianna Sotomayor and Theodoric
Meyer report separately in the Post
<[link removed]>. 

**LABOR CHANGES** - The country needs to expand its workforce to keep
up with inflation rates and reduce labor shortages, Larry Edelman writes
in a column for the Boston Globe
<[link removed]>.
"The U.S. faces a chronic labor shortage over the next decade or so as
the baby boom generation continues to leave the labor force and foreign
immigration is limited, unless there is a significant change in
immigration law," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's
Analytics. One positive sign: The U.S. and Mexico
<[link removed]> signed a
memorandum of understanding last week to strengthen protections for
workers in temporary foreign worker programs.  

**PROTECTING WORKERS** - The Department of Homeland Security took
steps this month
<[link removed]>
to better protect noncitizens who experience or witness labor abuses.
Advocates in Connecticut are calling for further expansion of
whistleblower protections, reports Maricarmen Cajahuaringa of
Connecticut Public Radio
<[link removed]>.
Advocates are hoping they can convene at the following state Capitol to
revamp these efforts. 

**PAROLE PROGRAM** - Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti of The Washington
Post
<[link removed]>
take a thorough look at the Biden administration's use of humanitarian
parole - and at the history of the program, which started in 1952,
well before the formal refugee resettlement system was created. "While
previous administrations have used parole to deal with emergencies or
humanitarian challenges, Biden has made more frequent use of the
authority than any other president" to help better manage the border,
they write.  

**FAITH PERSPECTIVES** - Many faith groups see the newly announced
Welcome Corps <[link removed]> program as a way for the
public to get more engaged with refugees - and an opportunity to fill
gaps where resettlement agencies don't have staff or offices, per
Emily Belz of Christianity Today
<[link removed]>.
For more details on the program, including what private sponsorship
entails, read this helpful Q&A from World Relief
<[link removed]>.
From a broader perspective, Christian Vaughn, a high school and
university pastor at First Baptist Church of Plainview, Texas, considers
what the church can do to fix our broken immigration system for Baptist
News Global
<[link removed]>. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

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