Thursday, February 2
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THE FORUM DAILY

Legislators and witnesses painted different pictures of the situation at
the southern border in the first Republican-led hearing on the subject
this Congress. Joel Rose of NPR News
<[link removed]> has
a good breakdown.  

"There is no open border in El Paso," said El Paso County Judge Ricardo
Samaniego, who explained that migrants turn themselves in to Border
Patrol for orderly processing. "... Humanitarianism and security are not
a binary choice. It is the federal government's responsibility to do
both." 

Speaking of the federal government's purview, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
(R) continues to challenge it. On Monday, Abbott named Mike Banks, a
longtime and recently retired CBP agent, the state's "border czar,"
per Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman
<[link removed]>. 

Yes, migration at the southern border presents urgent challenges. No,
politicizing them is not going to solve them. We have better ideas.
<[link removed]>
 

Welcome to Thursday'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]>. 

LABOR SOLUTIONS - "America is running out of working-age adults,"
writes Boston Globe
<[link removed]>
columnist Kara Miller. The solution: Increase legal immigration. (Yes,
this may sound familiar
<[link removed]>.)
Steve Stivers, President and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce,
agrees, as Mike Kallmeyer reports in Spectrum News 1
<[link removed]>.
On a global scale, a trio of experts write in Insider
<[link removed]> that
"if American policymakers can keep the door open to new residents, the
US will be one of the few industrialized nations that won't have to
contend with a shrinking population, which could prove a decisive factor
in its race against China for dominance in the global economy." 

LONG, RISKY JOURNEY - A team at Reuters
<[link removed]>
spoke with some of the hundreds of Afghans who have tried to reach the
U.S. via a far too roundabout journey. It begins with a humanitarian
visa for Brazil, "one of the few remaining exit routes for Afghans
fleeing Taliban rule," and continues across at least 11 countries by
land to reach the U.S.-Mexico border - with no guarantee of asylum. We
can and must do more to assist Afghan refugees.  

**REMITTANCES** - The money Mexican migrants sent home to their
families grew by 13.4% last year, to a total of $58.5 billion, according
to Mexico's central bank. "Remittances now surpass almost all other
sources of the country's foreign income, including tourism, oil
exports and most manufacturing exports," per the Associated Press
<[link removed]>.
Remittances are a good reason to nurture bilateral labor agreements, as
we've recently noted
<[link removed]>. 

UNDER PRESSURE - With Haiti among the countries covered by President
Biden's recently expanded humanitarian parole program, Haitian
Americans are feeling intense pressure to sponsor people still in Haiti,
reports Brian Ellsworth of Reuters
<[link removed]>.
"Desperation to leave has grown in Haiti amid a political crisis and a
spike in violence that most recently has included a wave of killings of
policemen," Ellsworth writes. Separately, in Vox
<[link removed]>,
Sigal Samuel analyzes the step-by-step process to sponsor refugees
under the new Welcome Corps program. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

**P.S.** Nika Streletskaya, age 7, is "painting her way through war,"
reports Tatiana Christy in Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty
<[link removed]>.
The artwork helps her cope and evokes empathy - and is stunning, I
think you'll agree. Nika's paintings will be exhibited this month,
marking the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, thanks to the
Open Heart Fund.

 

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