Today marks two decades since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created.

In a powerful op-ed for the Miami Herald, Sarah M. Rich and Caleb Kieffer of SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project urge the department to shift its focus away from targeting asylum seekers under an "immigration policy based on fear and misinformation" — and toward the real threat of domestic terrorism.

"DHS should prioritize preventing threatening attacks, rather than locking up and traumatizing families who are seeking asylum — a human right protected under U.S. and international law," Rich and Kieffer write. "We need to reduce and reprogram funding to ICE and CBP and reinvest that money in services that benefit communities and help prevent polarization, extremism and radicalization."

The writers allude to the Great Replacement Theory, which is rooted in racism and fear. We have helpful resources on the theory and how to combat it.

Welcome to Wednesday’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].

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT — A new Fox News poll finds that strong majorities of Americans favor policies that strengthen not only the border but also legal pathways that make it easier for unauthorized immigrants to enter or remain in the U.S., reports Victoria Balara of Fox News. "Voters clearly want to enforce the border, but they’re also realistic about handling those who are already in the country illegally," said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helped conduct the poll. If such results feel familiar, they should (and keep an eye out in coming days for more).

ADDRESSING LABOR SHORTAGES — A quick quartet here:

Want the goods? Thank foreign-born truckers. Immigrants now make up 40% of local truckers in Houston, and 25% statewide, Elizabeth Trovall reports in the Houston Chronicle.
Beth Ford, CEO of Minnesota-based Land O’Lakes, told John Simons of TIME that the best way to lower grocery prices and fix labor shortages is by passing immigration reform.
Reforms also might help fill an increasing need for electricians — Amrith Ramkumar of the Wall Street Journal reports on those shortages.
Bigger-picture, Evgeniya A. Duzhak analyzes how increased immigration can continue to help ease the tight labor market in an economic letter for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

AN ALLY’S MESSAGE — Aminullah Faqiry, owner of the new Afghan Super Store in Providence, Rhode Island, was once a front-line interpreter for U.S. troops, reports Edward Fitzpatrick of the Boston Globe. Today, Faquiry "call[s] on the United States Senate, the Congress, the president, and people who know the importance of this Afghan Adjustment Act, to please go ahead and accept this and let the Afghan people get permanent residence," Faqiry said. (Read our summary of last year’s legislation.)

REFUGEE NUMBERS — A USA TODAY analysis reconfirms that the U.S. has fallen short of President Biden’s targets for refugee resettlement, "leaving tens of thousands of unfilled slots for people fleeing perilous conditions such as wars and natural disasters," report Rebecca Morin and Dan Keemahill. "There's been two years of rebuilding now, and I think our domestic capacity has grown to absorb larger refugee numbers," said Julia Gelatt of the Migration Policy Institute.

Thanks for reading,

Dan