These changes will have a meaningful impact for many CAM applicants and is a step in the right direction. However, the pool of children who qualify for program is relatively small compared to the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum. 

And speaking of asylum, Hamed Aleaziz reports for the Los Angeles Times that the Biden administration is pausing a policy that expedited asylum decisions for certain migrants at the southern border, in anticipation of an increase in numbers when Title 42 is lifted next month. The asylum-processing policy has earned praise from advocates since its inception last year.  

"It’s tragic to see the administration abandon even minimal progress in favor of recycling Trump policies that are intentional in their cruelty," said Heidi Altman of the National Immigrant Justice Center. While the policy wasn’t perfect, she added, it "represented one of the few efforts by this administration to prioritize humanitarian processing." 

Title 42 was never going to be the answer in the long term, but prioritizing restrictions and deterrence over better processing isn’t the answer either. We’ve taken an in-depth look at what can help. 

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 Clara Villatoro, Joanna Taylor and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].     

TOP OFFICIAL CHARGED — Francisco Garduño, the head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, will face criminal charges stemming from the detention center fire that killed 40 migrants in Ciudad Juárez in March, a team at the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors say the agency was aware of safety issues prior to the fire and cited a "pattern of irresponsibility."  

CBP ONE — The Biden administration is hoping that the CBP One phone app will become the main point of access to the asylum system at the U.S.-Mexico border, Camilo Montoya-Galvez at CBS News reports. More than 60,000 asylum-seekers have secured asylum appointments in the U.S. since the app launched in mid-January, though advocates have cited app glitches and other concerns. 

PRIVATE DETENTION — Despite promises to phase out private detention centers, the Biden administration continues to jail asylum seekers in those centers, writes María Inés Taracena of The New Republic. Much of the Biden administration’s approach on immigration detention echoes Trump’s policies, she notes — including reports last month that it is "considering detaining asylum-seeking families apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border, after largely stopping the practice over the last two years." 

CALIFORNIA REFORMS — The California Legislature held its first hearing on the HOME Act on Tuesday, Tyche Hendricks of KQED reports. The bill "would protect noncitizens from being turned over to federal authorities if the governor has granted them clemency, or they’ve been released from prison due to any of several criminal justice reform laws recently enacted in California."  

RESETTLEMENT INCREASE — Evangelical leaders are praising last month’s increase in refugee resettlement, Diana Chandler reports for Baptist Press. "It is encouraging to see, at long last, the U.S. refugee resettlement program regain traction in helping the most vulnerable reach safety," said Hannah Daniel of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention [and a Forum alumna]. Meanwhile, a new report from Rice University shines light on female refugees’ resilience. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan