The Forum Daily | Wednesday June 7, 2023
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National Immigration Forum
 

THE FORUM DAILY

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said yesterday that the number of daily encounters along the US-Mexico border has remained low nearly a month after the end of Title 42, reports Priscilla Alvarez of CNN. 

Unlawful entries between ports of entry along the Southwest Border have decreased by more than 70%. And between May 12 and June 2, DHS repatriated over 38,400 noncitizens to more than 80 countries under Title 8, per a DHS statement.  

But the U.S. policies have affected Mexico, where the government and nonprofits are struggling to keep up with asylum-seekers arriving, reports James Frederick of NPR. "The United States is transferring responsibility for people to Mexico. But the Mexican government has only received people without necessarily creating the conditions that allow them to stay," says Melissa Vértiz of the Migration Policy Working Group in Mexico. We addressed Mexico’s challenges last month and in March. 

Separate but on the topic of migration, today we’re co-hosting a webinar to unveil new research on migration narratives in northern Central America. Find details and register here. 

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, Keylla Ortega, Samuel Benson, Ashling Lee and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

RESETTLEMENT UPNewly released State Department data shows the U.S. resettled 6,975 refugees in May, the highest number since fiscal year 2017. We’ve resettled more than 6,000 refugees each month since March, a positive trend. Stay tuned for more on refugee resettlement as World Refugee Day on June 20 approaches.  

DESANTIS RESPONSIBLE The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) confirmed that it was behind the flying of migrants from El Paso to Sacramento in recent days, report Nicholas Nehamas and Shawn Hubler of The New York Times. Whether migrants were deceived before consenting remains a big question. "[M]igrants are human beings, not cargo to be shipped around without regard for their humanity," the Los Angeles Times editorial board wrote Monday.  

A PLEA — Meanwhile, some Florida Republicans are asking migrants to stay in the state despite a harsh new immigration law, reports David Edwards of Raw Story. "This bill is 100% supposed to scare you," Rep. Rick Roth (R) said in a meeting with migrants Monday. "I'm a farmer, and the farmers are mad as hell. We are losing employees." Florida is already in the "more severe" labor shortage category, and the economy would suffer if more immigrants leave, reports Cristian Benavides of CBS News Miami.  

STRAIN  Texas, among the leaders in the number of resettled Afghans it has received, is experiencing the effects of limitations in the resettlement system, reports Caroline Covington of The Texas Tribune. The recent collapse of Texas's largest resettlement agency, Refugee Services of Texas, has increased the strain as thousands of Afghans continue to live in uncertainty. To learn more about the need for long-term solutions for Afghan evacuees, join the Forum’s Facebook Live tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET. 

NURSING SHORTAGE  In an op-ed for Time Magazine, former secretaries of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar (R) and Kathleen Sebelius (D) urge Congress to change immigration policies to tackle the U.S. nursing shortage. "Policymakers need to treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves if we can’t heal our ailing health care system, we can’t heal our patients who need care most," they write. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan