CBP One appointments are no longer being issued at the Laredo, Texas, border crossing. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not justified the measure, but advocates warned American authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion, report Valerie Gonzalez and Julie Watson of the Associated Press.     

Some asylum-seekers said they had been threatened by Mexican officials in Nuevo Laredo. Rafael Alvarez from Venezuela recalls: "They would tell us covertly, ‘You’re going to put the money in this envelope and pass it to us.’" 

Immigration advocates say that this situation, as well as other problems such as cartel fighting, question the Biden administration’s argument that Mexico is a safe place for those seeking asylum and fleeing violence.  

Separately, in a 10,000-word dispatch for  The New Yorker, Dexter Filkins examines the struggles of humanitarian groups aiding migrants at the border. In Del Rio, Texas, over 70,000 migrants have passed through over the past two years, more than double the city’s population, Filkins notes. 

Since early 2021, the number of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border has grown, but the towns they cross still receive little to no help. Local leaders told Filkins they feel the federal government isn’t doing enough to help them.  

The border crossings have heated the debate surrounding asylum. But what is really behind the situation is the need for a reform in our immigration system. A new poll from Data for Progress, the Refugee Advocacy Lab, and Refugees International found that a majority of voters actually support allowing people to seek asylum at the southern border. Congress should work on solutions that prioritize human dignity as well as an orderly process. 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s strategic communications manager, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Karime Puga, Ashling Lee, Keylla Ortega, Samuel Benson and Marcela Aguirre. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

FARM SUED – A Michigan farm is being sued for "human trafficking and violating the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act," reports Elizabeth Washington of Click on Detroit.  The farm coerced migrants into working long hours and made them pay for deplorable housing by threatening to report the workers to immigration authorities, Washington notes.  

INHUMANITY - The Sun Sentinel editorial board writes on "the inhumanity of DeSantis’ migrant flights." The board says that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is using migrants for political gain and that he is "morally responsible for the shabbiest stunt any sitting Florida governor could undertake." Separately, James Call of the Tallahassee Democrat writes about the silence of Catholic GOP lawmakers as Bishop Mark Seitz of the El Paso Diocese, and a Forum Board member, called the case of migrants transported to Sacramento as an act "not morally acceptable." 

TEMPORARY SHELTERS — Migrants and volunteers are raising concerns about the conditions at temporary shelters in Chicago, reports Madison Savedra of Block Club Chicago. The shelters have limitations on access to clothing and medical help, food is scarce and there are restrictions on donations. Volunteers are calling for transparency in the shelter system. "The police stations treated us better," said one woman in a shelter.  

TPS EXTENSION — Nearly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua could get a new extension of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The Trump administration tried to end the TPS program for those countries, but those attempts were blocked in federal court. Now, the Biden administration is planning to extend them. 

Thanks for reading,