The policies implemented by the Biden administration after Title 42 have led to higher rejection rates of asylum seekers, reports Hamed Aleaziz of the Los Angeles Times. 

The Biden administration wrote in a court filing that the number of single-adult migrants who can pass initial screenings at the border has dropped from 83% (the average rate between 2014 and 2019) to 46% from May 12-June 13, under the new policy. 

The filing is part of a lawsuit immigration advocates filed last month, arguing that Biden’s new asylum policy resembles a Trump-era policy that restricted asylum. "This newly released data confirms that the new asylum restrictions are as harsh as advocates warned," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council. 

Meanwhile, a humanitarian parole program for nationals of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti has proved difficult to access for many Haitians, reports Mélodie Cerin of U.S. News. Language barriers, technological issues and financial obstacles are among the challenges, not to mention a "frustrating and at times frightening" effort to secure documents for the program, with incidents of violence at passport centers. 

"I’ve been in Port-au-Prince now for weeks trying to get my passport," said Fritznerson Dely, who applied for the humanitarian program Feb. 1 but hasn’t been able to afford all of the documentation. 

Meanwhile, having celebrated Juneteenth on Monday, we appreciate the perspective of Cianna Greaves — daughter of African immigrants and an audio producer at WBEZ — in the Chicago Sun-Times. 

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, Karime Puga, Ashling Lee, Christian Blair and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

BROKEN — A broken asylum system is at the heart of our border challenges, Julia Preston writes in an excellent deep dive in Foreign Affairs. "[F]or lack of other legal avenues, [asylum] has turned into the main channel for mass immigration across the southwest border, a function it was never designed to serve," she notes. The backlog of claims stands at nearly 800,000, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Preston notes "growing bipartisan recognition" that the asylum system needs reform. 

OTHERS’ OPPORTUNITY — Countries such as Australia, the UK and Canada are recruiting highly skilled international workers trained at U.S. universities, reports Jon Marcus of The Hechinger Report. "We are a beneficiary of the failures of the U.S. system," said Nicolas Rollason, head of business immigration for Kingsley Napley, a London-based law firm. (Ouch.) Our policy expert Arturo Castellanos-Canales outlines five solutions to reverse the declining popularity of the U.S. among international students to begin with.  

ILLINOIS BILL — The Illinois Legislature has passed a bill that would allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to become police officers, reports Andrew Hensel from The Center Square. Several law enforcement groups have shown support. The measure is now on the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker (D). Other states, including California, Colorado, Wisconsin and Nevada, have passed or are considering similar measures. A Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force blog post from earlier this year addresses the subject. 

HONORING REFUGEES — Christian groups honored refugees across the country yesterday on World Refugee Day, reports Anugrah Kumar of the Christian Post. "[This celebration] serves as a reminder that we must all work together to end the difficulties and adversities that millions of refugees and host communities face," said Michael Kruger, president of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. The digital team here at the Forum gathered some joyful stories from young refugees graduating at Fugees Academy this year as well as a great TikTok. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan