Razor wire on a pecan farmer’s land in Eagle Pass, Texas, continues to block Border Patrol agents from reaching at-risk migrants despite the farmer's repeated requests that the state take it down, report Benjamin Wermund and Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle.  

Owner Hugo Urbina is leasing a section of the land along the Rio Grande to the federal government to process migrants. His farm is near where a pregnant teenager was found caught in the razor wire, as the Chronicle reported previously.  

Urbina said he met with Victor Escalon of the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) earlier this month and threatened to file trespassing and destruction of property charges if the wire was not removed, but Escalon refused. In an interview Tuesday, Escalon said DPS has the authority to use private property without the owner’s permission under a border-related disaster declaration signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in 2021. 

"Gov. Abbott made it very clear: His expectations are we stop and stem the flow of migrants," Escalon said.  

The Texas Office of the Inspector General is investigating allegations the Chronicle reported Monday, in which a state trooper said officers were ordered to push migrants back into the river and withhold water from them, reports Uriel J. García of the Texas Tribune. Yesterday Texas officials denied the allegations, Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports. 

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

BORDER POLICY EFFECTS — Priscilla Alvarez of CNN writes on how U.S. asylum policy has contributed to migrants being held at border facilities for more than 10 days and some for up to 30 days. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Border Network for Human Rights identified 177 alleged cases of abuse resulting from border security initiatives at the state and federal levels, reports Fernie Ortiz of Border Report.  

LEGAL PATH — The Biden administration has used its humanitarian parole authority to welcome more than 540,000 migrants in the past two years, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The effort "has allowed officials to divert migration away from the southern border by offering would-be migrants a legal and safe alternative," Montoya-Galvez writes. 

LEGAL CHALLENGE — A challenge to the Biden administration's new restrictions on asylum will be heard in court today, reports Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post. Per the restrictions, "migrants are automatically ineligible for asylum if they enter the United States illegally or fail to seek asylum in another country on their route." Advocates argue that the policy violates federal and international law. 

VISA REFORM — New, bipartisan legislation led by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) would reform visa programs to address labor shortages, Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washington Examiner. "Gonzales deserves credit for seeking constructive solutions," columnist Gilbert Garcia writes in the San Antonio Express-News.  

PERMANENT SOLUTIONS — In conversation with Stella M. Chavez of KERA News, immigration policy expert Laura Collins of the George W. Bush Institute talks about the need for a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers. "[I]t really is up to Congress to get serious about this and decide that this is a population of people that they value enough to provide a solution for," Collins says. And in The Dallas Morning News, Texas Restaurants Association CEO Emily Williams Knight writes that immigrants, including Dreamers, are crucial to addressing labor shortages. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan