Officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have separated at least two dozen families in recent weeks, Benjamin Wermund and Jhair Romero of the Houston Chronicle report.   

Guidelines laid out in 2021 directed Texas officers to release families with children under 18 to Border Patrol, but attorneys say fathers have been arrested on trespassing charges, with other family members transferred to Border Patrol agents. Many of the fathers "remain in state custody and have not seen their families since." 

"They handcuffed him with more men from our group and they separated us," said Venezuelan migrant Esneidy Carolina Jerez Moreno, whose family of four had been traveling together. 

Kristin Etter, an attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, said she’s aware of at least 26 families that were separated from July 10-14 in Eagle Pass. Officers there have been arresting migrants on private land and in a public park, sometimes not providing water despite extreme temperatures.  

State officials have said nothing publicly about separating families, but DPS spokesman Travis Considine acknowledged that fathers traveling with their families have been arrested. He stressed that mothers have not been separated from their children, "a key difference from the Trump policy, in which children were removed from both parents." 

I say this as a father: For shame. 

A special thank-you and farewell today to our summer intern Christian Blair, and 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 Christian, Karime Puga, Clara Villatoro and Ashling Lee. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

NUMBERS UP — Migration through the treacherous Darién Gap, between Panama and Colombia, already has reached an annual record, Elida Moreno of Reuters reports. More than a fifth of the 248,901 crossings so far this year occurred in July. The United Nations predicts that the total number of crossings will surpass 400,000 this year, raising concerns about the dangers these migrants face. Encounters with migrants between ports of entry at the U.S. southern border also rose in July, Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report in The Washington Post. 

PUSHBACK — El Paso County will send a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) opposing the state’s border policies and "cruelty" toward migrants, reports Julian Resendiz of Border Report. The county also plans to write the U.S. Department of Justice to support a lawsuit demanding that Texas remove floating barriers placed in the Rio Grande. "It’s important for us as a county to push back against these policies of deterrence by cruelty. It’s really what they are," said County Commissioner Iliana Holguin. 

HIRE ACT — Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) discussed the urgent need for bipartisan action on immigration in a recent Texas podcast, reports Ed Arnold of the San Antonio Business Journal. Gonzales recently introduced [and the Forum has endorsed] the HIRE Act, a bill aiming to streamline temporary visa programs, which has garnered support from both sides of the aisle. "I'm of the mindset that Congress needs to lead again. Congress needs to look at it through the lens of a bipartisan solution," Gonzales said. 

RECONNECTING — Samira Alhamwi, a former refugee from Syria, is teaching Arabic literacy to children of other refugees in Chicago through a unique and entertaining five-week summer camp, reports Elly Fishman of WBEZ Chicago. Alhamwi took lessons she had tailored for her two daughters and created a camp filled with songs and activities. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan