The Forum Daily | Thursday, August 24, 2023
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THE FORUM DAILY

A group of 147 migrants, which included children, was abandoned in open
field in Texas amid the beginning of tropical storm Harold on Tuesday,
reports Anna Skinner of Newsweek
<[link removed]"It was kind of odd to see 100-plus cross during the storm itself. That
in itself is pretty rare to see. It took us by surprise," said Texas
Department of Public Safety (DPS) spokesperson Chris Olivarez. 

According to Olivarez, migrants were guided by smugglers across the Rio
Grande in Starr County and were left there without any protection. The
group consisted of mainly families from Honduras, El Salvador and
Guatemala. 

Separately, smugglers are exposing hundreds of migrants to high risk by
sending them through a desolate mountainous area east of Tijuana to
cross to California, reports Salvador Rivera of Border Report
<[link removed]"The terrain is very rugged, it's mountainous and you also have to
take into account the wildlife in the middle of nowhere," said Angel
Moreno, U.S. Border Patrol spokesperson in the zone. "The area is
becoming more dangerous for our agents, too." 

Moreno said that two criminal organizations "are at war for smuggling
routes" in San Diego, which is resulting in bandits preying on migrants
holding them at gunpoint to rob them.  

We're pausing the Daily on Fridays this month, so we'll be back
Monday. Welcome to Thursday's edition of The Forum Daily.
I'm Clara Villatoro, the Forum's strategic communications
manager, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Ashling Lee,
Jillian Clark and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own
community, please send it to me at
[email protected]. 
<mailto:[email protected].%E2%80%AF> 

GOP DEBATE - In the first GOP debate last night there was almost no
mention of immigration "just a steady drumbeat of menace", write Miriam
Jordan and Jennifer Medina of The New York Times
<[link removed]'s president and CEO Jennie Murray said early this week
<[link removed]"Americans favor solutions to harsh and unworkable policies...[T]he
debate season offers candidates the opportunity to offer solutions
instead of negative rhetoric."   

SHRINKING LABOR FORCE - A recent study
<[link removed]'s falling birthrate and
the retirement of Baby Boomers, writes Stuart Anderson for Forbes
<[link removed]"Now and in the future, the U.S. will still need workers, and it risks
not having enough of them... [A] shrinking working-age population can
easily lead to economic stagnation or even falling living standards for
a nation," writes Madeline Zavodny in her study for the National
Foundation of American Policy (NFAP). 

**'EXPOSED TO EVERYTHING'** - Despite a new temporary outdoor
shelter in the city of Matamoros, Mexico, finding adequate space for
migrants remains a challenge, reports Valerie Gonzalez of the
Associated Press
<[link removed]"We are here, and we feel safer than how we were living over there
exposed to everything," said Luisa Hernandez, a Venezuelan migrant who
described being kidnapped in Mexico. While some migrants
have relocated to the new space, others remain wary because they fear
being deported from the shelter.  

A LEGAL

**PATHWAY** - Two years after arriving in the U.S. as a refugee,
Yalda Royan reflects on the uncertainty and challenges faced by herself
and other Afghan evacuees in an article for Slate
<[link removed]