The Forum Daily | Wednesday, September 6, 2023
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌


 

THE FORUM DAILY

Amid a relentless heat wave, migrants crossing the southern border are
succumbing to heat exhaustion and other heat-related illnesses. More
than 500 deaths have been reported this year alone, reports Edgar
Sandoval of The New York Times
<[link removed]'s Deputy Don White says many
migrants, directed by smugglers, take risky, days-long routes to avoid a
Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, about 80 miles north of the Rio
Grande. Often they lack sufficient food and water for the trip. 

In the El Paso border sector alone, migrant deaths have surged by 188%
in 2023 even with migrant encounters dropping, Jennifer Cuevas of KFOX14
<[link removed]"We're dealing with more extreme heat conditions in border regions,"
said Christian Penichet-Paul, Assistant Vice President of Policy and
Advocacy here at the Forum. "And then we're also dealing with policy
- an absence of options that to allow people to migrate to the U.S. in
safer and more orderly conditions." 

At the same time, smugglers are leading migrants from more distant
countries, including Pakistan, China, Mauritania and others, through
that desert. Anita Snow of the Associated Press
<[link removed]'s Tucson Sector "became the
busiest sector along the U.S-Mexico border for the first time since
2008." 

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 Jillian Clark, Ashling Lee and Darika Verdugo. If
you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me
at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>.    

**'POLITICAL STUNT'** - Texas' "floating border wall,"
consisting of giant orange buoys in the Rio Grande, has failed to deter
migrants, Santiago Pérez and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street
Journal
<[link removed]'s Operation Lone Star, has
faced legal and environmental challenges - and crossings at more
dangerous points have increased. "It's a waste of money and far from
effective," said Tom Schmerber, a Border Patrol veteran. "I see it as a
political stunt." 

**12th BUS** - A 12th bus from Texas filled with migrants arrived in
Los Angeles on Monday, five days after the Los Angeles City Council
unanimously decided to investigate potential legal action against Texas
and Gov. Greg Abbott, reports Jon Healey of the Los Angeles Times.
<[link removed]"23-hour bus ride with little or no food or water," as Julia Wick
reported last week in the Times
<[link removed]"emblematic of an immigration system that is overwhelmed and
understaffed," reports Alicia A. Caldwell for The Wall Street Journal
<[link removed]"I've been here for many years. I work, and I pay taxes.
I just want a resolution," said Albino Cuellar Razo, who works legally
in Nebraska while his 10-year-old case remains pending. 

**INDUSTRY CHALLENGES** - Will there be enough workers to pick
Florida's winter crops that help feed the rest of the country? With
the state's tough new immigration law having taken effect July 1, time
will tell - but there are widespread concerns, as Syra Ortiz Blanes
reports in the Miami Herald
<[link removed]'s agricultural laborers are
foreign-born, Ortiz Blanes notes. 

Thanks for reading, 
Dan 

 

 

DONATE
<[link removed]