The Forum Daily | Tuesday, October 24, 2023
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THE FORUM DAILY

 

** **

A Texas state house committee approved a $1.5 billion proposal that
would allow Gov. Greg Abbott to continue building barriers along the
U.S.-Mexico border, reports Uriel J. García of The Texas Tribune
.
The money would be on top of the $1.5 billion or more the state already
has designated to build about 40 miles of barriers.  

"I think building more walls is just going to be wasting taxpayer money,
and then they don't work," said David Stout, an El Paso County
commissioner. "If it did work, then we wouldn't be seeing the large
number of migrants coming across." 

Experts agree that walls "do not block unwanted [migrant] flows," in the
words of Élisabeth Vallet of the Migration Policy Institute, and can
serve to reroute migrants to other, often more dangerous paths. 

Meanwhile, for people requesting asylum without initially crossing into
the U.S. unauthorized, frustration with the CBP One app has grown,
reports José Ignacio Castañeda Perez of the Arizona Republic
.
Appointments are limited, and migrants often must wait months for one.
 

Colombian migrant Julio Cesar Lerma Ceballos decided to cross after
waiting two and a half months. "I wanted to enter through there, turn
myself in, tell them that I was tired of waiting for an appointment,"
Ceballos said. He was turned away. 

The wait can seem like "a kind of migration purgatory," reports Julie
Turkewitz of The New York Times
.
Some migrants now question their decision to follow the Biden
administration's guidance.  

Welcome to Tuesday'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, Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz. If you have
a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected] . 

**ALLEGED MISTREATMENT** - Military veteran David Dillard was hired to
accompany migrants sent from Texas on buses. He says he witnessed
"disgusting and inhuman" conditions onboard, report Nicco
Quinones, Ashley Schwartz-Lavares and Allie Weintraub of ABC News
.
"This job, from Day One, was never meant to be done the right way,"
Dillard said. " ... These people deserve not to be pawns." 

**FAITH** - In an editor's note for Christianity Today
,
Kelli B. Trujillo reflects on the complex nature of the humanitarian
crisis at the border while examining the enduring hope and faith that
connect us. "It's not a simple matter, and politicized, polarizing
sound bites don't even come close to doing it justice," Trujillo
writes. Referencing pieces by Sophia Lee, Trujillo sees promise in the
continued power of storytelling to humanize migrants at the border. 

**COMMUNITY** - Churches in Fort Worth, Texas, are coming together to
support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients,
reports Marissa Greene of the Fort Worth Report
.
In September a district court judge ruled DACA unlawful for a second
time, keeping recipients' future in jeopardy. The Rev. Fernando Rojas
says he would like to see bipartisan reforms so these young adults have
a legal path forward. "The right thing to do is to give them an
opportunity to be full participants of the American life, of the
American way," Rojas said.   

**SPONSORS' STORIES** - Nearly 250,000 people have resettled in the
United States through the Biden administration's parole program since
October 2022. Jessica Bakeman, Wilkine Brutus and Helen Acevedo share
American sponsors' perspective in their piece for WLRN
's
"Waiting for America" series. Sponsors Catalina Garcia and Paulette
Francois share their stories of trying to get family members to the
United States safely. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

  

 

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