The digital world continues to influence migration. Today’s examples included an increase in Chinese migrants using Panama’s Darién Gap after seeing video and social media guidance, report Elliot Spagat and Didi Tang of the Associated Press.  

From January through September, Chinese migrants were fourth on the list of nationalities coming into the country, behind Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians. 

Seeking to escape the political and economic climate in their home country, migrants will fly to Ecuador, where they do not need a visa, and make their way to the U.S-Mexico border. Short video platforms and messaging apps provide migrants with precise guides for their journey: not only the Darién Gap route but also what to pack, how to survive in the jungle and how to interact with U.S. immigration officers. 

Cellphones and success stories on social media — in addition to politics at home — also are part of the story of high migration from India, reports Tarini Parti of The Wall Street Journal. Nearly 42,000 Indian migrants crossed the border in fiscal year 2023, more than double the 2022 number, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  

"[Border data] it really is pointing to this huge trend of mass migration worldwide. We’re seeing that people from other countries are making their way to the U.S. border, when traditionally they haven’t," said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. 

Welcome to Monday’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]. 

WORK PERMITS —In a federal-state partnership, Massachusetts will host a work permit clinic as the state tries to lessen the strain on its emergency shelter system, reports Samantha J. Gross of the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, in Nebraska, companies are actively reaching out to local refugee and immigrant communities to find employees and address a significant workforce shortage, reports Paul Hammel of the Nebraska Examiner.  

RISKING TALENT — The United States risks losing talent if the immigration system is not updated to respond to current needs, Semyon Dukach writes for Fortune. Dukach came to the U.S. when he was 9 as a refugee from the Soviet Union. Now he owns a venture capital firm. "If we continue to successfully dissuade people from building a life in our country with border walls and red tape, it will eventually throw the nation into a labor and economic crisis," he writes.  

MAINSTREAM — As Ronald Brownstein looks at many Republican presidential candidates’ harsh rhetoric on immigration in The Atlantic, Greg Sargent writes in his column for The Washington Post about new House Speaker Mike Johnson’s pickup of conspiracy-theory rhetoric. Read these, then take another look at our resource on the "Great Replacement" theory. 

SCHOOLS RESPOND — Public schools across the country are adapting to an increase in migrant students, a team at Axios reports. With tight budgets and a teacher shortage, schools are trying to find the space and meet the needs of students who already have been through so much just to make it to the United States. 

WELCOME CENTER — San Diego County will create a second welcome center for immigrants and refugees amid the increase in migrant arrivals, reports Emily Alvarenga of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Immigrants planning to stay in San Diego will be able to get information on topics ranging from resettlement to health care. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan