The Border Patrol is dropping off migrants at unofficial camps in the California desert, then providing little or no oversight, reports Jasmine Garsd of NPR.  

Migrants are told that if they leave the makeshift camps, which Garsd describes as "a dystopian sight," they will be deported. Locals and volunteers seem to be the only ones offering help such as food, water and medicine. Customs and Border Protection has not offered an explanation. 

A Honduran woman says of the family she left behind, "I won't tell them I made it until I'm out of here."  

The story, including photos, is a must-click. In the words of our President and CEO, Jennie Murray: "Makeshift camps in the desert are only the latest evidence that we urgently need a more orderly and humane border process. The administration must take immediate action to remedy the circumstances in Southern California, and then Republicans and Democrats must work together on longer-term solutions."  

Zooming out, Eileen Sullivan of The New York Times looks at how today’s high global migration highlights the strain the U.S. immigration system has been under for decades, and Congress’ failure to pass legislation that addresses the American economy and migration trends.  

Sullivan outlines how the asylum system, with a backlog of nearly 2 million cases, is particularly overwhelmed. Data from two government agencies and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse help tell the story.  

A separate team at the Times adds some faces to the statistics. Keith Collins, Raúl Vilchis and Olivia Bensimon spoke with five migrants trying to make lives for themselves in New York City while waiting for their cases to be resolved in court — with engaging photos by Todd Heisler. 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. We’ll be in your inbox tomorrow, then off until next Tuesday. 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].

ASSISTANCE IN PANAMA — The Biden administration plans to send personnel to train and assist Panamanian officials on screening and deporting migrants traveling through the country, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The initiative would involve immigration officers from various Department of Homeland Security agencies. Nearly 500,000 migrants, an unprecedented number, have crossed the Darién jungle between Colombia and Panama this year. 

NEEDS ACROSS SECTORS — Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) leaders Theresa Cardinal Brown and Margaret D. Stock highlight the Biden administration’s recent artificial intelligence executive order and underline the need for more than just industry-specific immigration measures in an op-ed in The Hill. "To fully realize our potential to bolster national security as well as spur economic growth and expand domestic industries, the United States must continue to open new channels for high-skilled immigration across all sectors," they write. See also the pair’s recently recent CNSI paper, "Meeting National Security Interests Requires Workers." 

STILL DREAMING — In Tyler, Texas, Dreamers without Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) wait in limbo and fear, even as a lawsuit over the policy makes its way to the Supreme Court, report Maria Sacchetti and Kevin Sullivan of The Washington Post. Sisters Joseline and Daniela Leyva were barely too young to apply for DACA when Trump administration actions closed it to new applicants. "My parents, they came here at my age, with two little girls, with a dream. So I’m not going to give up," Daniela Leyva said.  

GRATITUDE — A young family forced to escape Ukraine found home and new traditions this time last year as they were welcomed for their first American Thanksgiving, reports Joseph Dits of the South Bend Tribune. "We are so grateful for everything," said Daniela Shobei, the young mother in the family. "When we came to the U.S., we thought we’d live in a basement. … But we found people who were willing to help us for nothing. We don’t know these people. These people don’t know us." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan