Migrant advocacy group Al Otro Lado has filed two lawsuits saying that the federal government is "forcing migrants to cross the border between ports of entry because it’s not letting them ask for asylum at border crossings," reports Salvador Rivera of Border Report.  

Migrants who cross between ports are brought to makeshift camps such as those in Jacumba, California, and told that they will be deported if they try to leave, attorney Erika Pinheiro said.  

"You can only access asylum through a port of entry with a CBP One appointment," Pinheiro added. "Unfortunately, that app is sketchy, and it’s only available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, so the majority of people you see here today don’t speak those languages and would not have the option to present themselves at a port of entry." 

Al Otro Lado and other advocates also are raising red flags about conditions in the camps near Jacumba, including freezing temperatures that could put migrants at risk for hypothermia and other health issues, reports Dani Miskell of ABC News 10. 

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, Isabella Miller and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

COMPETITION — To become a global leader in high-tech industries such as AI, the United States will need to increase immigration and encourage engineers and scientists to stay in the country, reports Ashley Gold of Axios. Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum puts a fine point on demographic and labor concerns in a new blog post and paper. "The United States is getting its figurative you-know-what kicked in the international competition for skilled immigration," he writes. Margaret Stock and Theresa Cardinal Brown of the Council on National Security and Immigration recently wrote a white paper connecting workforce and national security concerns. 

DIVIDE PERSISTS — The conversation in Congress over border and asylum reforms paired with funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan remains strained, as Siobhan Hughes and Michelle Hackman report in The Wall Street Journal. 

CANCELED PLANS — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration has canceled plans for a temporary winter camp for migrants in Chicago due to possible contamination of the soil on the chosen site, a team at the Chicago Tribune reports. "My administration is committed to keeping asylum-seekers safe as we work to help them achieve independence," Pritzker said in a statement. Still ahead for the city and state: finding alternative shelters. More than 24,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August 2022. 

WIRETAPS — Intensified vetting at the border and among visa applicants and green card holders has gained support in Congress, reports Dell Cameron of Wired. The Section 702 foreign intelligence program allows the U.S. government to wiretap foreigners’ communications while they are overseas, without a warrant, and is used for suspected terrorists and spies. "The government should be seeking to streamline the immigration process, including the family-based immigration system, not expand warrantless surveillance," said Joanna YangQing Derman of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC). 

SOLUTIONS — The United States should utilize trade policy as a way to decrease Central American migration, Jenny Villatoro, recently of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, writes in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News. "By thinking ambitiously and endorsing holistic policies that are creative, innovative and steadfast in their commitment to democratic principles, the United States can reaffirm its role as a pathbreaking global leader in trade policy," Villatoro writes. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan