Florida State Guard volunteers training to help catch migrants at sea "gathered at a Panhandle combat training facility this fall for lessons on how to use rifles and pistols, treat ‘massive hemorrhages’ and practice ‘aerial gunnery,’" report Ana Ceballos and Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. 

Whether many, or any, of the 60 people trained so far have been deployed is unclear, they report. The training contractor, Stronghold SOF Solutions, was chosen without a competitive process under the state of emergency Gov. Ron Desantis declared in January. 

To the west, immigration rights organizations filed a lawsuit on behalf of El Paso County against the state of Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott signed one of the strictest immigration enforcement laws in the country, reports Uriel J. García of the Texas Tribune. 

The groups say Senate Bill 4 would not allow immigrants to request asylum in the U.S., as is their legal right. The groups are asking a federal judge to block the law from taking effect in March. 

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also plans to challenge the law, labeling it "inhumane," Brendan O'Boyle and Kylie Madry at Reuters report. And border sheriffs in Texas are concerned that the law will stretch their departments, Stephanie Esquivel reports for WOAI in San Antonio. 

Jennie’s take, in Austin Denean’s piece for The National Desk: "If states begin to start doing this or think that they can enact their own immigration policies, it's completely unworkable. You would end up with 50 different state policies on top of federal, and it would drive uncertainty and chaos." 

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

AS MIGRATION CONTINUES — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) issued a joint statement underscoring their commitment to a deal on border measures and foreign aid, while acknowledging that negotiations will carry into the new year, Burgess Everett of Politico reports. Meanwhile, Semafor’s newsletter has two nuggets worth a look: The number of migrants crossing the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama has set a new record this year, and the European Union has come to an agreement meant "to give governments more control over their borders, by limiting entry and making deportations easier." 

RESPONSES — McConnell is among Republican senators who have spoken out against candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric regarding immigrants, Chris Cameron reports in The New York Times. Meanwhile, our senior fellow, Linda Chavez, zones in on what Trump’s immigration plans would mean in her piece for The Unpopulist. 

CLOSURE — Closures of two railway crossings at the U.S-Mexico border are disrupting trade, report Steff Chávez, Eva Xiao and Christine Murray of the Financial Times. The closed bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass handle goods worth tens of billions of dollars each year. "The urgency of reopening these crossings and restoring rail service between the two nations cannot be overstated," said Ian Jefferies, chief executive of the Association of American Railroads. 

IMMIGRANTS’ IMPORTANCE — Immigrants will be crucial to the caregiving sector, where workers already are in short supply, Daniel Gonzalez reports in the Arizona Republic. "Without enough immigrants to help care for the growing aging population, family members may have to shoulder more of the responsibility," he writes. Meanwhile, immigration is helping drive population growth nationally, reports Mike Schneider of the Associated Press. "The immigration piece is going to be the main source of growth in the future," said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.  

Thanks for reading,  

Dan