The Biden administration is looking to end part of a 1997 court agreement that settled the care standard of unaccompanied migrant children coming into the United States, report Laura Barrón-López and Saher Khan for PBS NewsHour. (Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press first reported on the plan last week.) 

The administration cites new regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that they see as making the agreement redundant, Barrón-López and Khan report. The Flores Council, a group of lawyers representing migrant children, argues that there is still a gap between what is covered in the new regulation and the 1997 agreement.  

In a court filing Friday, HHS wrote that its "new rule codifies the essential provisions of the settlement while implementing additional protections for children," reports Daniel Wiessner of Reuters.  

Separately, our policy team is out with a summary of the Biden administration’s new asylum rule. We make the point that resources are limited, which is also the focus of Eric Katz’s piece in Government Executive. 

"You’re asking us to do something that is very complex where the stakes are very high, in a screening situation where people are being held at temporary holding [centers]," said Michael Knowles, asylum officer and president of the American Federation of Government Employees. 

Advocates and experts are calling Congress to provide the necessary resources and tools. 

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

PROFITEERS — In San Diego, advocates are raising concerns about profiteers focusing on newly arrived migrants, reports Salvador Rivera of Border Report. People selling everything from cigarettes to rides to the airport are at a station where many migrants are dropped off, Rivera reports. "They are charging these people hundreds of dollars, ripping them off," said Carlos, a volunteer who helps newcomers.  

RELIGIOUS VISAS — Backlogs continue to keep many people on religious visas in limbo, reports Adriana Cardona-Maguigad of WBEZ. Luisette Kraal and her husband are part of that group. They have become a staple on Chicago’s North Side, helping newly arrived migrants get food and shelter and welcoming them into their church. Now as their religious visa expires, backlogs make their road forward uncertain.  

FREEDOM’S FEEL — Chinese asylum seekers waiting in New York City for rulings are the subject of a humanizing piece by Tara John and Yong Xiong of CNN. In raw numbers, more Chinese nationals were granted asylum in 2023 than natives of any other country. Ye Chengxiang, a Muslim Chinese national, escaped a crackdown on his ethnic group. "I immediately felt that rock, that lump in my heart, dissolve away," Ye said, describing the first time he entered a mosque in New York City with his wife and children. 

SCOUTS’ WELCOME — Read through to the last word of Jasmine Garsd’s NPR story on some of the newest Girl Scouts in New York City. Meeting in partnership with New York City Health and Hospitals at the shelter their families live in, migrant girls from Latin America can learn from and bond with one another while sharing how they feel about their quickly changing lives. "[If] it's difficult for adults, imagine how hard it is for a child to understand why they are here," says volunteer troop leader Juliana Alvarez. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

P.S. Join the Forum’s Facebook Live at 1 p.m. today with Bri Stensrud, director of Women of Welcome and author of the new book "Start with Welcome."