The U.S. plans to enable migrants to make CBP One appointments from southern Mexico, Rebecca Santana and Maria Verza of the Associated Press report.
Currently, Custom and Border Protections offers CBP One appointments as far south as Mexico City. There are 1,450 appointments available daily to migrants.
Rafael Velásquez, Mexico director of the International Rescue Committee, told Alisa Reznick of KJZZ that the expansion is a positive step that could help protect migrants.
"We do know that organized crime has been seeing the transportation of migrants as a prime opportunity to increase their revenues," Velásquez said. "So in that regard we’re seeing less opportunities for people to be victims of misinformation."
Farther southeast, the harrowing journey migrants make through the treacherous Darién Gap is the focus of a piece in The Atlantic by Caitlin Dickerson, with pictures by Lynsey Addario — who made the journey themselves.
"What I saw in the jungle confirmed the pattern that has played out elsewhere: The harder migration is, the more cartels and other dangerous groups will profit, and the more migrants will die," Dickerson writes.
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, Joanna Taylor, Darika Verdugo and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
BUOY TRIAL POSTPONED — The federal trial over whether Texas can keep buoys in the Rio Grande to deter migration has been postponed to November, reports John C. Moritz of the Austin American-Statesman. The U.S. government asserts that the buoys, installed in 2023 on the order of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) as part of Operation Lone Star, interfere with the river’s navigability and can be easily avoided by migrants, doing little to stem border crossings.
THE POLITICS — The politics around the border, and Democrats' and Republicans’ narratives about it, are the focus of a piece by Gabe Gutierrez of NBC News. Vice President Kamala Harris is not shying away from the issue, he reports, a shift that "began this year when [Donald] Trump urged House Republicans to kill a bipartisan border funding bill negotiated in the Senate." Meanwhile, columnist Eduardo Porter of The Washington Post writes that both parties have fallen short in dealing with challenges — and laments that election season is stifling the "open, honest conversation" we need.
WALZ — Harris’ newly announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), acknowledges that border challenges have been a strain for Texas but takes a different approach than Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), report Jeremy Blackman and Benjamin Wermund of the Houston Chronicle. "I don’t disagree that Gov. Abbott is pointing out some of [the challenges]," Walz said in an Ezra Klein Show interview last week, "but he treats it in the most cruel, inhumane way." For more on Walz’s immigration stances, look for "Immigration" in Maggie Astor’s New York Times piece.
‘BURDEN’ VS. ASSET — As Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks of unauthorized immigrant students as a "burden" on public schools, some local education leaders are pushing back, reports Lionel Ramos of KGOU. "We're a public institution that serves our public, and our public is a very diverse, rich population of all kinds of kids coming from different backgrounds," said Santa Fe South Superintendent Chris Brewster. "In no way would I characterize that as a burden."
