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THE FORUM DAILY
Happy September, and we hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend!
The Biden administration’s tighter asylum rules have caused migrant encampments to spring up well south of the U.S.-Mexico border, report Mariana Martínez Barba and Caterina Morbiato of the Associated Press.
Until recently, Mexico City was the farthest point south at which asylum seekers could make appointments through the CBP One app. This geographic restraint led thousands of migrants to stay in the Mexican capital.
Now that migrants even farther south can book appointments, the Mexican government announced last week that the country will offer bus rides from southern Mexico to the U.S. border for non-Mexican migrants who have appointment dates, the Associated Press also reports. The impetus is to stop migrants from making a long journey on foot and to avoid concentrations in some regions.
For CBS News, Camilo Montoya-Galvez relates the stories of people who were deported quickly under the tighter asylum restrictions. Asked if she was considering attempting to cross the border again after being deported, Rosalis, a Mexican mother traveling to get her two daughters to safety, did not think twice before affirming she will try again: "Sometimes, you have to risk everything."
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].
FALSE NARRATIVES — Data continue to show that American citizens are bringing most illicit drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border, reports Gustavo Solis of KPBS. The narrative that migrants are responsible "is a dangerous misconception because that is not who we are seeing," said Tera McGrath, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. According to federal records, "90% of all fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is seized at legal border crossings or border checkpoints on major roads along the border," Solis notes. Read more in our explainer.
THE COURTS — The immigration court backlog in the U.S. has grown from 500,000 cases in 2016 to more than 3.6 million this summer, report Monte Reel and Sinduja Rangarajan of Bloomberg. Cuban-born Yerandy Valdes Ruiz faced many arbitrary hurdles, during his six-year asylum process, just one example of the system’s dysfunction. Valdes was randomly assigned a judge who’d granted asylum in none of the cases she’d considered in the previous decade. "It’s luck, and I was unlucky," Valdes said.
ALLIES — Afghans who assisted the U.S. and did not make it out when we withdrew three years ago "face significant obstacles and a crushing timeline" in trying to obtain a U.S. visa, reports Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill. In USA Today, Chris Kenning zooms in on the story of one such ally, interpreter Ahmadullah Karimi, and the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who wouldn’t rest until Karimi made it here.
TALENT — A new report from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) shows that without improvements to the immigration system, the U.S. will be leaving valuable talent behind, Stuart Anderson writes for Forbes. "Congress’s failure to disentangle visa and immigration policies for students, STEM degree holders, and technology entrepreneurs from the broader challenges of comprehensive immigration reform represents a self-inflicted wound to the continuing scientific and economic leadership of this nation," NAS Committee Chair Mark Barteau said.
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