Advocates are demanding more relaxed asylum restrictions at legal border entries due to the continuing deaths of migrants at the hands of smugglers, reports Julian Resendiz of Border Report.
By the end of fiscal year 2024, official data counted 176 migrant deaths in deserts, mountains and canals near El Paso and southern New Mexico alone. Representatives from nonprofits, the Border Network for Human
Rights and the Hope Border Institute, argue that there was a sharp uptick in migrant deaths after the White House issued new asylum restrictions this past June. With tougher restrictions announced earlier this week, advocates are concerned about the impact that this could have on migrants’ lives.
"People arriving here are people who have families, people who work hard and have dreams," said Alan Lizarraga of the Border Network for Human Rights. "Sadly, when they arrive at the border they become just another number."
Too many of our political leaders use immigrants as scapegoats in messaging that is "contrary to the facts," writes Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles in his op-ed for The Hill.
"Immigrants are a part of the solution," writes Cardinal Mahony. "... A modern immigration system which enhances legal avenues for migration, brings undocumented workers out of the shadows, upholds the rule of law, ensures our security and prepares us for the future is achievable."
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s strategic communications assistant VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Soledad Gassó Parker, Camilla Luong, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
BORDER INCIDENT — Six migrants died and a dozen more were wounded after Mexican soldiers fired on a truck carrying a group of people near the Guatemala-Mexico border, reports Edgar H. Clemente and Tuxtla Gutierrez of the Associated Press. In a statement from Mexico’s Defense Department, the government claimed that soldiers heard gunshots from the direction of the truck as it approached. The U.N. agency for refugees in Mexico released a statement saying that such danger is why "it is indispensable they have legal means of access, travel, and integration to avoid tragedies like these."
DEPORTATIONS — The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the federal government for information regarding the United States’ capacity to "massively detain and deport," reports Lauren Villagran of USA Today. Separately, A new report shows that around 2.7 million
individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or other immigration protections could lose their legal relief in the next two years, which could add to the massive deportation plan promised by the former president, Donald Trump, if he wins a second term, writes Stuart Anderson for Forbes.
WORKFORCE ALTERNATIVES — North Dakota is trying to attract foreign talent to its workforce through legal migration. Some of the options were discussed in a
recent workforce summit hosted by the Minot Area Chamber Economic Development Corporation, reports Charles Crane of the Minot Daily News. According to the worker shortage index published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, North Dakota is one of the states with the most severe worker shortages.
THOUGHTFUL CONVERSATION — In the United States, politicians will often invoke their faith when discussing policy. KERA News’ Julián Aguilar looks at how religion shapes the immigration debate in Texas. Separately, in his op-ed for Baptist News Global, Chuck Poole writes that being mindful and thoughtful of the conversation around immigrants and the border "isn’t political correctness; it is spiritual correctness. For those who long to follow Jesus, careful speech concerning our immigrant neighbors isn’t wokeism, it’s baptism."
P.S. The editors at Civil Eats remind us that immigrants are the backbone of much of our food system here in the United States – take a look at their collection of stories.
