Doris Arape says her son Mayfreed Durán-Arape, 21, is being detained at Guantánamo Bay despite never having hurt anyone, reports Adrian Carrasquillo for The xxxxxx.
She has been unable to reach him since his move to the base. "If you know anything about my son, please tell me," she wrote via WhatsApp.
Officials have been scrambling to expand capacity at Guantánamo, Priscilla Alvarez and Haley Britzky of CNN report. And military doctors are preparing to be deployed there, reports Ximena Bustillo of NPR.
Elsewhere, 97 of the deportees the U.S. government sent to Panama are being transferred to a camp in the country’s Darién province, reports Juan Zamorano of the Associated Press. Most are from countries to which the U.S. cannot send deportation flights directly, and migrants themselves have refused to return.
The Panamanian government says those at the camp will remain until they can be sent to another country willing to take them.
And children will make up about half of the migrants on a deportation flight to Costa Rica comprising migrants from countries including China, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, Ronny Rojas of Noticias Telemundo and Kimmy Yam of NBC News report.
Deep breath. One of our coping mechanisms right now is the National Zoo’s Giant Panda Cam, in case this is helpful for you, too.
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Soledad Gassó Parker, Broc Murphy, Clara Villatoro and Becka Wall. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
RAPID RESPONSE — A Tucson, Arizona, mother and her two children were deported to Mexico just a few hours after she was pulled over for driving under the speed limit, reports John Washington of Arizona Luminaria. Now their Tucson church is raising money to help. Meanwhile, in York, Pennsylvania, advocates are trying to assemble a rapid response team to help immigrant families affected by unexpected deportations, reports Mike Argento with the York Daily Record.
CONCERNS AND A LAWSUIT — The evangelical community is feeling direct effects of the president’s immigration enforcement actions, reports Patricia Caro of El País. And the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is suing the administration over the funding freeze for refugee resettlement programs, reports Peter Smith of the Associated Press. "The conference suddenly finds itself unable to sustain its work to care for the thousands of refugees who were welcomed into our country and assigned to the care of the USCCB by the government after being granted legal status," said Archbishop Timothy Broglio, USCCB president.
PUBLIC HEALTH — The Trump administration is expected to make a public health order that would designate migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as health risks, reports Priscilla Alvarez of CNN. Such a measure would resemble Trump's 2020 invocation of Title 42 as the coronavirus pandemic began, Alvarez notes. Meanwhile, the administration is planning a $200 million border ad campaign, Shelby Talcott of Semafor reports.
TACOS — Texas taquerias are uniting to start a Taco Passport, a physical booklet that individuals can use at participating restaurants for 10% of their purchases to be donated to immigrant-focused nonprofits, reports José R. Ralat of Texas Monthly. "Latino immigrants, whatever their status, are the backbone of the service industry," said Miguel Cobos, co-owner of Austin’s Vaquero Taquero and one of the innovators behind the passport.
