**B Stands for Border Experience**

Good afternoon,

The Biden administration recently instituted changes to Title 42, the
pandemic-era CDC health rule that immediately expels most migrants
arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Now in addition to unaccompanied
migrant children, up to 7,750

asylum seekers can be processed into the U.S. each month. These migrants
must meet vulnerability criteria determined by local advocacy groups and
legal service providers.

As an Arizonan, I try to keep up on what's happening at our border
with Sonora. Last week, I visited the border at Nogales to see firsthand
the great work local NGOs are doing to support arriving migrants (you
can see more pictures here ). Along with a
few other Phoenix-area faith leaders and Sheriff David Hathaway of Santa
Cruz County, AZ, I crossed into Sonora to experience the beautiful and
critical work of the Kino Border Initiative
. Led by Executive Director Joanna
Williams, KBI serves migrants on both sides of the border dividing the
city of Nogales, providing food, shelter and other crucial care to both
deportees and asylum seekers. We had the opportunity to hear migrants'
stories and serve them lunch. KBI is helping to ensure that migrants
have a chance at flourishing in the United States. 

From Nogales, we headed to the Casa Alitas

welcome center in Tucson, run by Catholic Charities of Southern Arizona.
This center serves migrants who have been granted entry into the U.S. to
have their asylum cases heard by an immigration judge. Casa Alitas is a
collaboration with Pima County (which has converted some of its juvenile
detention facilities) to house migrant families for very short-term
stays and help them prepare for the next steps of their journey. The
demeanor of migrants in Casa Alitas was tangibly more hopeful than those
we encountered at KBI. Nogales, Sonora is less than an hour from Tucson,
but for migrants stuck south of the border the distance seems
incalculable.

With summer approaching and conditions in the desert becoming deadlier,
it is predicted

that the number of migrants arriving at the border will decrease. But
the humanitarian crisis at the border will continue until long term and
sustainable immigration reform becomes a reality. Congress must find
bipartisan solutions to create a modernized immigration system that
addresses current immigration needs and trends both at the border and
throughout the U.S.

As long as I have the privilege to continue advocating for and with
immigrants, the people and stories I engage at the border and in my
community will be my motivation to keep moving forward!

Staying hopeful,

Adam

**Adam Estle**
Vice President of Field and Constituencies
National Immigration Forum 

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**NEWS CLIPS TO NOTE:**

****

**WASHINGTON POST:****Biden administration reins in street-level
enforcement by ICE as officials try to refocus agency mission**

**CBS NEWS:****Lawmakers urge speeding up special visas for Afghans who
aided U.S. troops**

**AXIOS:****How immigration can power the future of America's
heartland**

**ASSOCIATED PRESS:****Watchdog: US forced deported parents to leave
kids behind**

**NPR:****Despite Concerns About Border, Poll Finds Support For More
Pathways To Citizenship**

 

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