Without better border solutions in place, the Biden administration is relying increasingly on respite centers and nonprofit migrant shelters like Texas-based La Posada Providencia to temporarily house and feed migrants on their journey north, reports Eileen Sullivan of The New York Times, with photographs by Kirsten Luce. 

"Whether providing a meal, a place to cool off or sleep, legal guidance, medical care, transportation or help figuring out how to reach a destination, these shelters and centers, sometimes working with state and local officials, fill a void in the country’s outdated immigration system," Sullivan writes. 

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of the Catholic Charities branch in the Rio Grande Valley, and her volunteers are part of this network. "The most important thing is to restore the dignity — that has been the focus," she said of helping migrants. "And stay away from the politics." 

Although Biden’s budget request includes grants for the shelters, many of them — and some cities around the country to which migrants then travel — are bumping up against capacity limits. 

"It’s a temporary solution. It should not be how we support organizations doing this," said Marisa Limón Garza, the senior director for advocacy and programming at the Hope Border Institute in El Paso. "It’s unsustainable." 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of Strategic Communications. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

TITLE 42 — Friday’s court ruling keeping Title 42 in place may not slow border crossings, Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN. Along the border, some migrants are "undeterred and desperate," advocates say. "I don’t think that just because Title 42 didn’t go away today that people are thinking that was the one and only way they were going to get over," said Sam Bishop, Mexico country director for Global Response Management. Meanwhile, in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic published before the court ruling, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Arizona) urges Congress to stop stalling and address long-standing immigration issues beyond Title 42. "[I]t’s time that we prioritize the voices and communities of the southern borderlands in policymaking instead of politicizing and militarizing them," he writes. 

TEXAS ELECTION — A runoff election in South Texas between Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros is revealing the "acute tensions within the party on immigration," Jazmine Ulloa and Jennifer Medina report for The New York Times. "In interviews with Democratic leaders and voters in Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which stretches from Laredo to San Antonio, many expressed a deep frustration with both national Democrats and Republicans who use the border as a political backdrop but have failed to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, combat the drug trade or improve legal pathways to citizenship," they write.  

UKRAINIAN RESETTLEMENT — 100,000 Ukrainians can now resettle in the United States under humanitarian parole. But because parole doesn’t provide the "benefits of refugee status, which include work authorization, health care and housing assistance," many Ukrainians are seeking support from sponsor circles, per Mary Pflum at NBC News. Despite challenges, sponsors such as John and Lisa Monaco of Tampa, Florida, speak of the rewards — in their case as they welcome a family of four. "We feel like we’re the grandparents and the kids and the grandkids have come home," said John Monaco. 

Local welcome for Afghans remains strong as well: 

• In Minnesota, the Winona Afghan Support Network held a film screening at the Winona Arts Center to help welcome recently resettled Afghan refugees to the community. All donations "go directly to helping these families and individuals with things like rent, utilities, food, until they get up on their feet and can start being empowered and can make their own way," said Kathy Florin of the network. (Leah Rivard, WKBT) 
• In partnership with interfaith groups, Dr. Maqsood Chaudhry hosted a free clinic in Falls Church, Virginia, in which "about 70 refugees were treated by a team of 17 dentists." Said Chaudhry, "As an immigrant from Pakistan, I can understand the need and necessity of having health care and how difficult it can be." (Valerie Bonk, WTOP) 

TIKTOK — TikTok activist Carlos Eduardo Espina is using the social media app to help migrants understand the U.S. immigration system and how to cross the border safely in Spanish, per the Associated Press (text here). "The quick format of the videos, where you’re able to watch a TikTok in 10 seconds and then watch another one, is really convenient for immigrants — especially if you’re on the move — you’re going through Mexico or through Central America," said Espina, a U.S. citizen who immigrated to Texas as a child. "I’ve been blessed in this country to be able to go to school. Now I’m in law school. I’ve been able to work. I’ve been able to contribute," he added. "I want people at the end of the day to be safe, to be secure, and to not make decisions that could potentially put their lives in danger." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan