Wednesday, June 22
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THE FORUM DAILY

Reported for the first time: In April, three asylum seekers who were in
the care of Mexican officials through the Migrant Protection Protocols
(MPP) program were kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, despite the Biden
administration's measures to improve the program, report Laura
Gottesdiener and Daina Beth Solomon of Reuters
. 

Under the revamped MPP program, International Organization for Migration
(IOM), a United Nations agency that helps transport migrants, would
transfer them to a safer city like Monterrey. But after testing positive
for COVID-19, Raul and two other migrants had to quarantine in Nuevo
Laredo. And they, with about 20 others, were held captive, note
Gottesdiener and Solomon. 

"You think you're in good hands," said Raul of the U.S. government.
"But that's not the case." 

After four days, Raul paid six grand as ransom money to flee. He then
reached out to IOM, which set up transportation and shelter for him in
the U.S., in anticipation for his first court hearing in May, write
Gottesdiener and Solomon. Once in Texas, Raul successfully petitioned
for an exception to stay in the U.S. for the remainder of his asylum
case. 

This should never have happened. And without changes to the way we treat
those seeking asylum and safety at our borders, we will continue to fail
migrants like Raul. 

For better, more compassionate policies, Jon Huckins, co-founding
director of Global Immersion, a faith-based peacemaking organization
based in San Diego, reminds us to approach immigration with prayer,
peace, and love, per Border Report
's
Salvador Rivera. 

Welcome to Wednesday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Becka
Wall, the Forum's digital communications VP. If you have a story to
share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected]. 

**HAITIAN MIGRANTS** - Thousands of Haitian migrants are waiting in
Reynosa in intense heat, after many were denied asylum under Title 42,
reports Sandra Sanchez of Border Report
.
"There's no shade so they're out in the hot sun all day long. I was
just there [Monday] most of the day. It really hurts me to see them
dehydrating. Water is of the essence ...," said Sister Norma Pimentel,
executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
"We're working on trying to build more permanent shade," in addition
to other necessary services like more access to food and shelter, notes
Pimentel. "...[B]ut in the meantime, this sun is merciless, you know."
Separately, the Miami Herald
's
Jacqueline Charles and Syra Ortiz-Blanes feature a touching and
heartbreaking story of how Puerto Rico helped bury 11 Haitian migrants
who died last month after their boat capsized on the island. 

**COURT REVIVED** - Breathing life into a previous lawsuit, detained
immigrant mothers now have standing to sue the Texas Department of
Family and Protective Services for allowing unrelated adults and
children to share the same room, reports Janet Miranda of Bloomberg Law
.
The plaintiffs "allege that the rule has led to longer detention periods
at the center and that one minor was sexually assaulted while sharing
her room with an unrelated adult," notes Miranda. The rule also enabled
an "invasion of the children's privacy from such room-sharing," per
the state's Supreme Court. For more background on the ruling, see
Chuck Lindell's piece for the Austin American-Statesman
. 

**RESETTLEMENT WOES** - Our hearts and prayers go out to Afghanistan
this morning after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake

struck near the Pakistani border. Today's story: Roshan Moshal, a
longtime women's rights activist in Afghanistan, escaped the Taliban
with support from the Biden administration's Operation Allies Welcome,
report Anna Schecter, Kenzi Abou-Sabe, and Cynthia McFadden for NBC News
.
But after 10 weeks, she "found herself out of food and money in a Texas
apartment, with no access to health care or transportation and separated
from three of her children," due to capacity issues. "We are struggling
with this complicated system," Mashal said. "There is one caseworker
with 60 clients." To make ends meet, Mashal urged her resettlement
agency to help and enrolled in a one-year fellowship at the University
of Texas at Arlington Women's and Gender Studies program.  

On the local front: 

* Commonwealth Catholic Charities helped Afghan ally Mohammad Hassanzada
adjust to his new life in Roanoke, Virginia, where he now owns a rug
store "to pay tribute to his roots and share his culture." (Alexus
Davila, 10 News
) 

*  "...We [Afghan people] take care of each other and we give [a] hand
to the new people that are arriving here in Charlottesville," said
Afghan refugee Rahimullah Nishat who resettled in Charlottesville,
Virginia, thanks to the nonprofit International Neighbors and the local
Afghan community. (Anne-Parker Coleman, CBS19 News
) 

* With support from nonprofit Tiyya Foundation, Enayatullah and his
family have officially moved into their own apartment in Southern
California, after living in a single hotel room for almost three months.
(Zarina Khairzada, Spectrum News 1
) 

'YOU'RE A HERO' - Today, the average cost of gas in Phoenix is
$5.69. To alleviate the financial burden on their community, gas station
owners Jaswinder Singh and his wife, Ramandeep Kaur, only charge $4.99
per gallon of gas - 70 cents less than the average cost per
gallon in the city - and have been doing so since 2015, reports
Christina Lopez of Fox 26 News
.
Singh and his wife opened CK Food Mart in 2006 after coming to the U.S.
from Punjab, India. "We have to do our best whatever resources we have.
This is our resource - we can try to help our customers, our
community, our neighborhood. So, this is our part," said Kaur.  

Thanks for reading, 

Becka  

P.S. Over on the Senate floor, HuffPost's Igor Bobic

captured the positivity among Senators who advanced a bipartisan bill on
gun reform, and the energy to pass bipartisan immigration reform.
Let's keep that spirit and momentum going!  

 

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