Monday, July 18
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THE FORUM DAILY

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released border data

late Friday showing a 14% decrease in total encounters in June. The
overall tally still set a record for June encounters, as Camilo
Montoya-Galvez of CBS News

reports. 

As usual, my policy colleague Danilo Zak's initial breakdown of the
numbers

reveal some nuance. The high rate of repeat attempts - 26% of all June
encounters - is thanks to the continued use of expulsions under Title
42
,
which carry no penalty for additional tries. These repeat attempts
inflate the total number and are a repeat reminder that we need
solutions other than Title 42
. 

As Danilo notes, the data may be a sign that migration in June followed
seasonal patterns, in which arrivals peak in May, then fall in hotter
months. But there's an asterisk: Recent reports indicate a July
increase in the Del Rio border sector, which is normally quieter. CBP
data show higher-than-usual encounters in the sector since March, and
any further increases could strain the agency's resources
severely.  

CNN
's
Priscilla Alvarez has more on the increase, including the challenge
presented by large increases from certain countries such as Venezuela,
and a wider range of countries of origin overall. 

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

NEED A MILLION - Two different takes land on 1 million as a crucial
number of immigrants missing from the U.S. workforce. It's the number
of "tech superstars" the U.S. should recruit in the next two years to
maintain our technology leadership and compete with China, Harvard's
Graham Allison and former Google CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt
write in an op-ed for Foreign Policy
.
Meanwhile, Dany Bahar and Pedro Casas-Alatriste of The Brookings
Institution

have a different take, looking at the 1 million workers missing due to
past deportations. "Migrants on the U.S. southern border are able and
capable of filling labor gaps in the American economy if they are given
the chance, particularly in fundamental occupations," they write. On the
ground, a lack of workers is affecting shrimp season in Texas, as
Antonio Vindell reported last week in the Rio Grande Guardian

and expands upon with Texas Standard
's
Yvonne Marquez. By all measures, we have room to grow
.  

BUREAUCRATIC DELAYS - Immigration lawyers are increasingly turning to
congressional offices on both sides of the aisle for help navigating
their clients through the bureaucratic delays of U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services' visa backlog, reports Suzanne Monyak of Roll
Call
.
"[Applicants] want to resolve those matters as quickly as possible. And
for them to drag on in perpetuity, it leaves them with anxiety, and they
have to go to work every day with that cloud hanging over them," said
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, (D-New York). "I think that that's horrible."
Back in February, 47 House lawmakers, including Florida Rep. María
Elvira Salazar (R), called on Congress to improve the USCIS Contact
Center, which handles applicant customer service requests.  

BORDER

**ACCOUNTABILITY** - Condolences to the family of the Texas National
Guard soldier who died Thursday, as Davis Winkie of the Army Times

reports. The unidentified Guard member is the eighth connected to
Operation Lone Star to have died since the fall. Meanwhile, the San
Antonio Express-News

editorial board takes a hard look at the operation and the rhetoric of
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and other Texas Republicans: "[A]ll Texans
need honesty and solutions from state leaders about the southern border
and Operation Lone Star. Instead, we get more of the same inhumane
policy."  

RECRUIT'S FATHER DETAINED - ICE officers detained the father of
Khaled Ebayyah, a recent Marine recruit who is Muslim, Jeremy Stahl
reports in Slate Magazine
.
The father had recently obtained paperwork

granting him residency through at least May 2023. "It was traumatizing
because I'm now enlisted in the Marine Corps right? And here's my
initial thoughts, ok, so, 'is this how you get treated as a Muslim for
serving the country,'" Ebayyah, who is 18, recalled. ICE has not
explained the detention, which appears to go against a May ICE directive
meant to protect military members and their families. "If we're not
able to get my dad out of the detention center or the county jail that
they have him in beforehand, I'm going to probably end up delaying my
ship date by a little bit," said Ebayyah, who was scheduled to go to
basic training yesterday.  

FREEDOM - With help from nonprofit SLO4 Home, an Afghan family is
settling into its new home on California's Central Coast, Kimberly
Cruz reports for KSBY News
.
"John," a former interpreter for the U.S. military, said his whole
family was at risk in Afghanistan: "Once you get out of your home in the
morning to do something, to go to work, you weren't sure if you were
going to [make it] back home safe or not." Today, in the U.S., their
daughter can just ride her bike freely. "My daughter is so happy, you
know. That makes me so happy with the freedom she has," said John's
wife, "Maria." 

Elsewhere locally: 

* In Cleveland, nonprofit US Together partnered with the federal Office
of Refugee Resettlement to create a Microenterprise Development program
to help "eligible refugees and immigrants develop, finance, and expand
small businesses." (Aja Hannah and Lee Chilcote, The Land
) 

* The Employee Council in Iowa held its first session aimed at teaching
Sioux City businesses about the "best practices for hiring and
maintaining employees from other countries." One speaker was Afghan
refugee who shared his experiences working in a local meat packing
plant. (Siouxland News
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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