Pérez and Hackman rightly point out some key factors behind the numbers: the quicker rebound of the economy in the U.S. than in Latin American countries, smugglers’ efforts, and inflated numbers caused by the use of Title 42, "a U.S. policy meant to deter migration but which appears to have backfired." 

Repeat attempts to cross are not penalized under Title 42. As our policy expert Danilo Zak points out, July’s rate of repeat crossers was 22%. And migration overall has declined for two consecutive months, reflecting typical seasonal patterns. 

Separately, at least 187 Cuban migrants fleeing political persecution and poverty were detained by the Border Patrol in the Florida Keys last weekend, report David Goodhue and Omar Rodríguez Ortiz of the Miami Herald. 

Welcome to Tuesday’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]. 

AFGHAN ALLIES — The hurdles to establishing lives in the U.S. are greater for our Afghan allies than for Ukrainians, writes retired Lt. Col. Margaret D. Stock in an op-ed for The Hill. Helping more of our Afghan allies reach the U.S., and offering certainty to those already here, "is a matter of national security," Stock writes. "[I]n future conflicts, why would anyone risk their lives by serving alongside our soldiers or providing critical translation services if the U.S. can’t keep our promises to them when we depart? … What was true a year ago, as the U.S. withdrew, remains true now: We must not turn our backs on our Afghan allies." Passing the recently-introduced bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act could be a solution, Forum Senior Fellow Linda Chavez writes for The xxxxxx. Evangelical leaders and national security experts also support congressional action, as Jeff Brumley reports in Baptist News Global. (And read the Forum’s statement here.) 

Locally: 

• Thanks to Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Afghan journalist Qasim Rahimi was able to resettle in the U.S. One year after Kabul’s fall, he recounts his harrowing escape and more: "Afghanistan lost everything: human rights, women's rights, civil liberties, the national army, the national police. But the future can still be ours ..." (KCUR) 
• Spearheaded by former refugee Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, the Afghan Visiting Scholars program at San José State University has become a critical haven for Afghan scholars fleeing the Taliban. (Rachael Myrow, KQED) 
• Five members of Afghanistan’s Art Lords, an artist’s collective, are creating temporary tape art murals in Brattleboro, Vermont, after the Taliban painted over the group’s 2,000-plus murals in Afghanistan. (Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer) 

‘THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW’ — Carlos has lived nearly his entire life in the U.S. but is unable to apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) due to a legal stay on all first-time applicants, report Omar Ornelas, Hank Farr, and Josh Morgan for USA Today. His older brothers are DACA recipients. "I basically feel like the black sheep when it comes to ... the work side … [My brothers] have a better work environment and better work opportunities than I do," Carlos said. As Samuel Zelaya Rivas, a former DACA recipient, writes in a separate piece for the Boston Herald, "Policymakers need more exposure to the significant impact it creates when immigration status is clear and how hard it is to obtain … Congress has the ability to positively impact many lives by passing a solution such as the Dream Act, to include a pathway to permanent residency and eventually citizenship. The time to act is now." 

IMMIGRANT NURSES — We need more nurses, writes Julie Collins, program director at the Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences at Rush University, in an op-ed for The Chicago Sun-Times. The shortage is "already dire," she writes: "Nationwide, there will be 194,500 open positions for registered nurses each year, and the demand for nurses is expected to rise to 3.3 million overall in the next seven years." Collins offers solutions that Congress and individual states can implement to bring more nurses into the health care system, including helping immigrant nurses relocate, making more visas available, and moving already introduced bills forward. 

A TASTE OF HOME — Many Guatemalans in the U.S. rely on small-scale delivery services for authentic food from their home country, reports Joel Millman for Bloomberg. Family members send traditional Guatemalan products to loved ones abroad by dropping packages at shipment centers. Companies then fly them to cities with large Guatemalan populations for distribution. "This nostalgic trade is a way to nurture your identity," said Manuel Orozco, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue. "What’s happening with Guatemalans shows just how spread out they are: not just major cities, but suburbs and rural areas, too." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan