Wednesday, August 24
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THE FORUM DAILY

Many migrants are still stuck in Mexico as the Migrant Protection
Protocols (MPP) slowly phase out and Title 42 remains in
effect, reports Rick Jervis of USA TODAY
. 

Advocates say the policy combination has "[sown] confusion and
compounded the challenges, with a border backlog that continues to put
people at risk." 

Under MPP, from December through the end of July, the
government returned 7,112 asylum-seekers to Mexico to await court
hearings
,
per DHS data. And under Title 42, border officials expelled 72,616
migrants along the Southwest border in July, according to U.S. Customs
and Border Protection
. 
 

"That's the bizarre tension here," said Lisa Koop, associate director
of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center. "As much as
we rejoice MPP going away, with Title 42 in place it's kind of cold
comfort. People are going to have zero access to asylum." 

A regular reminder that solutions other than Title 42 exist
. 

Welcome to Wednesday'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] . 

CUBAN ASYLUM SEEKERS - In the Miami Herald
,
Nora Gámez Torres offers a window into how asylum works - and the
fact that seeking asylum is legal. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans
continue to seek asylum to live and work in the U.S. legally, due to
government repression and a low quality of life in their home country,
she reports. Most qualify for legal status under the 1966 Cuban
Adjustment Act. "They're here waiting for their case to be heard;
they have due process rights for that. And there's no illegality
behind it," said David Claros, the managing attorney for the Church
World Services' South Florida legal department. He noted that the same
is true for many migrants from other countries, who are "legally
authorized to stay and work" in the U.S. while their cases are
pending. 

BORDER BOTTLENECKS - During the Trump administration, ICE instructed
its agents to deactivate and wipe their data from agency-issued phones
before returning them, Geneva Sands reports for CNN
.
That's according to a court filing Friday as part of a public-records
request from watchdog group American Oversight. "We cannot stand by as
agency after agency admits that it destroys public records," said
Heather Sawyer, the organization's executive director. "Text messages
often contain crucial information on what federal employees are doing
and why they are doing it. The obligation to retain these records is not
optional - it is the law." 

UKRAINIANS - An estimated 150,000 Ukrainian evacuees
have entered the U.S., surpassing President Biden's original pledge
to welcome 100,000, reports Marc Ramirez for USA Today
.
But 150,000 is just a fraction of the more than 6 million displaced
Ukrainians, and with more than half of the evacuees here on a temporary
basis, their future in the U.S. remains uncertain. "It's important
that the U.S. continue to serve as a safe haven," said Krish O'Mara
Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service. "But it's a drop in the bucket compared to the massive
displacement we've seen." Today also marks Ukraine's Independence
Day. In the third installment in a "Refugee Diaries" series in POLITICO
,
five Ukrainian refugees in Europe "reflect on past commemorations, share
their hopes for the future, and write a letter to fellow refugees
spending this year's Independence Day away from home." 

ONE YEAR LATER - Valerie Plesch of DCist

shares the stories of Afghan evacuees as they reflect on their new lives
in Washington, D.C. "We didn't just leave our country - I left my
friends, I left my dream of graduating from Afghan Turk High School.
That dream is incomplete, I will never achieve it ... I am here but
every piece of me is there: my friends, my house, my school, my dreams,"
said Asal Forotan, 16. Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghan evacuees in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been protesting for weeks as they await
resettlement in the U.S. or elsewhere, per Alexander Cornwell of
Reuters
. 

Locally:

* After fleeing Afghanistan himself, former interpreter Ahmad Ibrahami
now works as a case manager for Rochester Refugee Resettlement services,
helping other Afghan evacuees apply for jobs, learn to drive, and find
housing. (Alex Love, WROC
)
 

* Svetlana Stahl of Michigan befriended Olga Pluzhynk of Ukraine online
shortly after the war started and has since taken her in. "I keep
telling her she's not a bother, she's not a burden to me. I never
had a sister and I feel like we have a lot in common," Stahl said.
(Caylee Kirby, WTOL
) 

MO'S NEW SHOW - Comedian Mo Amer's new show, Mo, co-created with
Ramy Youssef, is a semi-autobiographical look into the experience of
people who resettle here after being forcibly displaced, per Leila
Fadel and Phil Harrell of NPR
.
Set in the suburb of Houston where Amer grew up, the show follows the
life of an asylum seeker "in immigration limbo" and reveals "the comedy
and tragedy in his family's tale." Said Amer, "Millions of people are
going to relate to this and it can empower them to better their lives.
And also people who didn't go through it can relate to it and have
empathy for it." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

P.S. In the last of a three-part Evangelical Immigration Table blog
series, Jenny Groen of Minnesota, the Willmar Area Coordinator
for Arrive Ministries, reflects on a recent trip to the border

and centers on one question: "Where is the church?" Her post was
originally published on Arrive Ministries
. 

 

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