Thursday, September 1
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THE FORUM DAILY

The record number of Cubans coming to the United States this year
include hundreds of unaccompanied children requesting asylum at the
U.S.-Mexico border, report Syra Ortiz Blanes, Nora Gámez Torres and Ana
Ceballos of the Miami Herald
. 

"The increase in the number of children and adolescents among Cuban
migrants suggests an intensification of the desperation felt by many
families residing on the island," said Jorge Duany, director at Florida
International University's Cuban Research Institute. "... It seems to
be a new migratory pattern, which until now has been dominated by young
adults without their children." 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection data
show 662
encounters with unaccompanied Cuban children at the border since
October, compared with 32 encounters in all of fiscal year 2021. 

In South Florida, Catholic Charities' shelter has seen an uptick in
Cuban youth. Its history of caring for Cuban kids includes taking in
some of the 14,000 who arrived via the Catholic Church's "Operation
Pedro Pan" in the early 1960s. Like
other nonprofit shelters, it is now limited in its ability to care for
migrant children, due to a rule implemented in January

by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).  

Meanwhile, Rosa Flores and Julia Jones of CNN

report on conditions in Reynosa, Mexico, where thousands of migrants are
waiting, many in makeshift tents, hoping to qualify for humanitarian
exceptions to enter the U.S. 

Welcome to Thursday's edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP. We are pausing the
Daily tomorrow and Monday for Labor Day weekend - have a good one! If
you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to
me at [email protected]
.  

**BUS COST** - Texas has spent more than $12 million busing thousands
of migrants from the southern border to Washington, D.C., and New York
City, per Texas Division of Emergency Management data, Polo Sandoval and
Andy Rose report for CNN
.
Private donations to fund the trips totaled only $167,828 as of Aug. 17,
suggesting that taxpayers may foot the remaining bill. Arizona has also
spent millions of dollars busing migrants north. Last week Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
(R) for not working with federal authorities: "That lack of coordination
wreaks problems in our very efficient processing."  

**MIGRANT DISAPPEARANCES** - Tuesday marked International Day of the
Victims of Enforced Disappearances
,
which commemorates victims of abduction. Migrants are among the people
currently at risk of disappearance, in part because of policies such as
Title 42, Ana Lorena Delgadillo and the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn write
in The Geopolitics
.
The now ending Migrant Protection Protocols, known as "Remain in
Mexico," contributed to a reported quadrupling

of migrant disappearances in Mexico last year as well. "We must do all
we can to bring victims home, provide answers to families, and ensure
nobody [disappears] in the future," Delgadillo and Rev. Morn
conclude.  

**WELCOMING REFUGEES** - Continuing to welcome refugees to Iowa is a
key way to fill critical labor shortages and "strengthen Iowa's
economic future," Iowa business leaders Drew Kamp and Doug Neumann write
in an op-ed for the Corridor Business Journal
. Refugees
and other newcomers comprise a part of the workforce that "not only
helps offset our aging population, but also helps reduce incentives for
companies to move their operations elsewhere or overseas," they write.
They also encourage state leaders to call on the Biden administration
to shore up refugee resettlement. On that score, 11 U.S. Senators
recently sent a letter

to the secretaries of State and Homeland Security, sharing concerns
about low refugee admissions and asking questions about efforts to
rebuild capacity.  

**'THEY DESERVE TO BE HERE'** - Shannon K. Crawford of ABC News

has more on the story of Khalis Noori, whose mention in The Hill

we included earlier this week. Noori feared the Taliban would target him
after he studied international development and economics in the U.K. and
decided to flee. He considers himself lucky for being able to leave, as
almost 75,000 Afghan allies are still waiting to see if they qualify for
Special Immigrant Visas that would give them a pathway to a green card,
Crawford notes. "I had so many friends that they stayed back and
didn't get a chance to come that worked with the American government
in Afghanistan," added Mohammad Nabi, an Afghan evacuee working as a
case manager for LIRS who asked that his real name not be used for his
family's safety. "They deserve to be here." 

Locally:  

* A Kenosha, Wisconsin, synagogue is working with Afghan refugees as
part of Congregations United to Serve Humanity, an alliance of local
faith-based groups that is supporting Afghan resettlement
efforts financially in addition to helping with school, employment, and
health care. (The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
) 

* More than 600 Afghan evacuees have been welcomed to the St. Louis
area, and local leaders want to welcome more. "To me, St. Louis is kind
of the epitome of what this country should be and frankly is, and that
is a place that welcomes immigrants and refugees," said Jason Hall, CEO
of regional economic development group Greater St. Louis Inc. (Nassim
Benchaabane, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
) 

**REUNITING PUPS** - In partnership with the Buddy Foundation
, a Border Patrol
supervisor and a network of volunteers are helping reunite migrants and
their pets that were separated at the border, reports Adolfo Flores of
BuzzFeed News
.
"They love their pups as much as we love our dogs, and if we were in
their situation, we would want someone to help us," said Sandy Tovar,
president of the Buddy Foundation, who has been leading the initiative
since 2021.  

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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