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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:
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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