Wednesday, September 21
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THE FORUM DAILY

The migrants Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sent to Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts, last week, most of whom are Venezuelan, were legally
seeking asylum on U.S. soil, Forum Senior Fellow Linda Chavez reiterates
in an op-ed for The xxxxxx
.  

Despite knowing that Florida's growing Venezuela community has
historically fled communist regimes, DeSantis "... cynically lured
Venezuelans who made the 3,000-mile trip through ten countries seeking
refuge in the United States onto chartered planes with [unfounded]
promises

of jobs and free housing," Chavez notes.  

"Over the last two years, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have
arrived at our southern border to claim asylum. The process is long,
arduous, and difficult, and most
who claim asylum will
not be granted protection," Chavez writes. "But until we modify current
law ... those who play by our rules shouldn't be vilified." 

On Tuesday, Lawyers for Civil Rights in the U.S. District Court in
Boston sued DeSantis and five other Florida officials, describing the
transportation of migrants as "premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal
scheme centered on exploiting" vulnerable migrants seeking protection,
per Samantha J. Gross, Jeremy C. Fox and Emily Sweeney at the Boston
Globe
.
On Monday, Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff Javier Salazar launched a
criminal investigation into the relocation, they note. 

Meanwhile, volunteers with local aid groups in El Paso, Texas, are
working to support the growing number of migrants in need, including
Venezuelans, even as charter bus companies transport migrants out of the
city, reports Uriel J. García for The Texas Tribune
. 

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] . 

PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY - Some promising news: Following a House vote
Monday, the Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act

has passed both houses of Congress. The bill is a first step toward
addressing the fact that more than 2 million college-educated immigrants
in the U.S. are unemployed or underemployed, according to the Migration
Policy Institute
,
including in key sectors such as health care and education. In a Zoom
press conference at 1:00 Eastern today, Rep. John Katko (R-New York),
lead sponsor of the bill in the House, will join advocates and an
underemployed Iraqi American doctor from New Jersey to talk about what
the bill's passage means and what comes next. Reporters, drop me a
line for registration details. 

HIRING REFUGEES - Cheers to the 45 companies that have committed to
hiring more than 22,000 refugees

over the next three years as part of the nonprofit Tent Partnership for
Refugees' ongoing initiative. They include Amazon, PepsiCo and Hilton,
as Amy Feldman of Forbes

reports. "The brands and companies coming together and making these
commitments will encourage other companies to step up," said Tent
founder and Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya. "I think we've
broken some barriers that companies are going out there and making
refugees part of their hiring."  

OPERATION LONE STAR - Last week, State District Judge Jose Lopez
(D-Texas) dismissed criminal cases against six migrants arrested for
trespassing under Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) Operation Lone Star
initiative, amid defense claims that the operation discriminates against
men, report Jasper Scherer and Neena Satija of the Houston Chronicle
.
"In court, state officials have suggested arresting women would put an
impossible strain on the makeshift legal system" several counties use to
review charges against migrants through Operation Lone Star, they
report. The six defendants had already been deported, but the ruling
could affect future challenges to the program. "The implication of this
order is that every single individual who was prosecuted in Operation
Lone Star was prosecuted in an unconstitutional manner," said Doug
Keller, an attorney involved in the case.  

CHURCH MISSIONS - Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints who learn, meet and serve immigrants on their church missions -
across 120 countries and all 50 states - "become more tolerant and
more favorable of pro-immigration policies," reports Suzanne Bates of
the Deseret News
.
The study ,
forthcoming in The Journal of Politics, is based on interviews with
1,804 Latter-day Saints conducted both before and after missionary
service, which people typically complete when they're between 18 and
21-years-old. Over two-thirds of the missionaries who completed
interviews self-identified as "conservative," and three-quarters were
Republican.  

TPS SUPPORT - Immigration advocacy groups in South Florida are urging
the Biden administration to renew Temporary Protection Status

(TPS) for nationals from Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua,
reports Alyssa Ramos of WLRN
.
"We've seen these programs under attack when President Trump was in
office. And so we know that these are vulnerable programs, right?" said
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. "But they're
still very much life-saving programs." People from these countries who
have TPS could face deportation should it be allowed to expire in
December. As a reminder, hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients are
part of our workforce, and Congress can offer long-term solutions for
them.  

IMAGINARY LINE - Mexican artist Karla García is exhibiting "La Línea
Imaginaria," an art collection presented in two halves separated by 30
miles and one border wall, NPR's Leila Fadel

reports. Half of the gallery is in El Paso, Texas, and the other half is
in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, both of which García considers home. "This
whole process of creating this binational exhibition demonstrated to me
that both countries can work together," said García. "So it's about
hope. And it's about resilience and acknowledging that." Speaking of
resilience, our policy expert Arturo Castellanos-Canales is out with a
great new blog post

in which he draws parallels between marathon training and immigration
advocacy. 

Here with you on the marathon, 

Dan  

 

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