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