Thursday, October 13
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THE FORUM DAILY

The U.S. and Mexico announced a joint agreement on Wednesday

to reduce the number of Venezuelan migrants arriving at the border.
There's some good here, and some ... not so good. 

The idea behind the policy is sound: reduce unlawful crossings between
ports of entry - and thus reduce the appeal of smuggling - by
creating a lawful channel for some migrants. In this case, Venezuelan
migrants who have a supporter in the U.S. and pass rigorous vetting may
be granted humanitarian parole. 

But there are some caveats and questions. As Nick Miroff and Kevin
Sieff report in The Washington Post
,
there's a cap of 24,000 such migrants - whereas close to 160,000 in
just the past year have been taken into custody after trying to cross
the southern border. For their part, Mexican officials say the program
will work only if the U.S. accepts a substantial number of Venezuelans.
And the U.N. estimates
that almost 7

**million** Venezuelans have left their native country since 2013. 

Migrants who attempt to cross between ports will be returned to Mexico
under Title 42 and will be ineligible for parole. Migrants who enter
Panama or Mexico illegally also will be ineligible - and an editor's
note that Venezuelans need visas to enter those countries legally. 

I turn again to my colleague Danilo Zak for a succinct summary
: "The right
to apply for asylum at the border - including between ports of entry
and 'irrespective of status' - is explicitly enshrined in our
immigration laws. More processing at ports is good, but this new policy
for Venezuelans (and Title 42 in general) infringes upon that
right."  

In other news, with midterms around the corner, misinformation targeting
immigrants is rampant, reports Tiffany Hsu of The New York Times
.
Researchers are finding misinformation in more languages, covering more
topics and on more digital platforms than in the past. Multilingual
fact-checkers are urging Facebook, YouTube and other big social media
platforms to help them debunk falsehoods - in languages other than
English.  

Welcome to Thursday'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] . 

**FARMWORKERS** - In a forum hosted by the Federal Reserve Banks of
Minneapolis and Kansas City last week, ag industry leaders pushed for
immigration reform as a solution to address increasing food prices and
farm labor shortages, Noah Fish reports in Agweek
.
Beth Ford, president and CEO of Land O'Lakes (a Forum partner), urged
the Senate to take up the Farm Workforce Modernization Act
 without
delay: "We're a couple million workers short, so what will it take?"
Farmers in Ohio have a similar message, Joe Gilroy reports in
the Norwalk Reflector
.
"This comes down to a simple and basic choice for Americans. We either
import workers or we import food," said Bob Jones, owner of The Chef's
Garden and Farmer Jones Farm Market in Milan, Ohio. The bill passed the
House with bipartisan support, including from Rep. Dan
Newhouse (R-Washington), who also urged the Senate to act in a recent
op-ed in The Hill
. 

**FLORIDA, NEW YORK** - The Treasury Department is investigating
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R) migrant transport initiative "and
whether the Republican governor improperly used money connected to
Covid-19 aid to facilitate the flights" to Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts, report Gary Fineout and Lisa Kashinsky of POLITICO
.
If the answer is yes, Florida taxpayers would foot the bill, Greg
Sargent writes in his Washington Post

column. Meanwhile, in the wake of New York City's declaration of a
state of emergency

to help address the increase in migrants, Washington Post

contributing columnist Fernanda Santos writes about the migrants
themselves, who are caught in the fray.  

**HUMANITARIAN LEADERSHIP** - In light of current global
displacement, the U.S. has work to do if we want humanitarian
leadership to guide refugee resettlement, Emily Frazier of Missouri
State University writes in an op-ed for The Washington Post
.
Frazier looks at the history of our refugee policies and concludes that
geopolitical interests, not humanitarian ones, have been the guiding
force. On expanding protections, "the administration's progress has
been irresolute, raising questions about Biden's commitment to
restoring refuge in the United States," she writes. Last month, the
administration announced

a 125,000-refugee admission ceiling for the 2023 fiscal year, the same
as in 2022. But this past fiscal year, only 25,465 refugees were
resettled
. 

**TALIBAN RESTRICTIONS** - On International Day of the Girl Child
,
the Biden administration imposed new visa restrictions for current and
former Taliban members and others due to their severe repression of
women and girls
, reports
Darryl Coote of United Press International
.
"We continue to press the Taliban and others to respect the human rights
and fundamental freedoms - including the right to education - of all
Afghans, including women and girls," Secretary of State Antony
Blinken tweeted

Tuesday. For The Atlantic
,
Bushra Seddique underscores the chilling reasons why "Afghanistan is,
once again, the worst place in the world to be a woman." Read more on
why education is a "power for peace and security" in Afghanistan,
especially for women and girls, in a new report
 by
Natalie Gonnella-Platts of the George W. Bush Institute. 

**QUICK BITES** - More stories worth a look today: 

* New York Giants punter Jamie Gillan is stuck in London, per Jordan
Raanan of ESPN
.
His story highlights the plight of "documented Dreamers," as immigration
analyst Sam Peak of Americans for Prosperity alludes to
.
 

* With Iranian Americans supporting humanitarian protests in Iran, The
New York Times
'
Soumya Karlamangla explores how and why Southern California has become
"home to the world's largest Iranian community outside of Iran." 

* Many Rohingyas in the refugee camps of Bangladesh are using
photography, poetry, and social media to share their daily hardships,
everyday joys and hopes with a global audience, per Gaspar Ruiz-Canela
of EFE
. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

 

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