The migrants showed Torrens and Alvarez the documents they received after being released from U.S. custody, which included addresses for administrative offices of Catholic Charities in New York and San Antonio, a church in El Paso, Texas, a private home in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and an operator of homeless shelters in Salt Lake City. 

"It almost seems as though, at the border, officials are simply just looking up any nonprofit address they can or just looking up any name at all that they can and just putting that down without actually ever checking whether that person has mentioned it, whether there’s beds or shelter at that location, or whether this is even a location that can provide legal assistance," said Lauren Wyatt, managing attorney with Catholic Charities of New York. "So clearly, this is not the most effective way to do this." 

Catholic Charities of New York also has been sent more than 300 notices to appear in immigration court for people the organization doesn’t know, and deportation orders for migrants who missed court appearances because notices were sent to a Catholic Charities address. 

"We are deeply concerned that listing these addresses erroneously may lead to complications for asylum-seekers who are following a legal process to seek safety in the U.S.," said Stanford Prescott, a spokesman for International Rescue Committee refugee resettlement office in New York, where Molina unexpectedly arrived. 

Meanwhile, in an op-ed for The Hill, Human Rights Watch refugee rights director Bill Frelick explains why the administration’s new program for Venezuelans is so problematic. The one-sentence version: "Providing safe and orderly overseas avenues to protection is laudable as a supplement to the right to seek asylum at borders, but not as a substitute for that right."  

Welcome to Friday’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].   

‘I WANT THIS FREEDOM’— It took a year, but Latifa Sharifi, an Afghan human rights lawyer, finally reunited with her family in Texas this week, reports Dianne Solis of The Dallas Morning News. "I want this freedom and this safety for all the Afghan women that they will also be like me, safe," said Sharifi, who had received death threats from the Taliban for her work defending women’s and girls’ rights. For more on this story, tune in to Stella M. Chávez of KERA and Allie Spillyards of NBC DFW. Meanwhile, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) is among 12 governors urging Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that provides a path to permanent residency for Afghan evacuees in the U.S., reports Sydnee Gonzalez of KSL. Also advocating for the Afghan Adjustment Act: Two veterans and a Navy reservist who are traveling around the country — including stops in Idaho, as Shelbie Harris of the Idaho State Journal reports. 

HAITIAN TPS — A group of senators is urging the Biden administration to expand the current Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians given the criminal and political violence in the Caribbean country, reports Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald. The senators’ letter comes as Haiti experiences food and water shortages as a consequence of a gang alliance blocking its main seaports. The scarcity only has aggravated the political turmoil that Haiti faced after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, followed by an earthquake the next month. The Haiti TPS program was redesignated in May 2021, but the senators are asking for an expansion that will allow new recipients. 

LABOR SHORTAGES — By 2030, Wisconsin’s working-age population will shrink by 130,000 people, according to a recent study by Forward Analytics. Researchers found that people age 26 and younger have been leaving the state for better pay, warmer weather and bigger cities elsewhere, reports Adriana Daniel of WAOW. "I think part of the issue is the United States in general not changing our immigration laws and welcoming more immigrants to the United States," said Will Hsu, President of Hsu Ginseng Enterprise Inc. in Wausau. Something about immigration stemming population decline and addressing demographic challenges sounds familiar. 

ANTIQUATED LAWS — The shortcomings of the U.S. immigration system are a growing economic and national security risk, Edward Alden writes in a column for Foreign Policy, in which he tells the personal story of a friend of his from the tech industry. "Congress has not revised immigration quotas since 1965, when the U.S. population was almost 140 million people smaller," Alden explains. Laws applied to highly educated immigrants haven’t been reviewed since 1990 — before the information technology sector’s boom. Even immigrant professionals with permanent status face many obstacles, as Davin Tobenkin reports in the Community College Daily. In September, Congress passed the Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act, bipartisan legislation that directs the Department of Labor to study systemic barriers to employment for immigrants with credentials obtained in another country. It’s a good first step.