One possibility to watch for in today’s speech: a plan for the U.S. to accept up to 30,000 migrants monthly from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti via an expanded humanitarian parole program, while at the same time expelling migrants from those countries who seek asylum after crossing the border unlawfully, as Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News reports.  

The plan would closely model humanitarian parole programs for displaced Ukrainians and Venezuelans and "represent a dramatic and unprecedented expansion of the parole authority," Montoya-Galvez notes.  

Another story that merits attention is the continuing exodus of Cubans trying to reach the U.S., as Nora Gámez Torres and Syra Ortiz-Blanes report in the Miami Herald. "These flurries are often a preamble … and the Biden administration best pay close attention," the Herald editorial board writes.  

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, Clara Villatoro and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

‘BROKEN DREAMS’ — With the continuation of the pandemic-era use of Title 42, asylum seekers are losing faith waiting in limbo in Mexico, report Maria-Pia Negro Chin and Gina Christian of Global Sisters Report. "Many had hoped they would be able to meet their families [at the U.S. side of the border] for Christmas. A lady was looking forward to seeing her son after being 10 years apart," said Pedro De Velasco of the Kino Border Initiative, a Catholic organization helping migrants. "The environment is one of sadness, hopelessness, of broken dreams." The policy has rapidly expelled migrants more than 2.5 million times, effectively blocking them from asylum and putting them in danger. Catching up from over the break: Read the story of Rafael and his family’s escape from Venezuela, the many challenges they faced to make the journey north, and their experience during and after being flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Mike Damiano tells it compellingly in the Boston Globe. 

FAMILY-SEPARATION FILES — Following her remarkable exposé on President Trump’s family-separation policy last year, Caitlin Dickerson has published internal government documents, also in The Atlantic, that informed her reporting. More than 5,000 children were separated from their families during Trump’s term, and hundreds remain separated. "These records showcase, among other things, government officials’ attempts to mislead the public; inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent record keeping, which to this day means that a full accounting of separations does not exist; efforts to extend the length of time that children and parents were kept apart; and early and repeated internal warnings about the policy’s worst outcomes, which were ignored," Dickerson writes.  

LIVED EXPERIENCE — "I am the wife of a DACA recipient. I am the daughter of Guatemalan working immigrants. I know firsthand the challenges and constant fear our families live every single day," Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois), newly elected to Congress, said last month. Ramirez continues to uplift her immigrant family history, in part to connect with voters and further understand her base, Catherine E. Shoichet of CNN reports. Ramirez’s mother crossed the Rio Grande when she was pregnant to give her family better opportunities. "My mother wouldn’t have risked my life or hers had it not been the only option she saw for her unborn child to have a chance at a life and childhood better than hers," Ramirez said. 

OPENING, CLOSING DOORS — Canada is ramping up immigration to fight a tight labor market and set a record in 2022, Reuters reports. The Canadian government announced Tuesday that more than 437,000 foreigners were granted permanent residency last year. Canada plans to bring in 1.45 million new permanent residents by 2025. In contrast, Sweden is becoming more restrictive on immigration, reports Elliott Davis Jr. of U.S. News & World Report. "The general approach is to lower the standards in order to make Sweden less attractive as a destination," said Bernd Parusel of the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies. Until recently, the country had been more open to immigration than many of its European counterparts. Sweden was one of five case-study countries in our October 2021 report, together with the Migration Policy Institute, RAND Corporation and Metropolitan Group, on how migration narratives can shift and be weaponized. 

A GREAT RESOURCE — He’s 17, he’s in high school, and he has created an online resource that helps immigrants and refugees easily find services throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Ian Kayanja of D Magazine reports on David P. Gibson’s project, Juntos DFW — "juntos" means together in English. Gibson’s site also helps overcome language barriers, providing services in four languages. "We need to make these resources available to people," Gibson said. "These resources are out there; they are just not well publicized to this population." Gibson is considering expanding the service to other cities in southern Texas and southern California. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan  

P.S. Here’s another story of young talent, one we had missed this last month. Tanitoluwa "Tani" Adewumi, now 12, is a chess prodigy originally from Nigeria who won a New York state championship in his division while homeless (and 8 years old) in 2019. He and his family were just granted asylum in the U.S., Sydney Page reports in The Washington Post.