Thursday, January 19
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THE FORUM DAILY

Venezuelans turned back to Mexico under Title 42 face a tough decision:
try to stay in Mexico, continue the dangerous journey to the U.S., or
turn back home, Albinson Linares of Noticias Telemundo
<[link removed]>/NBC
News
<[link removed]>
reports.   

"You have to mentally prepare yourself and really want to forge ahead,
because it's very difficult to continue," said migrant Mariantonela
Orellana, who spent nine days in Darien Gap jungle after fleeing
economic and political turmoil in Venezuela in 2019.  

In the first 11 months of 2022, nearly 13,000 Venezuelans requested
political asylum in Mexico, a 39% increase from the 2020 total. Mexican
authorities have approved 61% of all applications it received during the
2022 stretch, including an estimated 90% for Hondurans and Venezuelans,
Linares notes. 

Meanwhile, some migrants trying to apply for asylum in the U.S. via the
updated CBP One app
<[link removed]> say they are
being given appointments hundreds of miles away, per Sandra Sanchez of
Border Report
<[link removed]>.
 

Alma Ruth, director and founder of the faith-based nonprofit Practice
Mercy Foundation, is working with other nonprofits to try to transport
migrants to their appointments. But travel along the Mexican side of
the border can be dangerous, Ruth notes: "Why do we need to send them to
El Paso, to Tijuana, to Eagle Pass? It's impossible to travel like
that inside Mexico without a death sentence. Even Mexicans don't do
that."   

Meanwhile, as part of a series of policy recommendations, The George W.
Bush Institute is out with a paper about the root causes of migration
<[link removed]>
from northern Central America - as well as one on needed immigration
reforms
<[link removed]>.
They're quite worth a read. 

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]
<mailto:[email protected]>. 

PRIVATE REFUGEE SPONSORSHIP - Stories of local welcome for evacuated
Afghans and Ukrainians have warmed our hearts over the past year and a
half. Now the State Department is launching Welcome Corps
<[link removed]>, a private refugee sponsorship program that
will allow small groups of Americans to help with resettlement, Camilo
Montoya-Galvez reports in CBS News
<[link removed]>.
"[G]roups of at least five U.S.-based individuals could have the
opportunity to sponsor refugees if they raise $2,275 per refugee, pass
background checks and submit a plan about how they will assist the
newcomers," he writes. Ted Hesson first reported on the news yesterday
in Reuters
<[link removed]>.
Sponsorship opportunities for Afghans and Ukrainians were precursors to
the Welcome Corps - and in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
<[link removed]>,
Sophie Carson reports on how sponsorship for Ukrainians has helped, but
also has limits.  

**MIGRANT BOATS** - "Freedom boats" made of steel highway dividers,
tree branches, fuel drums, chicken wire and Styrofoam are among the
vessels Cuban and Haitian migrants are taking to make a perilous journey
across the sea toward Miami, reports David Goodhue of the Miami Herald
<[link removed]>
- with can't-miss pictures by a team of Herald photographers. "With
freedom in sight, some jump into the water, hoping to make it to shore.
Others are rescued by Coast Guard crews. Many are sent back. Some get to
stay. And others just disappear," he describes. "But their freedom boats
stay behind, caught in mangroves, nudged onto sandbars, brought up to
lawns or bobbing behind backyard docks." 

**BORDER PRESSURES** - An increase in migrants heading to the
U.S.-Mexico border is causing what DHS and CBP describe as "enforcement
fatigue" in some transit countries, reports Jana Winter of Yahoo News
<[link removed]>.
"Multiple countries in Central and South America reported having limited
resources and are requesting assistance from the United States as well
as international partners to support migrants already in country,
stating they are unable to provide migrants with basic social service
requirements," per a December DHS assessment obtained by Yahoo News.
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama also have limited
capacity to house migrants at shelters, with some closing because of
insufficient funding. One of the major challenges on the Mexican side of
the border is a severe lack of staffing for vast areas of terrain as
well, notes Winter.  

**BARRIERS FOR AFGHANS** - "Why are [we] putting up so many barriers
when we could be doing more to help them?" That's the question Nasar
Sailab of the International Rescue Committee raises in The Dallas
Morning News
<[link removed]>.
Allies remain stuck and Afghan families remain separated for several
reasons, he notes, including a closed passport office closed in Kabul
and U.S. embassy interviews yet to be scheduled. Today are thousands of
Afghans still waiting in a third country to get to America. Abdul, who
worked for the U.S. government, and his family of 11 fled to Pakistan
more than a year ago after securing a family sponsor in Texas and
getting their petition approved and submitted - but they're now
waiting for visas. "Families like Abdul's, who were promised safety
after assisting U.S. forces, deserve their own evacuation flight,"
Sailab concludes.  

**A LONG WAY TO CITIZENSHIP** - Jesus Contreras will become a U.S.
citizen today after a long legal path, reports Dennis Romboy of the
Deseret News
<[link removed]>.
In 2009, a series of unfortunate situations, including a mistake by a
lawyer, led to Contreras' deportation to his native Mexico. At the
time, U.S. courts didn't have to hear the arguments of an immigrant
who was no longer in the country, which created an incentive for quick
deportations, Romboy notes. But the ensuing legal battle eventually
established an important precedent for immigrants to be heard in court
even after a deportation. "I am so excited. I am happy to be in the
United States. Now I have the opportunity to be with my kids and now I
can see my grandkids grow up," said Contreras, who is now 63. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

**P.S.** Author Marjorie Boafo Appiah, known by her pen name, Marjy
Marj, draws inspiration from her experience as a Ghanaian immigrant when
addressing tough topics, reports Asia Rollins of The Post and Courier
<[link removed]>
in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her new book, "Conversations About
Race," will be released this month. "It's meant to be a conversation
starter where we find ways to look at each other through a different set
of eyes," Boafo Appiah says.

 

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