The numbers are eye-opening: Seven-day averages of encounters with migrants from the four countries are down from 3,367 per day on Dec. 11 to 115 per day now, officials say. 

But with various lawsuits making the future of various border policies uncertain, we still need long-term solutions. As our policy expert Danilo Zak told Adam Klepp of KYMA, "Congress needs to get to work building up processing at ports of entry, improving infrastructure, getting more resources there to work on claims. That’s where we need to go from here." (For a visual breakdown of what border numbers mean, see our new border graphic here.) 

Meanwhile, deaths in Texas caused by extreme heat, including deaths of migrants, have reached a two-decade high, report Alex Nguyen and Erin Douglas of The Texas Tribune. 

At least 214 heat-related deaths occurred between January and September last year, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. More than half were people from another state or country. During fiscal year 2022, Customs and Border Protection reported 853 migrants’ deaths along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, the highest tally in recent years — and almost certainly not the full count. 

Migration experts, advocates and local officials believe border enforcement policies have contributed by pushing migrants away from "preferred crossing points in urban areas toward increasingly remote and dangerous routes." Title 42 expulsions exacerbate the risks. 

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]. 

COMMUNITY-BASED SUPPORT — Private sponsorship programs like the Welcome Corps and recently expanded temporary humanitarian parole programs for certain nationalities "signal a shift toward a community-based approach to record-breaking migration," reports Addie Offereins of WORLD Magazine. While this is a step in the right direction, sponsored immigrants and refugees need legal protections that provide adequate and sustained support, our President and CEO, Jennie Murray, told Offereins.

REFLECTIONS AND QUESTIONS — Drawing parallels between her recent immersion trip at the border and a visit to Cuba, our Midwest mobilizer Christy Staats asks tough questions about the impact of our asylum system in an op-ed in Christianity Today’s The Better Samaritan. "Americans don’t understand U.S. immigration policy, so how could people fleeing terrible things from other countries understand it?" she writes.

LEAKED INFO — Twenty-one migrants recently sued the federal government for accidentally publishing their confidential information on ICE’s website, reports Julian Resendiz of Border Report. The November leak exposed names, nationalities, locations, and other personal information of more than 6,000 migrants total.

CINCINNATI GROWTH — Cincinnati is among the cities where immigration is crucial to growth, reports David Holthaus of Soapbox Cincinnati. From 2014 to 2017, the Cincinnati metro area ranked first in growth thanks to new immigrants.

Thanks for reading,

Dan 

P.S. For a fascinating interview on the origin story behind the new documentary "The Flagmakers," check out Jason Dick’s piece in Roll Call.