Many Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans are still in limbo after being returned to Mexico under President Biden’s new border rule, reports Nina Lakhani for The Guardian.  

Héctor González, who had fled Cuba with his wife after Christmas, is one of them. After making the trek to Eagle Pass, Texas, with a large group of other migrants, they completed their required paperwork, photos, and fingerprints. But four days later — without warning or details — they were all relocated to a Mexican immigration facility in Piedras Negras. Cubans were then split from the group, and bussed hundreds of miles south to different cities, notes Lakhani. 

A week later, González was among dozens of other asylum-seekers from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and other countries, camping outside Mexico’s refugee agency headquarters, uncertain about next steps. 

"When we left Cuba this policy wasn’t in place, and then from one day to the next things changed," said González. "We’ve been caught in the middle of two policies, it seems totally unjust. 

On Biden’s new border rule, Law Enforcement and Immigration Task Force members Chief Ramon Batista (Santa Monica) and Deputy Chief Chad Kasmar (Tucson) share their take in a newly published blog. And from the faith perspective, The Evangelical Table’s Matthew Soerens offers prayers for migrants and countries impacted. 

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

ONE DAY APART — Karen Judith Briseno Ortiz mailed in her DACA application in Texas just one day after her twin sister did. By mailing separately, they had hoped to avoid confusion with immigration officials since they have the same first name, last name and birthday, reports Ariana Figueroa of States Newsroom. Yet, her sister was accepted into the program while Karen’s application remains pending — a result of DACA being challenged in the courts.  

MIGRANT SHELTER — On Monday, the first of several migrants arrived at a new migrant housing facility in Red Hook, Brooklyn, per Julio Avila News 12. Migrant transport by bus took place over the weekend, with the mayor’s office noting the facility can hold up to 1,000 asylum seekers. 

‘LICENSES FOR ALL’ — The Minnesota House just passed the Licenses for All legislation bill last night, which would permit undocumented immigrants to apply for state driver’s licenses, reports John Croman of KARE 11. The bill gained support from statewide business, law enforcement, and agricultural groups. 

LOVE OF BALLROOM — Many elderly Asian American immigrants have used ballroom dancing as a much-needed social outlet in the U.S. for years. Reflecting on the nature of ballroom dance, and honoring those who were recently gunned down at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, in Monterey Park, California, Lynda Lin Grigsby offers us some hope in an op-ed for CNN.  

MIAMI RUNNERS — The Miami Marathon took place on Sunday, where nearly 18,000 runners from 50 states and 69 countries participated, report David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald. Many runners carried flags from their home country, including from Ukraine, they note. "I’m starting to run [again]," said Valentyna Veretska, who fled Mykolaiv, Ukraine, in March 2022.  

Thanks for reading,  

Clara  

P.S. For your movie list: "Going Varsity in Mariachi," is a feature documentary centering on "the highly competitive world of high school mariachi" by Mexican American filmmakers Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn. It is among the films playing at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, as Fidel Martinez of the Los Angeles Times reports.