Thursday, February 16
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌


 

THE FORUM DAILY

Our hearts and prayers go out to El Paso this morning, following a
shooting at Cielo Vista Mall yesterday. Last night's incident left at
least one dead and three injured, leaving the community with grief
again, reports a team at CNN
<[link removed]>.
The shopping mall is nearby the Walmart where a mass shooting in 2019
<[link removed]> killed
23 people.   

In other news, Venezuelans are banding together in Juárez, Mexico, in
hopes of gaining asylum in the U.S., reports Julian Resendiz of Border
Report
<[link removed]>. 

"Brother, we share everything. We help each other. If one of us has
food, we all eat," said Omar, a Venezuelan national who reached
the border after the U.S. rolled out the recently expanded humanitarian
parole program. He is now trying to navigate the new CBP One app to
file an asylum application.   

Juárez has one of the highest homicide rates in the world
<[link removed]>
and vulnerable migrants are often a target for smugglers, kidnappers and
cartels
<[link removed]>.
Safety is among the reasons these migrants are sticking together,
Resendiz notes.  

In more somber news ... Over in Panama, a bus carrying 66 people plunged
off a cliff, killing at least 39 migrants who had reportedly crossed the
dangerous Darien Gap, reported Al Jazeera
<[link removed]>
yesterday. Meanwhile, at least 73 migrants are missing or presumed dead
after a boat wrecked off the coast of Libya, trying to reach Europe, per
Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath of Axios
<[link removed]>. 

As Brookings Institution expert Reva Dhingra writes in a commentary
<[link removed]>
on the parallels between U.S. migration policy and the EU's experience
with Libya: "Creating safe migration pathways and dramatically
expanding asylum processing capabilities are important and necessary
steps." One, to uphold the right for people to seek asylum with respect
and dignity - and two, to avoid tragic events repeatedly.  

Welcome to Thursday'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]
<mailto:[email protected]>. 

**DESANTIS'S TRANSPORT LAW** - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed
a bill into law
<[link removed]>
on Wednesday to expand the state's ability to transport migrants
elsewhere, report Taiyler Simone Mitchell and Kimberly Leonard of
Business Insider
<[link removed]>.
"Under the expanded law, Florida could move migrants from any state
and keep the details
<[link removed]> of
the transportation companies secret," they write. We'll be monitoring
this.  

**ELIGIBILITY CHANGES** - A new policy update
<[link removed]>
by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permit more
than 20,000 'documented Dreamers' to freeze "their age earlier in
the application process for a green card," reports Andrew Kreighbaum of
Bloomberg Law
<[link removed]>.
Formerly dependent on approval of their parents' visa, the update
includes eligible children and young adults - below age 21 - with
protection from losing their legal status.  

**WORKFORCE GAPS** - Finding willing, able talent to fill workforce
shortages has been incredibly difficult in this tight labor market.
Increased immigration could be a viable solution, but as Mary Sanchez of
Kansas City PBS
<[link removed]>
reports, a lack of work authorization, delays in approvals, and limited
visas throughout the season and year, continue to interfere with meeting
labor needs.   

**'THEY ARE WELCOMED'** - Thanks to the New York City-based
nonprofit "Reconnect" <[link removed]>, a group of
asylum-seeking men are getting hands-on job training, learning English,
and culinary skills, to help them turn their lives around, reports Bill
Miller of The Tablet
<[link removed]>.
"[H]ere, we're bringing people into a community that helps them to see
that they're safe, they are welcomed, and they're good," said Father
Jim O'Shea, provincial of the Passionists for the Eastern U.S. 

Thanks for reading, 

Clara 

 

DONATE
<[link removed]>

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org <[link removed]>

 

Unsubscribe from The Forum Daily
<[link removed]>

or opt-out from all Forum emails.
<[link removed]>

 

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States