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. 

"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 and vulnerable migrants are often a target for smugglers, kidnappers and cartels. 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 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. 

As Brookings Institution expert Reva Dhingra writes in a commentary 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]. 

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

ELIGIBILITY CHANGES — A new policy update 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. 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 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", 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. "[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