Gov. Maura Healey (D) announced that stays in temporary shelters will be limited to five days and is deprioritizing migrant families for long-term shelter placement, including instituting a six-month waiting period to qualify for placement. 

"We are extremely concerned that the changes to the shelter system will impact the enrollment of children in public schools across the state," said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights.   

Federal law guarantees access to school. Districts say they will continue to enroll unhoused children and are awaiting further guidance from the state. 

In better news, experts in California say the Biden administration’s new rule making it easier for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency will benefit thousands of children in the state, reports Zaidee Stavely of EdSource.  

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, one in 10 children in California have at least one undocumented parent.  

"The opportunity that families are going to be able to stay together as they apply for permanent residency is a direct commitment to child well-being," said Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership. 

Big thanks to our excellent intern, Samantha Siedow, for her great work this summer, including on The Forum Daily. Today is her last day. Tusind tak and we’ll miss you, Sam!  

And welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Samantha Siedow, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

DEPORTATION TECH, RHETORIC — Advocates worry that the high-tech tools now available to immigration agents, alongside more hardline immigration policies, could speed up deportations, reports Avi Asher-Schapiro of Reuters’ Context. Already, between 2008 and 2021, ICE spent $2.8 billion on data collection. Separately, Andrea Pitzer, author of "One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps," writes in Scientific American that mass deportation rhetoric "echoes dangerous historical precedents."  

AN OPPORTUNITY — The increase in migrants from China is a "soft-power" opportunity, Gil Guerra and Channing Lee write for Foreign Policy. "In the systemic competition between democracy and authoritarianism, the arrival of Chinese migrants at the U.S. southern border in search of a better life proves that the U.S. system remains more attractive," they write. " ... Rather than treat Chinese asylum-seekers as a security threat, U.S. policymakers should lean into this development for both moral and strategic ends." 

PAXTON DENIED — District Judge Bobby Flores said yesterday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) cannot question the head of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley regarding migrant services, Berenice Garcia of The Texas Tribune reports. Paxton’s office had filed a petition last month to depose Sister Norma Pimentel. "We would hope that at this point they've realized that Catholic Charities complies with the law in all the work they do," attorney William Powell said. 

FAITH CONNECTIONS — Former refugees shared their stories at a recent Chapel Service for staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), reports Mike Ferguson of Presbyterian News Service. "I’m working as hard as I can to pay taxes and show how much I appreciate the help of all these people," said Maryna Shkurto, resettled after fleeing the war in Ukraine. Elsewhere, Samuel Benson (a former Forum intern) marks Pioneer Day by reflecting on his ancestors’ migration to Utah — and by exploring Latter-day Saints’ "theology of immigration." His piece is in The Dispatch. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

P.S. Register for a webinar today on D-3 Waivers & PIP Executive Actions, hosted by our partners at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, TheDream.US and Cornell Law School.