THE FORUM DAILY
On Friday, Texas and 15 other GOP-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in an effort to stop the Keeping Families Together program, which began earlier last week, reports Miriam Jordan of The New York Times.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Plaintiff states are asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to pause the program which would ease the citizenship process for some undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens.
In his piece for Reason magazine, George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin lays out the plaintiff's reasoning and why he thinks the program is lawful.
Immigration advocates spoke out against the lawsuit, saying the move was motivated by politics, reports Sandra Sanchez of Border Report.
Al Cardenas, co-chairman of American Business Immigration Coalition Action, said of those who would be eligible for the program: "These are spouses of U.S. citizens who’ve worked in the United States for decades paying taxes and raising families — granting them work permits and legal status benefits us all."
This is not the first time that Texas has challenged Biden administration immigration policies in court. Check out our policy expert Alexandra Villarreal’s summary of other lawsuits.
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s assistant VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Dan Gordon and Joanna Taylor. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
‘VULNERABLE POPULATIONS’ — Speaking of Texas, in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News, Texas State Rep. and physician Suleman Lalani (D) writes critically on the recent executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to gather information regarding how much the medical care of undocumented immigrants is costing the state. For Lalani, the order not only plays into common misconceptions around uninsured immigrants, but also "alienates vulnerable populations and drives them away from necessary care."
Brazil, Panama— Today Brazil will start tightening visa rules for African and Asian migrants seeking to make the country a stopover on their way to the U.S., reports Mauricio Savarese of the Associated Press. Separately, more deportation flights were announced by the Panamanian government last week, this time with destinations such as Ecuador, India and China, reports Elida Moreno of Reuters.
PLANNING — In Nebraska, immigration advocates say an upcoming virtual summit will provide the space for communities to have a rapid response plan around the possibilities "of a mass deportation operation, flash workplace raids or other events that would cause upheaval in the state’s immigrant communities," reports Cindy Gonzalez for the Nebraska Examiner. The Las Voces Nebraska virtual summit planned for Sept. 7 is "a response strategy to a looming crisis," says Marty Ramirez, Las Voces’ co-founder.
OPPORTUNITIES — The University of Maryland, College Park, has joined Welcome Corps on Campus, a program that "offers refugee students an opportunity to earn a degree while providing a pathway to resettlement and U.S. citizenship," reports Matt Hubbard of The Baltimore Sun. The first student with the program will begin classes this fall. "[This] underscores our commitment to doing good by creating educational opportunities for people who might otherwise miss out," said university President Darryll J. Pines.
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