The second Trump administration could undermine its own mass deportation plans if it does away with policies that have earned the cooperation of other countries, report Michael Wilner and Syra Ortiz Blanes of the Miami Herald.
On Monday, the president-elect announced Stephen Miller as his next deputy White House chief of staff for policy. Miller, an immigration hardliner, is a vocal opponent to the legal pathways the Biden administration offers, specifically parole programs.
Some of these programs helped persuade Mexico to accept 30,000 deportees a month, and without them that diplomatic understanding might disintegrate, per Wilner and Ortiz Blanes.
"Mexico has made clear that its willingness to accept returns of [nationals from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela] to Mexico is contingent on the continued availability of lawful processes for nationals from those countries to come directly to the United States," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote last year.
In other transition news, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is Trump’s pick for Homeland Security Secretary, report Andrew Restuccia and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal.
Auzinea Bacon of CNN outlines four ways mass deportation likely would affect the economy, including higher prices, lower wages and a slow job market. Although economic concerns influenced many voters, in her piece for The Conversation Pace University economics professor Veronika Dolar affirms the potential for Trump’s immigration policies to increase inflation.
Furthermore, California’s food systems could be disrupted without migrant labor, Cecilia Nowell reports in The Guardian.
For many, planning for this uncertain future starts now, a CNN team reports. To read more about the very real human impacts, take a look at Priscilla Rice’s piece for KERA on North Texas immigrant communities’ "sense of urgency" as they consider a second Trump presidency.
Welcome to Tuesday’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, Soledad Gassó Parker, Camilla Luong, Ally Villarreal and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
And please note that because we’re hosting events this week, we’ll have shortened editions tomorrow and Friday. There will be no Daily on Thursday.
DACA UNCERTAINTY — The incoming administration also is cause for anxiety for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), reports Mekahlo Medina for NBC Los Angeles. "I lost every single hope I had," said DACA recipient Emiliana Gallardo in California. "I’m undocumented and I’m afraid of what the future has set out for me." Amid similar feelings among New York recipients, some remain hopeful and are focusing on advocacy work and legal assistance, Arun Venugopal reports for Gothamist.
WORK VISAS — Based on Trump’s actions during his first administration, many predict future restrictions on H-1B visas and other lawful immigration, Stuart Anderson writes in Forbes. Amy Feldman, also in Forbes, reports that immigration attorneys expect employment to be impacted. "...in 2025, every executive is going to get briefed on business and workforce disruptions driven by restrictive immigration policies," says Lynden Melmed, former chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
REASSURANCE — Los Angeles teacher Larry Strauss shares the challenges of reassuring his Latino students in a post-election world, in his op-ed for USA Today. "The mass deportations Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised and which many of his followers celebrated were a pledge to take away the parents and grandparents and other family of many of my students," Strauss writes. He shares his own family’s immigration story in an attempt to assure students of their place in their community.
SERVICE — A first generation Mexican American veteran, Lino Covarrubias reflects on his service and experience as the child of immigrants, reports Norman Miller of The MetroWest Daily News. "I think being the first-generation son of immigrants, you feel the need … [T]he need to succeed because your parents worked very hard to provide for us," said the Navy veteran. Additionally, in Arizona, retired Staff Sgt. Rosa Linda Regalado also shares her experience serving her country as a proud daughter of immigrants, reports Nadia Cantú of the Arizona Republic.
