The Trump administration will revoke protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans living and working in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), according to a not yet published memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), report Hamed Aleaziz and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.
Venezuelans who were offered an extension on their TPS in 2023 will be given 60 days once the termination notice is officially published before their protections are rescinded. This will increase the number of immigrants in the United States without legal status, Aleaziz and Haberman note.
The move aligns with other executive orders and actions during the administration’s first two weeks, which predominantly target legal immigration, reports Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill.
"It’s one thing to shut down a pathway going forward, but it’s worrisome to focus enforcement efforts on people who are here because they followed an orderly legal process," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge.
Separately, Melissa Harper, a retired ICE official, will lead the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), report Annie Waldman and Mica Rosenberg of ProPublica.
Experts and advocates are concerned that information about children and their families will be used for detentions and removals. In 2018, Harper led the ICE family unit, where she implemented policies that separated families and elicited a class-action lawsuit, Waldman and Rosenberg highlight.
In an interview with Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post, Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said the administration is looking to give immigration officers access to a database with information on unaccompanied migrant minors, also causing concern.
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Soledad Gassó Parker, Broc Murphy, Clara Villatoro and Becka Wall. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
UNCERTAINTY — The administration's pursuit of an immigration crackdown is wrenching the livestock industry, reports Dairy Herd. "Violent criminals should be deported, but we also need legal pathways for the hardworking, law-abiding, tax-paying immigrant workers who are so critical to many important industries," said Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association. Nimra Ahmad of the South Seattle Emerald explains the potential negative economic impact on the hospitality and restaurant industries, and Melissa Winder of the Associated Press homes in on Eli’s Cheesecake Company in Chicago, where many refugees work.
HUMANITARIAN — Just before President Donald Trump took office, the organizations and individuals who help vulnerable people coming to the border were told to clear off federal land in Arizona. Now they are gearing up to protect their mission, reports Rafael Carranza with Arizona Luminaria and ProPublica. "If he cracks down on us, we will fight back," said Paula Miller, a volunteer with nonprofit Tucson Samaritans. "We will respond to the need because it saves lives."
FAITH CALL — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presented guidelines to help local faith leaders navigate new immigration policies, report Peggy Fletcher Stack and Tamarra Kemsley of The Salt Lake Tribune. Meanwhile, the Rev. Gabriel Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition discusses faith leaders’ challenges supporting immigrants within their congregations with Audie Cornish of CNN's podcast The Assignment. And Gina Christian of OSV News brings a wide lens to Catholic bishops’ calls for immigration reform in the name of justice and mercy.
MINISTRY CONTINUES — "Up and down the Rio Grande ... individuals, organizations and ad hoc groups are continuing to minister to the strangers, the sojourners, ‘the least among us,’" the Houston Chronicle editorial board writes in a must-read piece. "[T]o enforce immigration policy in a humane manner" requires Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass lasting solutions, the board writes. Elsewhere, protests against administration policies occurred yesterday in Los Angeles (Daniel Miller and Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times) and are planned today at businesses in Minnesota and nationwide (Kirsten Mitchell, WCCO News).
