No matter the actual numbers, the White House’s immigration narrative is affecting immigrant families in the U.S. and beyond the border, as Matias Delacroix and Juan Zamorano of the Associated Press and Jeff Abbott of the El Paso Times report.
The administration’s border narrative also does not match reality there, Emily Bregel reports in the Arizona Daily Star.
"We are seeing some of the lowest border encounters in decades, so the need to surge all of these resources and personnel to the border doesn’t entirely add up," said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh of the Migration Policy Institute.
Daily migrant arrivals the week of Feb. 13 amount to about one migrant encounter per day for every 100 soldiers or agents, Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America points out.
As for internal enforcement, despite the visuals of raids and the anxiety they cause, overall numbers may not be up, report Lauren Villagran, Rick Jervis and Trevor Hughes of USA Today. The administration is making less data available, the team notes.
"If the data was out there and transparent, it would undermine their story," said Austin Kocher, a research professor at Syracuse University who studies immigration.
But the specter of vastly increased detention and deportation remains: The administration is planning to use military sites for up to tens of thousands of detainees, report Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times.
Meanwhile, the administration rescinded its order to stop funding for legal services of unaccompanied migrant children, reports Daniella Silva of NBC News. But a separate new initiative aims to find unaccompanied migrant children in the country and pave the way for their deportation, report Marisa Taylor, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters.
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].
WORKFORCE IMPACT — The administration is allowing programs to end that protect hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Venezuelans and others from deportation and allow them to work in the United States legally. Local businesses and communities that rely on such individuals to fill workforce gaps will feel the pain, reports Andrew Kreighbaum of Bloomberg Law. As Jennie says in the piece, "This targets people who did things ‘the right way’ at the time, and the heartening number of Americans who are trying to help them."
ISOLATION — Florida is preparing to implement its newest approved sweeping immigration law, reports Kate Payne of the Associated Press. Earlier Florida immigration laws have isolated the immigrant community, including its use of health services — fear that has extended even to U.S. citizens, a group of University of South Florida professors analyzes in The Conversation.
JURISDICTION — Our newest policy resource addresses "sanctuary" jurisdictions and the legality of limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. It’s timely as community members look to local leaders for clarity. Dallas Police Chief Michael Igo says he will focus on public safety rather than immigration enforcement, Adam Fullerton of Fox 4 reports. Washington state sheriffs sounded a similar note with Cascade PBS’s Moe K. Clark and Farah Eltohamy. Modesto, California, Police Chief Brandon Gillespie reiterated his commitment to protect the entire community, regardless of immigration status, reports Julietta Bisharyan of The Modesto Bee.
EDUCATION — School districts across the country are taking action to protect their students and families, reports Rebecca Schneid of Time. Denver Public Schools has filed a lawsuit claiming that the allowing of immigration enforcement in schools hinders the district from "fulfilling its mission of providing education and life services to the students." Across the country, teachers are coordinating initiatives to provide support and comfort to their students, Schneid notes.
