The Forum Daily | Friday, February 21, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

The Department of Homeland Security is revoking protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), report Syra Ortiz Blanes and Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald [link removed].  

The Biden administration extended the TPS for Haitians until February of 2026. Now those protections will end in August 2025.  

"Even an elementary understanding of Haiti and Venezuela would lead any normal person to understand these people are in danger," said Ira Kurzban, a Miami-based lawyer who sued the Trump administration when they tried ending TPS in his first term. Kurzban, as well as others, are ready to take the administration to court. 

American communities will also see the consequences of this decision on TPS as Jennie told Newsweek [link removed]'s Gabe Whisnant and Dan Gooding: "We urge the administration to reconsider and protect Haitians already in the United States, as they did in the past [link removed]. These individuals should not face the prospect of being returned to a nation in crisis, leaving American communities and businesses to suffer the effects of the removal of half a million people now working and contributing to our economy." 

For more on how the new administration is changing immigration policies, check out Sarah Matusek’s review of the Trump administration’s first month for The Christian Science Monitor [link removed]. And the Forum's statement [link removed] on how the recent administration's actions on immigration run counter to Americans’ priorities. 

Welcome to Friday’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 Soledad Gassó Parker, Broc Murphy and Becka Wall. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. 

**IMPACT** — In a recent meeting, Federal Reserve officials indicated that changes in trade and immigration policies are some of the factors that could hinder progress on controlling inflation, reports Courtenay Brown of Axios [link removed]. Jerome Powell, the agency chair, has commented before on the key role of immigration in the U.S. workforce and its impact in economy, Brow notes. The dairy industry, in particular, relies heavily on immigrants to meet labor demands as Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News [link removed] reports.  

**AT RISK** — The State Department Office that coordinates the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. may be at risk of shutting down soon, reports Jonathan Landay of Reuters [link removed]. A permanent shutdown of this office could affect not only those already in the U.S. but also thousands of Afghans abroad already vetted for U.S. resettlement but who have been stranded for weeks or months. Will Selber, who fought as an U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel in Afghanistan, comments on what he considers the United States betrayal of Afghan allies in his piece for The xxxxxx [link removed].  

For more on Afghan evacuees: 

* Two Afghan brothers currently serving in the U.S. military were about to reunite with their sister, but the cancelation of all resettlement programs left her in hiding (Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune [link removed] and ProPublica [link removed]) 

* Abdul Ahmad Sayedi, an Afghan evacuee, made it safe to America. Now, he and his family are fighting an eviction due to refugee funding cuts. (Dion Nissenbaum, Houston Landing [link removed]) 

* The Vermont Afghan Alliance continue resettlement efforts despite a cut in their funding. (Bridget Higdon, Saint Albans Messenger [link removed]) 

* A refugee family in St. Cloud, Minnesota is navigating life in their new country, but still worry for relatives who are stuck in Afghanistan (Kirsti Marohn, MPR News [link removed]) 

**PERSEVERANCE** — Despite the halt on refugee resettlement funding by the Trump administration, refugee resettlement organizations persevere, reports Fisayo Okare of Documented [link removed]. Although organizations like Catholic Charities NY are facing questions regarding how they will get funding to support families newly arrived in the United States, a spokesperson from the organization assured that "ethically, morally, we are responsible for folks that are in our care right now, and we would never leave someone high and dry." 

**VOLUNTEERING** — A Napa Valley volunteer has been assisting immigrants on their path to citizenship for the past 13 years and as recognition she earned her CBS News’s Bay Area Icon Award this past week, reports Sharon Chin of CBS News [link removed]. Betty Labastida, born in the U.S. to immigrant parents, says that her volunteer work is a way of giving back. "You are not just volunteering. You're part of this person's life and future and their children's future," said Labastida.  

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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