The Forum Daily | Thursday, April 3, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) canceled federal funding for groups helping immigrants become U.S. citizens arguing their services "no longer effectuates the program goals and the Department’s priorities," reports Tobi Raji of The Washington Post [link removed].  

Public libraries, faith-based groups, adult education centers and other organizations that offered programming with funding from the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program were informed of the cancellation last week, Raji Notes.  

Jennielynn Holmes, CEO of Catholic Charities of Northwest California, expressed concern for the impact of the cut on the program’s participants saying, "They went through the immigration system legally, or else they wouldn’t qualify for this program or these funds. They don’t have a recent criminal background because you don’t qualify if you have those things." 

Separately, late Tuesday a federal judge in California ordered reinstatement of the legal services for unaccompanied migrant children cut by the federal government, reports Isabella Kwai of The New York Times [link removed].  

Among other arguments, the judge said Tuesday that by cutting the funds the government could have failed to fulfill its duty to protect children from human trafficking, Kwai highlights. 

The legal aid organizations that sued the federal government over cut of these services are still unsure of the path forward to resume the funds, reports Janie Har of the Associated Press [link removed]. 

Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson for Acacia, an organization which provides legal services to migrant children said: "We’re still stuck in this impossible situation where the attorneys that work with these vulnerable kids have no clarity." 

Welcome to Thursday’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, 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:at%E2%80%[email protected].. 

**TRAVEL BAN & VISAS** — The travel ban on over 40 nations that allegedly fail to meet the administration’s vetting standards has been postponed without a new date set, report Francesca Chambers and Erin Mansfield of USA Today [link removed]. The postponement comes after around 300 visas were revoked from individuals who came from some of these nations, Chambers and Mansfield note. Daniella Silva of NBC News [link removed] highlights three of these students who are being detained in remote Louisiana detention centers. Karina Tsui of CNN [link removed] recaps the recent stories of visa revocations. 

**DETENTIONS** — In Knoxville, Tennessee, three immigrants without criminal records were arrested during their check-ins for pending asylum cases, reports Tyler Whetstone of the Knoxville News Sentinel [link removed]. Since the arrests, community leaders have started Weekly Witness, a group that provides support for their immigrant neighbors during check-ins. Similarly, Billal Rahman of Newsweek [link removed] reports on the detention of a Texas mother who has legal protection because is waiting for her Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) application to be processed. 

**THIRD COUNTRY DEPORTATIONS**— The Trump administration continues discussing possible agreements with several different countries to take deportees from the United States, report Alexander Ward, Michelle Hackman and Vera Bergengruen of The Wall Street Journal [link removed]. These destinations would be for migrants whose countries are slow or uninterested in taking them back, the Journal teams notes. 

**THRIVE** — As immigration organizations and centers around the country struggle to continue their work, a new center to support immigrants and refugees opened in Tacoma, Washington, reports Conner Board for K5 News [link removed]. Thrive Center will serve newcomers looking for housing, jobs and medical and legal services. "We think it’s better for everyone in the community when our newly arrive neighbors rapidly make it into a place where they are not just surviving, but thriving," said Mark Finney, the founder and executive director of Thrive International.  

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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