The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reached a deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to use protected tax records to help deport immigrants, reports Joel Rose of NPR.
Millions of undocumented workers pay taxes every year, something the IRS has encouraged. For advocates, the deal with ICE seems to be a departure from previous efforts to build trust within immigrant communities in past years, Rose notes.
Top officials are leaving the agency due to the push from the administration to agree to this deal, reports Andrew Duehren of The New York Times.
According to the Yale Budget Lab estimations, a drastic decrease on taxes from undocumented immigrants could mean a loss of $313 billion in revenue over ten years for the United States, Duehren notes.
Audrey Casillas, who helps low-income people in the Los Angeles area file their taxes, is already perceiving the fear among immigrant communities: "Clients are asking us: ‘Is ICE going to be there when we do our taxes?’"
Separately, South Sudan has agreed to allow the entry of a man deported from the U.S., defusing tension between the two countries, report Akisa Wandera and Wycliffe Muia of the BBC.
South Sudan had originally refused to accept the man, saying he was a Congolese national. The reversal comes after the administration retaliated Saturday by revoking all visas for South Sudanese nationals.
Welcome to Wednesday’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].
PRAYER AND LEGISLATION — In Tennessee, pastors knelt and began reciting the Lord’s Prayer to express opposition to a state bill that would stop immigrant children from receiving public education, reports Anita Wadhwani of the Tennessee Lookout. Despite these acts of dissent, the bill advanced out of the Tennessee House committee. A group of more than 240 faith leaders and advocates has shown their opposition to the bill, as reported by Billal Rahman of Newsweek.
INTERRUPTED WELCOME – The places that once helped welcome Houston’s refugees are under constant threats to their work, reports Andrea Ball of the Houston Chronicle. Within the first six weeks after the Trump administration released an executive order freezing funding for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, organizations in Houston were forced to lay off hundreds of employees and stop services to thousands of families.
TRANSITION — Recent moves from the Trump administration – such as revoking parole protections for recently-arrived Cubans – may solidify a shift against the unique status Cubans have enjoyed, reports Juan Carlos Chavez of Tampa Bay Times. For decades, Cubans arriving in the United States had more options to access work authorization and become permanent residents compared to immigrants from other countries, now they are more vulnerable to detention, Chavez notes. "Why go through all this?" asks José Manuel Garces, a Cuban man waiting to adjust his status.
COMMUNITY — A small town in New York welcomes back a mother and her three children after the family was held in an immigration detention center in Texas, reports Bill Chappell of NPR. When the family was taken in late March, the small community came together to get them back. "We love them," said Jamie Cook, principal of the children’s school. "I think that this week has been painful, and the community has been inspiring. And we just really want our kids back."
More stories on the people affected by immigration policies:
