The Forum Daily | Wednesday, June 4, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

THE FORUM DAILYImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is leading "Operation At Large," a nationwide plan that aims to hit their 3,000-migrant daily arrest quota through multiagency efforts, reports a team at NBC News [link removed]. 

The plan includes 5,000 personnel from across federal agencies and 21,000 National Guard troops. The new measure reflects how the Trump administration goals of mass deportations are transforming federal law enforcement priorities, NBC News notes. 

Additionally, the Department of Defense announced that it will allow civilian employees to support operations at the southern border, per a memo published Monday, reports Ellen Mitchell of The Hill [link removed]. 

Meanwhile, arrests of individuals at immigration courts have risen across the country in recent weeks, as Suzanne Gamboa at NBC News [link removed] reports.  

States such as Oregon [link removed], Texas [link removed], California [link removed] and Missouri [link removed] are seeing individuals showing up to immigration court dates, only to be detained.  

As aggressive deportation plans are implemented, legal challenges arise. ICE officials defend their tactics amid criticism, as reported by Leah Willingham of the Associated Press [link removed].  

And Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush of The New York Times [link removed] analyze how several officials have either violated direct orders from federal judges in deportation cases or obstructed the court’s ability to get requested information. Three judges are considering whether to hold the administration in contempt, the Times highlights. 

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, Callie Jacobson, 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].   

**OVERBURDENED** – In Texas, a bill that mandates sheriffs cooperate with ICE is gaining criticism as it heads to the governor’s desk, reports Harrison Parker of KFOX14 [link removed]. Local leaders are concerned about the extra resources departments will need to implement the agreements. El Paso County Sheriff said, "It does not give us an option, it is a requirement... I wanna choose an option that is not going to affect the county," said El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte. 

**SEPARATION** — As the administration looks to allocate a contract worth up to $25 million to DNA-test families being targeted for deportation, advocates argue that this could clear the way for the administration to separate children from their parents or guardians, report Rachel Adams-Heard and Fola Akinnibi of Bloomberg [link removed]. Separately, Juan Carlos Lara of KQED [link removed] offers a glimpse of the impact that legal aid has had on families that were separated at the border. Those legal services are now being cut.  

More on the immigration policies effect: 

* An engineering student at the University of Alabama is forced to go back home after being detained for two months. (Drew Taylor, WIAT [link removed]) 

* In Massachusetts, local immigrant families share how ICE detentions are affecting them. (Sara Betancourt, GBH [link removed]) 

* After unexpectedly receiving notice that their humanitarian parole was revoked, a girl with a life-threatening disease and her family are once again given legal protections. (Didi Martinez, NBC News [link removed]) 

**DETENTION CENTERS** – As immigration arrests across the country ramp up, immigration detention centers have seen a 20% increase in capacity since January, pushing the government to find more space, reports Meg Anderson of NPR [link removed]. Separately, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a private prison company facing a lawsuit for allegedly forcing immigrant detainees to perform unpaid labor, reports Lindsay Whitehurst of the Associated Press [link removed].  

**NOT SO BEAUTIFUL** — In an op-ed in America Magazine [link removed], Archbishop of Santa Fe, John C. Wester outlines how the new One Big Beautiful Bill [link removed] — a budget reconciliation bill that among other things prioritizes funding for mass deportation efforts— "violates several principles of Catholic social teaching." Wester calls on his fellow Catholics to challenge the legislation: "There are other ways to support the few parts of the bill worthy of it. They should not be achieved on the backs of the poorest of society," he writes. For more on the bill’s provisions, take a look at the Forum’s new resource [link removed]. 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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