The Forum Daily | Wednesday, July 2, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

THE FORUM DAILY

The administration’s budget bill narrowly passed the Senate yesterday and is now headed back to the House. If passed, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act [link removed]” will make Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country, reports Andrea Castillo of the Los Angeles Times [link removed].  

Castillo lays out the key elements of the bill and how it will give a major boost to President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, including more money for detention centers and immigration fees.  

The massive spending bill would also strip millions [link removed] of U.S. citizen children of their eligibility for the Child Tax Credit because of their parents’ immigration status, reports Dan Katz of Texas Public Radio [link removed]. 

The proposed changes would require both of a child’s parents to hold a Social Security number to be eligible for the benefit. Advocates warn of the impact this would have on working families. “The child tax credit is one of the most effective tools we have to lift families out of poverty,” said Ashley R. Harris of United Way of Texas. 

Ahead of the reconciliation bill’s passage yesterday, a coalition of religious leaders, including 20 Catholic bishops, sent a letter [link removed] urging Senators to reject the increase in funding for immigration detention and deportation, reports Tyler Arnold of Catholic News Agency [link removed]. 

“The moral test of a nation is how it treats those most in need of support,” they wrote in the letter. “[The bill's] passage would be a moral failure for American society as a whole.” 

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 Marcela Aguirre. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected].  

**ADVOCATES** – In California, a group of Republican state legislators sent a letter [link removed] to the White House, asking the administration to focus on criminals in their immigration efforts rather than workplace raids, reports Clara Harter of the Los Angeles Times. [link removed] Separately, in an op-ed also for the Los Angeles Times [link removed], pediatricians Marsha Griffin, Alan Shapiro and Julie M. Linton write on the trauma on children as recent immigration operations have torn apart families and forced minors into harmful conditions.  

**CONTRIBUTIONS** — In her commentary for the Ohio Capital Journal [link removed], local journalist Marilou Johanek reflects on the importance of the “unconditional” constitutional right that allowed her grandmother and many other immigrants to find a home in Ohio. Johanek condemns Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s endorsement of the executive order to end birthright citizenship and highlights the role of immigrants in the state. Meanwhile, New Jersey Business Magazine [link removed] highlights immigrant entrepreneurs honored for their contributions to New Jersey’s economic growth. 

**JUDICIAL BLOCK** — Yesterday, a federal judge blocked the administration’s attempts to end deportation protections for Haitian nationals, reports Chris Cameron of The New York Times [link removed]. The judge wrote that the Secretary of Homeland Security “does not have statutory or inherent authority” to end the Temporary Protected Status program for Haitians, which the administration terminated last week.  

**MILITARY FAMILIES** — The increase in immigration enforcement is now affecting United States military families, report Emily Kennard and Casey Murray of NOTUS [link removed]. Family members of U.S. military service members and veterans have historically been given extra consideration when it comes to immigration enforcement. NOTUS highlights that now more families are seeing their non-citizen relatives carried off. Some groups are worried it will take a toll on servicemembers and the U.S. military’s recruitment efforts. 

For more on the impact of immigration enforcement: 

* After decades living in the United States, Isidro Perez —a Cuban immigrant— passed away on Thursday while in an immigration detention center in Miami. (Syra Ortiz Blanes and Claire Healy, Miami Herald [link removed]) 

* A mother and teacher’s aide in Wisconsin is forced back to El Salvador after a long battle with immigration enforcement. (Mel Leonor Barclay, The 19th News [link removed]) 

* A Kansas town pushes back against a private prison firm that wants to use the local prison to detain immigrants. (Cary Aspinwall, The Guardian [link removed]) 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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