The Forum Daily | Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

A 67-year-old Jordanian man died while in Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) custody this month, Syra Ortiz Blanes of the Miami Herald [link removed] reports. 

It was the sixth death of a Florida detainee this year, among more than 20 nationwide, Ortiz Blanes reports. 

With increased detention rates over the past year, emergency calls from Krome Detention Center in Miami have ballooned, doubling between January and July, according to earlier reporting by Anna-Catherine Brigida of The Tributary [link removed]. 

The Trump administration is looking to hire more than 40 new health care workers for immigrant detention centers — with a detainee population currently exceeding 60,000, report Alice Miranda Ollstein and Ruth Reader of Politico [link removed]. 

Meanwhile, the administration is detaining immigrants who are pregnant, postpartum or nursing despite a rule that bars ICE from doing so, report Shefali Luthra and Mel Leonor Barclay of 19th News [link removed]. 

"I’m very concerned because of the conditions we’ve already heard about that could be increasing the risks of adverse outcomes," said Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Johns Hopkins University. 

Congress recently allowed the lapse of a requirement that the administration report twice a year on how many nursing, postpartum or pregnant immigrants are being detained — so the current number of such immigrants is unknown.  

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Masooma Amin, Jillian Clark, Nicci Mattey and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. 

**H-1B DEVELOPMENTS** — Bipartisan House members are asking the president "to work with Congress on fixing the high-skilled immigration system instead of imposing a fee on new applicants," Maria Curi of Axios [link removed] reports. Meanwhile, under new administration guidance, the fee for new H-1B visas will apply only to applicants living abroad, reports Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal [link removed]. 

**REFUGEE CAP** — In response to reports that the president plans to cap the number of refugees for fiscal year 2026 at 7,500, which would be the lowest in the program's history, advocates are arguing that we have a moral obligation to welcome more, reports Josh Schumacher of World [link removed]. "I’m old enough to remember when almost every member of Congress thought the refugee program was sort of the gold standard for good, legal immigration," said Matthew Soerens of World Relief, who hopes the reported number will not be the president’s final word. 

**CUBAN FAMILIES** — Many Cuban American families in Florida who supported the president are feeling betrayed because of travel restrictions that are splitting Cuban families, report David Ovalle and Reshma Kirpalani of The Washington Post [link removed]. For Leymi Reyes Figueredo, a legal U.S. resident born in Cuba, the hope of reuniting with her daughter after three years was crushed when the girl’s visa was denied. "I understand why you have to protect the country," said Figueredo. But, "How is a child a terrorist?" 

**GUIDANCE FOR SCHOOLS** — For many immigrant students in K-12 schools, immigration enforcement makes going to school scary and difficult, reports Kara Arundel of K-12Dive [link removed]. Arundel offers ways states and districts can help students and parents feel safe in public schools: EdTrust, a nonprofit, "recommends states support districts in developing safe and welcoming school climates through trauma-informed training, culturally responsive practices and multilingual communications that are sensitive to the stress immigrant families may be facing." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

**P.S.** Thanks to reader Ana Martín Gil for flagging her and Kelsey P. Norman’s new report [link removed] for the Mixed Migration Centre, on former President Biden’s approach to migration and lessons it could hold for Europe.

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