The Forum Daily | Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

Faith signatories from a notably broad range of traditions have signed a letter [link removed] criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in the Chicago area, reports Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service [link removed].  

The letter, now with more than 220 signatories, initially was released Friday. That day, the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister, was violently arrested at a protest outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. She’s among several faith leaders who have experienced aggressive reactions from ICE, Jenkins notes. 

"We come offering bread and prayer, hope for justice and healing — we leave washing pepper spray out of each other’s eyes," the letter reads. 

Immigration enforcement has also interrupted many immigrants’ attendance at church and other religious institutions, CBS News [link removed] reports via a series of interviews. "Immigrants are deeply religious people, and these indiscriminate enforcement actions are threatening our religious liberty," said the Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. 

Recent immigration actions are challenging Korean American church communities as well, Aimee Moon reports in Christianity Today [link removed]. 

 "What would Jesus do? I’m sure he would have open arms … [But] in the world we live in today, it’s really hard to do what we think Jesus would have done," said James Chae, a 42-year-old Korean immigrant who lives in Los Angeles. 

For faith perspectives and guidance on immigration more broadly, check out a new podcast from two of our friends at We Choose Welcome [link removed]: Hope in Action with Tracie L. Morgan and Ashley Glimasinski [link removed]. 

Welcome to Wednesday'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 Marcela Aguirre, Masooma Amin, Jillian Clark 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]. 

**BUSINESS PAINS** — Walmart is pausing employment offers to candidates who would need new H-1B visas, reports Jaewon Kang of Bloomberg [link removed]. Walmart is the largest recipient of such visas among retail chains. Nino Paoli of Fortune [link removed] is the latest to report on the National Foundation of American Policy finding that immigration restrictions could cut the workforce by nearly 16 million. And more than 100 business leaders are in Washington, D.C., to advocate for workforce solutions, reports Patricia Caro of El País [link removed].  

**HIGHER HURDLES** — Starting this past Monday, new applicants for citizenship will have to take a more thorough test and will be subject to "moral character assessments," reports Billal Rahman of Newsweek [link removed]. Separately, a new annual fee for asylum seekers adds confusion for people already in a precarious situation, reports Myah Ward of Politico [link removed]. 

**LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT** — After a problematic history with enforcing federal immigration law, only 9 of 106 local law enforcement agencies in Arizona have agreements with ICE, reports Rafael Carranza of Arizona Luminaria [link removed]. "We have zero intention and we will not be participating in any immigration raids or task forces. I just want to make that clear," said Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller, a Republican. ICE’s recruitment of local officers is causing tension with local agencies nationwide, Daphne Duret of The Marshall Project [link removed] reports. 

**GREATNESS AT RISK** — After fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo and spending almost two decades in a refugee camp in Uganda, Bahati Kanyamanza was finally able to come to the United States through the refugee program and begin to build a stable life. Now he worries about the program that saved his life and so many others’, as he writes in The Guardian [link removed]. "As someone who found hope and belonging here, I know that our greatness has never come from exclusion," Kanyamanza writes. 

For more personal impacts of immigration policies: 

* In Nebraska, a resettled Afghan father of 10 struggles to feed his family. (Cindy Gonzalez, Nebraska Examiner [link removed]) 

* A Chicago high schooler deals with Stage 4 cancer as well as her father’s possible deportation. (Patrick Filbin, Block Club Chicago [link removed]) 

* In September, several U.S. citizens were swept up in a Chicago immigration raid. (a team at The New York Times [link removed]) 

Thanks for reading,

Dan

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