The Forum Daily | Tuesday, October 28, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

****A recent policy shift regarding deferred action for young people who have suffered abuse, neglect, or abandonment has left many without a clear path to legal status, reports Daniel Zawodny of The Baltimore Banner [link removed]. 

U.S. courts place children with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status [link removed] (SIJS), who cannot safely return to their home countries, under the care of adult guardians. However, an extensive backlog in case processing and the policy shift have left nearly 100,000 young people at risk of deportation, Zawodny reports. 

"We’re living in a time when immigrant youth are being increasingly targeted by the administration," said Rachel Davidson, who heads the End SIJS Backlog Coalition [link removed]. 

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a community considers how best to shield their children from the impact of immigration enforcement after agents employed tear gas outside an elementary school and a play cafe, reports Claire Galofaro of the Associated Press [link removed]. 

"You don’t mess with the kids. You don’t go near the schools. Whatever your agenda is, that feels like it’s crossing a lot of lines," said first grade teacher Maria Heavener. 

Separately, a new analysis [link removed] from the Migration Policy Institute highlights that thousands of families live in a state of uncertainty and vulnerability. In Bexar County, Texas, for example, 6,000 school-aged children live without legal status, while 38,000 parents in the county are at risk of deportation, reports Camille Phillips of Texas Public Radio [link removed]. 

Deep breath. 

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]. 

**DETENTIONS AFFECT CHILDREN** — A federal judge ruled that immigration agents illegally detained Ruben Torres Maldonado, a man in Chicago whose 16-year-old daughter is battling advanced cancer, and ordered a bond hearing, reports the Associated Press [link removed]. Elsewhere, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a 16-year-old Ecuadorian-born boy during an immigration appointment in New York City and sent him to a facility for minors, reports Alecia Reid of CBS New York [link removed]. 

**WAITING** — About 1,300 Afghan evacuees are stuck at Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. base in Qatar, report Robbie Gramer and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal [link removed]. Repatriation to Afghanistan is a real fear since the administration paused resettlement efforts. "If I go back to Afghanistan now, they will call me a spy. They will torture me. I’d rather die in this camp than die by Taliban hands," said Mohammed Ibrahim, who lives in the camp with his family. 

**ICE SHAKEUP** — The Trump administration plans to reassign senior leaders at Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) offices across the country in hopes of increasing the pace of enforcement, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News [link removed]. Bill Melugin of Fox News [link removed] offers context. Meanwhile, in his column for The Washington Post [link removed], George F. Will writes on the mistreatment and arrest of a U.S. Army veteran by ICE officers and the lies that followed.  

**MASKED VEHICLES** — Immigration agents are disguising vehicles they’re using in enforcement, reports Chiara Eisner [link removed] of NPR [link removed]. In addition to unmarked vehicles, videos indicate that agents may be changing license plates or going without plates, Eisner reports. Masking vehicles is "causing a great deal of erosion of trust that we've worked to build up over the last few years," said Daniel Hodges, a Washington, D.C., police officer. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

**P.S.** Latin social dancers in Chicago are finding joy and community despite fears in their neighborhoods, reports Kinsey Crowley of USA Today [link removed]. 

  

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