Immigration policy changes are contributing to labor challenges in home health care, reports Shannon Najmabadi of The Washington Post. 

Foreign-born workers made up about a third of home care workers as of 2023, according to a KFF analysis. With tightening immigration restrictions, a chilling effect is expected to limit the labor pool further, making care harder for families to afford. 

At the young end of the age spectrum, many child care workers face the threat of deportation, reports Moriah Balingit of Associated Press. 

About 20% of the U.S. child-care workforce is immigrants, including 40% in states such as California and New York. At CentroNía, a bilingual preschool in Chicago, the fear of immigration enforcement haunts the staff, who already have seen two co-workers forced to leave when the administration ended their Temporary Protected Status. 

Meanwhile, fear is now heightened among many Afghan and other immigrants after the Trump administration halted asylum and visa processing for people from 19 countries, report Suhauna Hussain, Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga of the Los Angeles Times. 

Brittany Gibson of Axios reports on how, in the words of Shev Dalal-Dheini of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the administration is "effectively shutting down the legal immigration process." 

Welcome to Thursday’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]. 

AMERICANS WANT BALANCE — In a new survey, 80% of Republican voters support the two major parties collaborating on immigration solutions that include security and legal immigration pathways, reports Billal Rahman of Newsweek. (Read our full statement on the findings.) A group of past senior federal immigration officials has developed a proposal for immigration solutions moving forward, Rahman notes. 

ECONOMICS OF IMMIGRATION — Economics professor Roland Fryer homes in on the importance of integrating immigrants in his op-ed for The Wall Street Journal — and contrasts it with "the economic and social costs of mass deportation." He concludes, "When we treat immigrants as future citizens rather than permanent outsiders — while credibly enforcing our border rules — we build safer communities, stronger labor markets and a country confident enough to turn newcomers into contributors." 

GOLD CARD — As of yesterday, applications are open for the administration’s "Gold Card" program, reports Josephine Walker of Axios. The program will fast-track immigration proceedings for the very wealthy, with applicants expected to pay more than $1 million in fees. At the same time, the administration is making it harder for lower-income people to enter the U.S. legally, advocates point out. 

DETENTION — Families and advocates are raising alarms about conditions at the Dilley, Texas, detention facility, Priscilla Alvarez and Michael Williams of CNN report. Meanwhile, courts are often rejecting immigrant detention policies, law professor Cassandra Burke Robertson analyzes in The Conversation. Among at least 362 federal district court cases, challengers of administration policies have prevailed in 350, decided by more than160 judges, she writes. 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. New citizens in Ohio feel like a weight has been lifted while feeling empathy for others whose naturalization journeys have been halted, reports Nadeen Abusada of News 5 Cleveland.