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The administration plans to expand its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics in 2026, report Ted Hesson, Kristina Cooke and Jeff Mason of Reuters. 

With $170 billion in new funding, the administration plans to raid more workplaces and expand deportation numbers, along the way hiring thousands of agents and partnering with outside companies to track people without legal status. 

But backlash is growing. 

"People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights, a violation of due process and militarizing neighborhoods extraconstitutionally," said Mike Madrid, a moderate Republican political strategist. 

Some Christians also are questioning the extent of enforcement efforts, Josh Schumacher of World reports. 

"Personally, the folks I know that have been picked up are not some criminal. Some of them have been here for 20 years," said Ginger Parham of Mississippi, who visited Capitol Hill last month with other Women of Welcome members. 

The devastating effects of greatly expanded enforcement are hitting some families especially hard around the holidays. Julie Moreno shares her family’s experience while advocating for the [bipartisan] American Families United Act in her op-ed for The Hill. 

Moreno’s husband, Neftalí, whom she met after he came from Mexico to the United States as a teenager, returned to his country of birth to avoid immigration detention. 

We’ll be sending the Daily through Wednesday this week, then returning Jan. 5. Welcome to Monday’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 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]. 

Immigration Enforcement 

• How ‘Turn and Burn’ Immigration Operations Unleash Chaos — and Sweep up U.S. Citizens (a team at The New York Times) 
• The Trump administration has all but stopped reuniting detained migrant children with families (Mark Betancourt, The Texas Newsroom, The California Newsroom) 
• ICE Descends on Columbus, Ohio, Hits K-12 Schools and Immigrant Neighborhoods (Austin Kocher Substack) 
• ‘They tricked me’: Migrants were promised $1,000 to voluntarily leave the U.S. Some never received it (Delaney Nolan, The Guardian) 

In the Courts 

• Fronteras: Witnessing Immigration Court arrests of adults and children by ICE  (Norma Martinez and Marian Navarro, Texas Public Radio) 
• Held without bail in Oklahoma’s ICE facilities, immigrants turn to federal courts for release (Ari Fife, The Frontier) 
• Detained immigrants cannot be denied bond hearings, federal judge in Boston rules (Tonya Alanez, The Boston Globe) 

Immigration Business and Immigrant Talent 

• Ag labor shortages cause higher food prices, study finds (Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch) 
• Google, Apple, and Microsoft warn some visa holders not to leave the U.S. due to 'significant' return delays of up to a year (Hugh Langley, Pranav Dixit and Melia Russell, Business Insider) 
• What have immigrants ever done for America? (Diane Roberts commentary, Florida Phoenix) 

Community Effects 

• ‘The toll is heavy.’ Idaho’s Afghans face uncertainty as Trump targets immigrants (Kevin Fixler and Carolyn Komatsoulis, Idaho Statesman) 
• Racial profiling concerns grow as ICE expands presence in Twin Cities (Emmy Martin, Sofia Barnett and Louis Krauss, The Minnesota Star Tribune) 

Other Stories of Interest 

• Our country is stronger because of immigrants (Laura Collins, George W. Bush Institute) 
• California bishops celebrate ‘very powerful’ Mass in ICE facility for detainees (Natalie Romano, OSV News) 
• How We Can Reclaim the ‘Best Thing About America’ (Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt column, The New York Times) 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan