The Forum Daily | Wednesday, January 7, 2026https://www.forumtogether.org

Around 600,000 Venezuelans are now being encouraged to go home or face deportation in the aftermath of President Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the United States, reports Brittany Gibson of Axios [link removed].  

"President Trump's decisive action to remove Maduro marks a turning point for Venezuelans. Now, they can return to the country they love and rebuild its future," said Matthew Tragesser, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson in a statement this week. 

At the same time Venezuela is now on a list of several countries where passport holders must submit a bond of up to $15,000 in order to gain a visiting visa, reports Kanishka Singh of Reuters [link removed].  

The U.S. military intervention in the South American country and the uncertainty is leading to new calls for Temporary Protected Status and asylum applications to be accepted for Venezuelans in the U.S., report Nader Issa and Adriana Cardona-Maguigad of WBEZ Chicago [link removed].  

While the Trump administration may claim that the country is now safe to return to for many without the threat of Maduro, experts point out that there is still danger. Mauricio Tenorio, a history professor at the University of Chicago, said about the human crisis in Venezuela: "[I]t’s the same, but without Maduro."  

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s assistant VP of Strategic Communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Dan Gordon and Nicci Mattey. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

**IMMIGRANT WORKERS** — As new work permits restrictions begin, tens of thousands of immigrant workers could be forced out of their jobs within the next few months, reports Andrew Kreighbaum of Bloomberg [link removed]. A policy change now requires immigrant workers to renew their work permits more often. Which will have a great impact on employers, Kreighbaum notes. "We’re going to lose good workers that have been here for years," said Misty Chally, executive director of the Critical Labor Coalition. 

**DETENTION IN FLORIDA** — Around 20,000 people were detained through deportation efforts in Florida during 2025 despite their ‘clean records’, reports a team at the Miami Herald [link removed]. Gabriel Hernandez Alvarez, a young Honduran with a pending asylum case and a legal work permit, spent three months in a Florida detention facility. "Yes, there are people who aren’t good," he said, "but there are people who came to work, to move their families forward, and we don’t deserve what is happening." Florida authorities plan to create more detention facilities, reports Michael Smith of Bloomberg Law [link removed]. 

**COMMUNITY IMPACT** — In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the efforts to re-vet refugees who arrived in the U.S. during the Biden administration are shaking the local community, reports Sophia Herman of Grand Forks Herald [link removed]. Global Friends Executive Director, Cynthia Shabb, said community members are deeply concerned about their future and have doubts about what to expect. "We don't really know," she said. "We don't know what that re-review process will look like." 

For more on policy impact: 

* Masuma Khan, a woman who survived the 2025 Eaton fire in California, is now facing deportation after being in the U.S. for 28 years. (Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times [link removed]) 

* Amid mass deportation efforts, immigrant families find the roles reversing with children taking care of their parents' future. (Ana María Betancourt Ovalle, Documented [link removed]) 

**‘A NATION OF GRACE’** — Raids are not a substitute for meaningful immigration reforms, writes Andy Olsen of Christianity Today [link removed]. Olsen reviews the earliest example of immigration restrictions which helped fuel the American Revolution and the immigration changes through the past century. "Only Congress can design and safeguard a system that works for the 21st century and, to borrow language from the National Immigration Forum, that reflects the founders’ ideal of ‘a nation of laws and a nation of grace,’" writes Olsen while reflecting on his experience attending our annual Leading the Way convening in October.  

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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