Educators in Minnesota filed a lawsuit yesterday demanding the reinstatement of a federal "sensitive locations" policy that steered immigration enforcement away from schools, as well as hospitals and churches, reports Beth Hawkins of The 74.
The lawsuit lists several instances of federal agents entering school property to perform immigration operations. Many ended with students and teachers being detained, tear gassed or tackled.
"The removal of long-standing protections around schools has had immediate and real consequences for our learning community," Duluth superintendent John Magas told WDIO. "We’ve seen increased anxiety among students, disruptions to attendance, and families questioning whether school remains a safe and predictable place for their children."
Out west, leaders at a San Fernando Valley, California, church are upset after a congregant’s immigration arrest on church grounds and during a food giveaway, reports Will Conybeare of KTLA5.
Perhaps related to enforcement in sensitive locations: In polling released this morning, 65% of Americans say immigration enforcement has "gone too far," Domenico Montanaro of NPR reports.
That includes 71% of independents in the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll of 1,462 U.S. adults.
The findings are in line with an Ipsos poll conducted late last week, on which Sophie Brams of The Hill reports.
In a separate YouGov/Economist survey released Tuesday, a majority supported deportations for only one category: unauthorized immigrants "who have committed violent crimes" — in line with our earlier findings.
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I'm Dan Gordon, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Nicci Mattey, Malaika Onyia, Luisa Sinisterra and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
TILLIS LAUNCHES PROBE — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina initiated a probe examining Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, reports Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill. Tillis expressed particular concern about U.S. citizens detained in North Carolina operations. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Tillis also requested information on "protocols governing cooperation with state and local investigations into officer-involved uses of force."
FILLING GAPS — Rural communities may feel outsize impacts of immigration and visa hurdles given their disproportionate reliance on immigrant doctors, including those with H-1B visas, reports Maya Goldman of Axios. Beyond H-1B’s, 8% of the U.S. health care workforce comes from 69 of the 75 countries for which visas are now paused, Goldman writes, citing KFF. And in the bigger economic picture, Sasha Rogelberg of Fortune reports on Cato Institute findings that immigrants produced a $14.5 trillion fiscal surplus from 1994 to 2023.
HABEAS CORPUS — An Orlando, Florida, judge ordered the release of two ICE detainees, one of whom has a brain tumor, report Mike Valente and Christie Zizo of News6. The cases are among an increasing number of habeas corpus petitions, which rose from 423 in 2024 to thousands in 2025. These court filings "compel the government to justify holding someone in custody," note Miriam Jordan and Devlin Barrett of The New York Times, and "[i]n the vast majority of cases, judges are siding with the detainees."
IMMIGRATION JUDGES — The Department of Justice is fast-tracking training for immigration judges and "telling new judges to refrain from granting migrants asylum in most cases," reports Celine Castronuovo of Bloomberg Law. The judges are being appointed to six-month terms. "If you’re not having the proper training, and then on top of that you’re in a very short temporary appointment, you’re just being set up for failure," said Anam Petit, an immigration judge the administration fired in September.
P.S. Brazilian immigrant Esther Batista is bringing a taste of her homeland to Provo, Utah, Pedro Louza of The Daily Universe reports.
