Friday, July 15
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THE FORUM DAILY

On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a new
policy that
would prevent agents from 'unnecessarily' conducting separations of
migrant families, Gabriela Lopez Gomes reports in Forbes
. 

Under the policy, agents are required to identify the relationship
between adult and child migrants at the border and document it in their
database. Agents also must ensure that a guardian can take custody of a
minor before deporting a parent. Only when that is not possible or there
are concerns about abuse, "a local law enforcement agency would be asked
to take custody." 

And, notably, ICE staff must ensure that a parent or legal guardian can
participate in child-welfare proceedings, either in person or virtually.
A parent or guardian who has been deported will be able to return to the
U.S. temporarily for their child's hearing. 

Under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance"

policy, 5,636 families

were separated from July 2017 to January 2021, according to the Family
Reunification Task Force. As of last month, 180 children

separated under the policy had yet to be reunited with their families. 

Welcome to Friday's edition of The Forum Daily.  I'm Dan
Gordon, the Forum's strategic communications VP. If you have a story
to share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected] .  

'VERY DANGEROUS'- Concerns are growing that Texas Gov. Greg
Abbott's (R) latest directive

empowering state officers and the National Guard to return unauthorized
migrants to border ports of entry could lead to violence, Julian
Resendiz reports for Border Report
.
"What he is doing is very dangerous," said Rep. Veronica Escobar
(D-Texas). "I am very concerned that communities like mine will see more
acts of violence against immigrants, against Latinos, against residents
of the border." Despite Abbott's political theatrics, the issue
isn't new. "... People shouldn't be surprised we have more
unauthorized migration if we shut down legal immigration paths," Escobar
said. For more on these concerns, see Cindy Ramirez's piece in El Paso
Matters
. 

**ACCOUNTABILITY** - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a
23-page federal complaint

Tuesday against ICE, which it says has been releasing people from
custody just before they die, reports Paul Ingram of The Tucson Sentinel
.
ICE has not responded to an April ACLU request for documents "including
medical records of four detainees who died at hospitals days after they
were released from the agency's custody." The ACLU says ICE has
released dozens of "deathly ill people" before they died, "allowing the
agency to avoid reporting their deaths to the public, avoid
investigation, and avoid medical costs for people in its custody." Said
Michael Kaufman, a California ACLU attorney, "The public has the right
to know about ICE's shameful patient dumping practices ... The federal
government cannot evade responsibility for the fatal health conditions
people suffer in its custody." 

**AGING OUT** - Fiona Harrigan of  Reason

has more on the more than 200,000 "documented Dreamers" who have
resided in the U.S. since childhood but face a cutoff date for remaining
legally under their parents' visas. By the time they turn 21, Dreamers
such as Fedora Castelino are required to secure their own work visa or
find sponsorship for a green card - or face self-deportation. "It's
so hard to realize that I've lived here basically my entire life -
this is actually not my home," Castelino said. "Even after finishing
all my schooling in America, I'm still not in a home country,
which is really hard to accept." The House will vote on an amendment to
the National Defense Authorization Act

that could create a permanent pathway for these Dreamers.   

SETTLING DOWN - With help from the Refugee and Immigration Center for
Education and Legal Services, Catholic Charities of San Antonio, and
other local organizations, Afghan allies Hamid and Khalid have settled
into new homes and jobs in San Antonio, Shari Biediger writes in San
Antonio Report
.
Both are former interpreters for the U.S. military. Hamid is working for
a refugee resettlement agency, and Khalid is working as a leasing
manager for Franklin Apartment Management, "which has worked to ease the
transition to life in San Antonio for many refugees." 

Also, in local welcome today:  

* In Ohio, Avon Lake United Church of Christ's welcome of an Afghan
family serves as a shining example of immigrant welcome the denomination
is looking to expand. "The UCC urgently needs churches to consider
dedicating ministerial time and resources to asylum concerns as policies
and migration patterns are rapidly changing at the southern border,"
said Rev. Irene Willis Hassan, minister for refugee and migration
ministries. (Connie Larkman, United Church of Christ
) 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. Looking for a quick rundown of the Title 42 policy at the border?
Watch our policy expert Danilo Zak explain Title 42 in just 42 seconds

- including solutions. And if that leaves you hungry for more, check
out Danilo's 42 Border Solutions That Are Not Title 42
.  

 

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