The Forum Daily | Wednesday, April 23, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

**THE FORUM DAILY**

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New surveys this week indicate that Americans’ approval of the president’s handling of immigration is slipping. 

The Economist and YouGov [link removed] found 50% disapproval vs. 45% approval, while Reuters/Ipsos [link removed] found a statistical tie. 

The findings offer a bit of encouragement amid new, disturbing reports of immigration policies’ effects. 

At least two Venezuelan men who entered the U.S. with permission seem to have disappeared after being detained by immigration authorities. Miriam Jordan of The New York Times [link removed] reports on Ricardo Prada Vásquez, and Verónica Egui Brito of the Miami Herald [link removed] covers Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel. 

Authorities confirmed that Prada, who was living in Michigan, was removed from the United States, but he was not on the list of migrants sent to El Salvador, Jordan points out. 

Leon Rengel, a 27-year-old who was living in Texas, was briefly held at a detention center there before his alien number, which allows lawyers and family to track an individual’s whereabouts, disappeared from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) online database. Agents told his girlfriend he’d been deported to Venezuela, but his family has searched there to no avail. 

As Jennie said yesterday [link removed], "The rule of law and due process protect all of us, and they are at stake in these cases." 

Welcome to Wednesday’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, Soledad Gassó Parker, Broc Murphy, Clara Villatoro and Becka Wall. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. 

**CHILDREN IN COURT ALONE** — Speaking of impacts, with the administration having reduced funding for unaccompanied migrant children’s legal assistance, more children are facing immigration court alone, Arya Sundaram of Gothamist [link removed] reports. Less legal assistance also endangers kids’ protection from exploitation, reports Elizabeth Trovall of Marketplace [link removed]. 

For more stories on how policies are affecting people: 

* Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student detained on account of his activism, missed the birth of his first child while in custody. (Susan Haigh and Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press [link removed]) 

* Deported migrants and displaced families coming from the United States pick up the pieces in Nogales, Mexico. (Laura Sandoval-Vidrio, Cronkite News [link removed]) 

* Some migrant families detained in Texas have been in the United States for years. (Jack Herrera, The New Yorker [link removed]) 

**EDUCATION** — Some better news: A Tennessee bill that would allow public schools to refuse the right of enrollment for undocumented students did not move forward before the 2025 legislative session ended, reports Anita Wadhwani of the Tennessee Lookout [link removed]. Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, credited the efforts of advocates as well as those speaking out from religious and educational institutions. 

**JUDGES** — At least eight immigration judges in Massachusetts, California and Louisiana received notice yesterday that their employment would be ending, reports Ximena Bustillo of NPR [link removed]. The firings come as immigration courts across the country already face staffing shortages. To some, the trend seems antithetical to the Trump administration’s goal to increase deportations, notes Bustillo. Meanwhile, in lawsuit news: 

* Federal judges in New York and Colorado are extending blocks on deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. (Marianne LeVine and Shayna Jacobs, The Washington Post [link removed]) 

* An international student in South Dakota filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security after her visa was revoked, putting her graduation at risk. (Morgan Matzen, Argus Leader [link removed])  

* A federal judge in Georgia ordered ICE to reinstate the legal status of 133 students who had their F-1 visas revoked and issued a two-week restraining order preventing further revocations. (Shane Croucher and Billal Rahman, Newsweek [link removed])  

**BUSINESS SUCCESS** — Immigrants make up about 14% of the U.S. population but 45% of Fortune 500 company founders. On IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review [link removed], host Alison Beard is joined by Neri Karra Sillaman, an entrepreneurship expert at Oxford University, to discuss how immigrant-owned businesses achieve long-term success. 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan 

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