The Trump administration is planning a full review of about 233,000 refugees who were fully vetted and entered the United States during the Biden administration, report Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters. 

Per a government memo dated Friday, the unprecedented order applies to all refugees who entered the U.S. between Jan. 20, 2021, and Feb. 20 of this year. 

The agency will rescind refugee status for people already here "if they are found to not meet refugee criteria," per the memo. The new directive also would suspend the processing of refugees’ permanent residence applications. 

Our initial take: Reopening these cases creates disruption and uncertainty for these refugees and their families, who followed the rules and entered legally — as well as for Americans who have welcomed them. Refugees who entered through our refugee resettlement process are the most rigorously vetted of all immigrants. And, not least, this policy will affect some of our allies who fought alongside us in Afghanistan. 

The halt since January on new refugee admissions means that resettled refugees such as Socheath Phong of Cincinnati cannot reunite with their families, reports Dan Horn of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

Phong fled Cambodia in 2017, later made it to the U.S. and has since endured eight years of loneliness apart from his wife and children. "Who can help me? It breaks the heart," he said. " ... I need to have my family." 

Separately, a recent immigration policy shift has left nearly 200,000 Ukrainians in legal limbo due to delays in renewing their humanitarian parole, a Reuters team reports. Many Ukrainians have lost their work authorization and now face economic and emotional hardships. 

Welcome to Tuesday’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 Marcela Aguirre, Masooma Amin, Jillian Clark and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

TPS TERMINATION — The Trump administration announced it will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 4,000 immigrants from Myanmar, a country still in the midst of a civil war, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News. The administration also plans to end TPS for Somalis, a move bringing anxiety to the community in Minnesota, reports James Walsh of the Minnesota Star Tribune. 

FARM NEEDS — The threat of immigration raids and mass deportation are changing how farming communities in California live, reports Nigel Duara of CalMatters. The foreign workers that farms rely on may not come back next year out of fear, affecting economic activity in the towns. Meanwhile, in the Idaho Capital Sun, Liz Cartwright writes that the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act would be a positive step toward the improvements the agriculture sector needs. 

ENFORCEMENT STRANDS CHILDREN — Nearly 600 immigrant children have been placed in government shelters by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this year, exceeding the total from the past four years combined, reports a ProPublica team reports. About 160 of these cases involved child welfare concerns, but the majority of these children were taken into custody during an immigration raid or after a routine court hearing, the team reports. 

NORTH CAROLINA CONCERNS — Some North Carolina Republicans are expressing their concerns over the effects of the administration's immigration crackdown in their state, report Myah Ward and Elena Schneider of Politico. "Republicans had the upper hand on immigration, as long as they were going after the criminals and the gangs," former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said in an interview. "But I think they’re losing the upper hand on that issue because of the apparent disjointed implementation of arrest[s]."  

Thanks for reading,  

Dan