The Forum Daily | Monday, December 1, 2025https://www.forumtogether.org

So much has happened since our last newsletter. To start, we pray for the recovery of National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and mourn the loss of Spec. Sarah Beckstrom. Our hearts go out to their families and friends. 

Mariana Alfaro, Brianna Sacks and Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post [link removed] lay out what has happened since the shooting on Wednesday. That night, authorities announced that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who "had worked for a CIA-organized counterterrorism outfit [link removed] in Afghanistan" and was granted asylum in April. 

The tragedy has resulted in several major immigration policy actions by the Trump administration, including a pause on all asylum decisions, as Cedar Attanasio and Collin Binkley of the Associated Press [link removed] report. 

The State Department ordered embassies to stop issuing visas for Afghan allies, reports Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters [link removed]. And U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said that his agency was ordered to implement a "rigorous reexamination" of all green cards granted to immigrants from a list of 19 countries "of concern," report Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Kerry Breen and Caroline Linton of CBS News [link removed]. 

In a briefing with reporters yesterday, President Trump said the pause on processing of all asylum applications could last "a long time," reports Thao Nguyen of USA Today [link removed]. 

But as Lucy Gilder of BBC Verify [link removed] explains, the vetting process for Afghans has included many layers of security. And in the words of The Wall Street Journal [link removed] editorial board, "Collective punishment of all Afghans in the U.S. won’t make America safer and it might embitter more against the United States." 

See Jennie’s response along these lines Thursday [link removed]. In an interview yesterday with CNN [link removed], she said, "[T]he asylum system is a legal system that’s protected by the Immigration and Nationality Act. And these folks are already waiting between four to five years for their cases to be adjudicated. ... So this [existing] process is an extreme vetting process and one that protects Americans, as well as newcomers." 

All of this happened after the administration announced earlier last week that it would reopen the cases of all refugees admitted during the Biden administration, which our policy team parses in a new explainer [link removed].

Welcome to Monday’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 Masooma Amin, Jillian Clark, Nicci Mattey and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. 

Immigration Enforcement 

* The number of non-criminal detainees arrested by ICE has surged by 2,000% under Trump. These charts show who's in detention. [link removed] (Camilo Montoya-Galvez and Julia Ingram, CBS News) 

* Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens [link removed] (Miriam Jordan, photos by Ariana Drehsler, The New York Times) 

* Louisiana made it nearly impossible to get parole. Now it’s releasing prisoners to deport them. [link removed] (Richard A. Webster and Bobbi-Jeanne Misick, Verite News) 

* These countries are taking millions from Trump to accept U.S. deportees [link removed] (Tobi Raji and Sammy Westfall, The Washington Post) 

* Babson student detained by ICE while flying home for Thanksgiving [link removed] (Emily Maher, Jennifer Eagan and Tim Nazzaro, WCVB5 News) 

Health Care and Immigrants 

* Undocumented mothers in Missouri navigate pregnancy, postpartum as ICE threats loom [link removed] (Anna Spoerre, Missouri Independent) 

* Immigrants' Children Skipping Medical Care Amid Trump's ICE Raids, Doctors Say [link removed] (Chris Spiker, Daily Voice) 

* CA migrant workers delay medical care during Trump’s immigration crackdown [link removed] (Lynn La, CalMatters) 

DACA Recipients 

**and Dreamers**

* DACA recipients are being arrested despite deportation protection [link removed] (Valerie Gonzalez, Associated Press) 

* Texas bishops bemoan uncertainty of state's DACA program [link removed] (Brian Fraga, National Catholic Reporter) 

* Michael A. Chihak: A holiday nightmare for 'Dreamer' [link removed] (Michael A. Chihak, Arizona Daily Star) 

Community Support 

* In Ohio, a bipartisan community group seeks common ground on immigration reform [link removed] (Judy Woodruff and Frank Carlson, PBS News) 

* Chicago’s faith leaders on front lines of resistance against ICE crackdown [link removed] (Siri Chilukuri, The Guardian) 

* Minnesota faith leaders, activists unite against Trump’s threat to end TPS for Somali community [link removed] (Shubhanjana Das and Andrew Hazzard, Sahan Journal) 

* Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center expands efforts after decade of service [link removed] (Kyle Davidson, Michigan Advance) 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

Donate

Unsubscribe from this email list [link removed] or opt out from all Forum emails [link removed]

Forum
10 G St NE, Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20002
United States
forumtogether.org [link removed]
_________________

Sent to: [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

Forum, 10 G St NE Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States