The Forum Daily | Wednesday, February 4, 2026https://www.forumtogether.org

Breaking this morning: The administration plans to withdraw 700 immigration agents from Minnesota immediately, Kyle Stokes of Axios Twin Cities [link removed] reports. 

About 2,000 will remain, relative to the normal number of about 150, Stokes notes.

On to our Wednesday sampling of community impacts of immigration policies: After Renee Good was shot and killed Jan. 7 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, yesterday her brothers asked Congress to act, reports Rebecca Santana of the Associated Press [link removed].  

Luke and Brett Ganger spoke during a hearing discussing use‑of‑force incidents by immigration officers. "These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever," said Luke Ganger.

An Oregon family remains detained in Texas after being picked up while seeking emergency medical care for their 7-year-old, reports Gosia Wozniacka of The Oregonian/Oregon Live [link removed].

Elsewhere in Texas, a family is reeling after their son’s death and daughter’s detainment within the same few weeks, reports Priscilla Rice of KERA News [link removed]. Elsewhere in Texas, Maher Tarabishi was detained, then kept from saying a final goodbye to his son after being his sole caretaker through severe health problems, reports Nicquel Terry Ellis of CNN [link removed].

And in Florida, Tom Hudson of WLRN [link removed] chronicles a Venezuelan couple’s immigration path, including their continuing worries and their faith.

"[Faith] has given us the strength to go through all these difficult processes — faith in a higher power, but also faith in each other," said Sean (a pseudonym). "Faith in the process of those in institutions, too."

Welcome to Wednesday’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] mailto:[email protected].

**TRIBAL DOCUMENTS** — Amid increased immigration enforcement in Minnesota, Native Americans are carrying tribal documents to prove their U.S. citizenship if questioned by federal agent, report Graham Lee Brewer, Savannah Peters and Stewart Huntington of the Associated Press [link removed]. "As the first people of this land, there’s no reason why Native Americans should have their citizenship questioned," said Jaqueline De León, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund and member of Isleta Pueblo.

**POPULATION TROUBLES** — Demographic challenges, and immigration’s benefits, are real for states. Start with Kentucky’s gain of more than 100,000 residents from 2020 to 2025, as Curtis Tate of WEKU [link removed] reports. "International migration has been a big component of our growth in the last, well, forever, but in particular over the last couple of decades," said Matthew Ruther of the University of Louisville. In Missouri since 2020, international migration accounted for more than 60% of population growth, reports Kavahn Mansouri of St. Louis Public Radio [link removed]. For more examples, read:

* Joshua Fechter in The Texas Tribune [link removed]. 

* Analyst Rob Moore’s Ohio Capital Journal [link removed] op-ed. 

* Mark Robison in the Reno Gazette Journal [link removed]. 

**DHS SPENDING **— Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending increased 35% last year, and Shane Shifflett and Nate Rattner of The Wall Street Journal [link removed] look at where the money is going. The largest contracts include $11.9 billion for border wall construction and $1.6 billion for immigration transportation contracts, mostly going to private companies, they report. Worth noting: While Customs and Border Protection spending nearly tripled and ICE contracts increased 63%, "[n]early every other DHS agency pulled back." 

**COMMUNITIES ACT **— In Sioux Center, Iowa, population roughly 8,300, more than 350 held a peaceful rally calling for a change in immigration approaches, reports Jozie Kumm of KCAU 9 [link removed]. "People are seeing that this is just about caring for each other and basic human decency," said participant Cambria Kaltwasser. Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, several local restaurants collected donations for immigrant-aid organizations, reports Bradley Hohulin of the Indianapolis Star [link removed]. 

Thanks for reading,

Dan

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