Tempest Tossed

According to a new book by Ruth Milkman, the frequently heard argument that immigrants undercut wages and conditions for US workers gets it exactly backwards: deteriorating wage levels and working conditions drive US workers from jobs that employers then seek to fill with immigrant labor. Professor Milkman joins Alex Aleinikoff for a discussion of Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat.

Jessica Goudeau discusses her new book, After the Last Border, in which she tells the stories of two refugee women--Mu Naw from Myanmar and Hasna from Syria--and the promise and problems of the US resettlement program.

Law professors Adam Cox (NYU) and Cristina Rodriguez (Yale) offer a revisionist view of presidential authority in their new book The President and Immigration Law. Through authority delegated by federal statutes as well as power to decide who among a population of more than 10 million undocumented migrants should be removed or permitted to stay, the President, they argue, is in fact a "co-principal" with Congress in the making of U.S. immigration law and policy.

For migrants, the border is no longer just a physical place at the edge of a country: states have found ways to push their borders outward and collapse them inward, and to rely on new technology to monitor migrants wherever they are located. These developments challenge theories of state sovereignty and force rethinking of traditional debates in migration studies. Ayelet Shachar, law professor at the University of Toronto, discusses her new book, The Shifting Border.

NYU Professor Alina Das discusses with Alex Aleinikoff her book No Justice in the Shadows: How America Criminalizes Immigrants--a powerful critique of this nation's mass deportation machinery and how it arose out of, and reflects, America's history of racially exclusionary immigration policies.

How did COVID-19 provide the Trump Administration the ‘silver bullet’ to accomplish long-standing immigration goals that in fact had little to with the pandemic? And why has COVID had a disproportionate impact on immigrant communities?

Trump immigration policies have spread fear through immigrant communities, threatening deportation of long-resident migrants and inflicting deep harms on family members who remain in the United States. Journalist Julia Preston and NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Bitta Mostofi assess the consequences.

Two Presidents have taken actions with dramatic consequences for more than 700,000 "Dreamers." Cecelia Munoz, domestic policy advisor to President Obama, discusses how DACA came to be; law professor Michael Olivas explains the Supreme Court opinion invalidating President Trump's order to end DACA; and DACA recipient Daniela Alulema tells us how these actions have affected her life.

Author and journalist Hector Tobar joins Alex Aleinikoff and Deb Amos to discuss the how "the Wall" and Latino immigration are shaping understanding of race and belonging in the United States.

How much of Trump's border wall has been built? Will it stop undocumented migration? What do people living in the border region think about it? Alex Aleinikoff and Deb Amos talk with Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff and DW Gibson, author of the recently published 14 Miles: Building the Border Wall.

In an attempt to deter the arrival of families seeking asylum at the southwest border, the Trump Administration adopted a policy of criminally prosecuting parents and separating them from their children. Dara Lind (ProPublica) and Dr. Ranit Mishori (Physicians for Human Rights) discuss these extraordinary actions--the public outrage they engendered and the harms they inflicted.

The New Yorker's Jonathan Blitzer describes the avalanche of policies the Trump Administration has adopted to stem the flow of Central American asylum seekers to the US. Gaspar Cobo and Franciso Chavez, two Guatemalan asylum-seekers stopped at the border for more than a year, describe their reasons for coming and the difficulties they face in getting their claims heard.

In a range of actions of startling scope, President Trump has denied entry to persons from a number of Muslim-majority countries and African states and has dramatically decreased the number of refugees admitted to the US. Using the justification of the COVID-19 crisis, he has now extended entry bans to most persons eligible to enter as immigrants. Alex Aleinikoff and Deb Amos discuss the source and impact of these unprecedented presidential orders with a journalist, a refugee and the director of a refugee resettlement agency.

Walls, a ban on Muslims, a promise to end DACA:  How did immigration become a central feature of Donald Trump's campaign for President? Alex Aleinikoff and Deb Amos talk with New York Times reporters Michael Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis who share their first hand accounts.

On June 30, Tempest Tossed returns with a special 8-part series: Entry Denied: Immigration policy in the time of Trump.  Co-hosted by Alex Aleinikoff and Deb Amos, Entry Denied examines the dramatic impact of Trump policies on migrants, refugees, immigrant communities and the nation.

Alex Aleinikoff talks with Lucas Guttentag on the legality of Trump orders to ban the admission of immigrants and asylum seekers, and with Monette Zard and Ian Kysel about human rights principles that protect migrants even as states take strong measures to combat COVID-19.

Migrants workers fill jobs deemed essential in the response to the pandemic. They are also disproportionately represented in the most hard hit occupations. Julia Gelatt (Migration Policy Institute) and Marisol Orihuela and Muneer Ahmad (Yale Law School) join Alex Aleinikoff in two conversations on migrants and the COVID-19 crisis.

#AbolishIce has helped define the immigration debate in the U.S. It is a rallying cry by those opposed to Trump Administration policies and heavy-handed tactics of immigration officers. It has also been used as a cudgel against immigration advocates, who some of the Rights have claimed want "open borders." Hiroshi Motomura and Azadeh Shashahani help us understand the meaning, promise and perils of the Abolish Ice movement.  

They came, they built, and they thrived in the Bronx.  Now they are under attack again. Alexis Francisco, a community organizer with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, and Angela Fernandez, New York State Human Rights Commissioner, tell us how immigrant communities displaced from their home countries to the United States fight for the right to remain in their homes in the Bronx.

"No refugees need apply" might well be the slogan of the Trump Administration. The Administration has drastically reduced refugee resettlement, pushed back asylum-seekers to Mexico, and pressured other countries to solve the US's problems. David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee, discusses the scope and impact of the Trump policies and global trends on displacement.

The New Yorker’s immigration reporter Jonathan Blitzer joins host Alex Aleinikoff and journalist Ladane Nasseri to discuss U.S. border policy, the resignation of Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and the Democrats’ difficult balancing act on immigration.

Tempest Tossed returns! Catalina Cruz, the first DREAMER in the New York State Assembly, joins Alex Aleinikoff to talk about immigration policy, differences between campaigning and governing, and how she advocates for her Queens, NY district and community.

Are we made to migrate? What makes us move and how do we do it? We answer these questions and more with an anatomist, an endurance athlete, and a forensic anthropologist, as we take a closer look at the US/Mexico border from a new perspective--one of basic human need and physical adaptation.

How did the Statue of Liberty become a symbol for immigration in the United States? What does it stand for today? In this episode we talk with Professor Mae Ngai about the Statue’s history, and how its meaning in the American public mind has changed over time. We also speak with activist Patricia Okoumou, who climbed the pedestal of the Statue one year ago this week, in protest of the Trump Administration's child separation policy. She explains the reasons for her act of civil disobedience.

The Democratic and Republican parties used to work together on passing immigration legislation. No more.  While a significant majority of Americans believes that immigration is a net plus for the nation, both parties are now playing to their base which pulls them away from the middle where immigration legislation can be crafted.  Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and expert extraordinaire, helps us understand the politics of immigration and what it means for both parties in the run-up to the 2020 election.

How can refugees be helped to enter the US job market? And what's food got to do with it? We talk with Kerry Brodie about Emma's Torch, a Brooklyn restaurant that offers culinary training to refugees, asylum-seekers and victims of trafficking. We then visit with Thu Pham, an Emma's Torch graduate, at her new place of work, Lot 2 restaurant. We also get a chance to talk with Lot 2 owner Danny Rojo.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Manuel (known by his initials AMLO) took office in January of this year. A self-described "man of the left," López Obrador has chosen not to confront Donald Trump on US immigration policy. Who is AMLO, and what accounts for his--perhaps surprising--stance toward Trump Administration actions at the border?  Carlos Bravo Regidor, a professor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics in Mexico City, and Alexandra Delano, Chair of Global Studies at The New School, provide the answers.

Walls--real and virtual--divide us by nation, by race, by religion, by the kind of information we seek and receive. Alex and Maya Wiley discuss the many walls of America--as well as the "non-walls" that permit freedom of movement and information for all throughout the nation. How do walls mark out who belongs, whose views count, and whose history gets told?

Trump's State of the Union address repeated his false claims that link crime with immigration. Tanvi Misra helps set the record straight, and Alex Aleinikoff discusses Trump's nativist assault on the moral fabric of the US.

Lawyers--outraged by the Trump Administration's harsh policies against immigrants--have brought scores of cases challenging the President's actions.  They have been remarkably successful in persuading judges to invalidate or put on hold many of the Administration's new policies. Law professor Peter Margulies tells us why the lawyers have been able to stop Trump in the courts and the role that narrative can play in legal strategy and decision-making.

The death of 7 year old Jakelin Caal while in Border Patrol custody is a tragedy, and it is sadly emblematic of Trump Administration border policies that have devastated families, undermined U.S. asylum laws and betrayed traditional American values.  Alex Aleinikoff, Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, takes a comprehensive and critical look at Trump border actions and argues for policies true to the facts and to values of decency and fairness.

Two actions of the Trump Administration have sought to make it practically impossible for women who are victims of intimate partner violence to apply for and be granted asylum in the United States. The first is an action by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to overturn a decision of the Board of Immigration appeals granting asylum to a woman who had survived horrific violence at the hands of her husband. The second is a Presidential Proclamation, accompanied by new federal regulations, that automatically denies asylum to persons entering the United States between designated border entry points.  Kate Jastram, a senior attorney at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, discusses the lawfulness and morality of these decisions.

President Trump has dominated the pre-election news by returning to a theme that probably brought him the Presidency— immigration. Roberto Suro discusses the politics of the Trump strategy, the failure of an effective response from the Democrats, and how older narratives of immigration may not work for the current historical moment.

According to Donald Trump, a group of several thousand Hondurans fleeing violence and poverty who are on foot and 1000 miles from the US border are a threat to US national security and sovereignty. Who is part of the "caravan"? Why have they left Honduras? What are their prospects for reaching the US border? What policy options--other than fear-mongering--does the US have? Doris Meissner, former US Commissioner of Immigration and currently a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institutes, provides answers.

The Trump Administration has proposed a new rule that will affect every person seeking to enter the United States or receive a green card--it will greatly expand the number of people who can be excluded from the U.S. because they are "likely to become a public charge."  What does "public charge" mean and how would the new rule work? And why is the Trump Administration proposing it? Mark Greenberg, Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, joins Alex Aleinikoff for an in-depth discussion of the proposed rule and its potential consequences.

Under an agreement signed in 2002, Canada can return asylum-seekers to the US if they have traveled through the US or lived there prior to arriving in Canada. Recent policies north and south of the US-Canadian border pose new challenges to the agreement, as Sean Rehaag, Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, explains.

Immigrants commit more crimes? Don't learn English? Hurt the U.S. economy?  These are "zombie ideas"-- false claims that refuse to die.  Professor Rubén Rumbaut sets the record straight.

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with David Martin on why he resigned from the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council, what he objects to in Trump Administration immigration policies and what balanced and responsible immigration policy could look like.

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with Professor Lauren Gilbert on the detention of re-united immigrant families and the difficult choices they face:  should they return to their home countries together, should the parent return and child stay in the U.S., or should the family remain in ICE detention to pursue claims to political asylum?  

Alex Aleinikoff speaks with Georgetown Law Professor Marty Lederman on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the travel ban.