Asylum Is Not a Loophole, with Colleen Zengotitabengoa
What is asylum? Simply put, the United States must not return someone to a country where they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Following the atrocities of World War II, Congress created a U.S. asylum system under international treaty and federal law. But in recent years, as many more people sought asylum at the U.S./Mexico border, this moral and legal obligation became a political lightning rod. Colleen Zengotitabengoa has seen these challenges first-hand, in her two decades serving at the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and Congress. As an attorney, she has directly represented asylum-seekers – real people who were not “exploiting a loophole.” Colleen will help you understand what happened to our asylum system, why it matters, and what we as a nation need to do next.
Confessions of an Immigration Bureaucrat, with Michael Valverde
Every year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes millions of highly consequential decisions that affect individual people’s lives. Applications for green cards, work permits, asylum and refugee status, even U.S. citizenship – they’re all handled by the 20,000 civil servants at USCIS. The agency has always had its struggles, but under Trump 2.0, political appointees have actively undermined and targeted civil servants like never before. Michael Valverde dedicated his career to USCIS for three decades, working in roles throughout the agency and rising to senior management. Having taken early retirement after the DOGE debacle, he’s ready to pull back the curtain on how this agency really works: Why backlogs seem so endless, how immigration officers think, and what’s the difference between useful vs. useless security vetting. Michael also shares what he’s told countless new Americans at their citizenship ceremonies: Immigrants make our country richer.
Three Big Lies About Immigrants and Fraud, with Sonya Schwartz
From the first moments of his first campaign for president, Donald Trump has accused immigrants of fraudulently obtaining public benefits, immigration protections, and even votes. Does any of this hold up under scrutiny? We asked Sonya Schwartz, who knows more than just about anyone about the complex intersection of immigration, public benefits, and voting laws. She has the data to debunk all three of MAGA’s big lies about immigrants and fraud, and how this scapegoating leads to policies that harm all of us – from millions of families losing food assistance to voter ID laws that would block U.S. citizens from the polls. Meanwhile, some of the country’s worst actual fraudsters are getting pardoned instead of prosecuted.
A Winning Message on Immigration, with Beatriz Lopez
In the 2024 presidential election, Republicans spent nearly $600 million on political advertisements pounding Biden (and then Harris) for botching the border. The Democrats’ uninspiring message in response was: “No we didn’t.” Ever wonder why Republicans dominate the national conversation on immigration, while Democratic politicians seem reluctant to talk about it? Beatriz Lopez is a veteran political strategist and immigration advocate with a story to tell: Why Democrats long ago decided to treat immigration as a “losing issue,” how the MAGA message machine filled the void with anti-immigrant scapegoating, and how a vocally pro-immigrant message can be both popular and effective.
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