The Center for Law, Justice, & Culture is sponsoring a panel discussion on Immigration, Refugees, and American Policy on Tuesday, Jan. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Porter 105.
The panel features Dr. Loren Lybarger, Ruben Castilla Herrera, and Jessica Comacho. It is moderated by Dr. Alicia Chavira-Prado.
The panel is offered in conjunction with the Ohio University Office of Diversity & Inlcusions’ Martin Luther King Jr. celebration during the week of Jan. 18. The annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration features numerous panels and events relating to controversies surrounding American public policy today.
Panel Abstract: The immigration and the global refugee crisis is one of the most critically important issues in the world today, with wars, famines, and complex humanitarian emergencies prompting massive population displacements within and across national borders. In the United States, national debates about immigration and refugee policies have become framed as national security issues and charged with racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobia political rhetoric. Many calls for immigration reform have focused on the U.S.-Mexico border and highlighted themes of documentation, registration, and border security. In this year’s presidential election campaigns, prominent Republican candidates are advocating for the deportation of all undocumented immigrants and rejection of all Syrian refugees seeking entry into the country. Donald Trump is calling for a ban on the entry of all Muslims into the United States, including American citizens who are returning from travel abroad. Popular anti-immigration hysteria has escalated following the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino shootings. In December, we learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have recently initiated small-scale raids to forcibly remove Central American migrants from their homes, in a program that the Department of Homeland Security confirms as consistent with deportation priorities on “individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.”
- Castilla Herrera is a second-generation Mexican American immigration activist who resides in Columbus. He has worked with organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and AmeriCorp, and he has taught law at Capital University. He is heavily involved in Latino leadership development.
- Camacho is an immigration activist who will discuss how her personal experiences as an immigrant without documentation have shaped her activist commitments.
- Lybarger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and World Religions. His research and teaching specializations include Islam’s relationship to politics and society.
- Chavira-Prado is the Special Assistant to the Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion.
Also on Tuesday, a campus conversation “Responding to #BlackLivesMatter“ is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Baker Center Ballroom.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement is a response to questions of police misconduct, unequal treatment, and more as a result of institutionalized racial targeting and discrimination in the U.S. criminal justice system.
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