Civil Discourse / Immigration – Risks, Rights, & Opportunities

The WNMU forum of 30 Mars 2017 was titled Fighting the Dragnet and addressed a range of immigration justice issues.  Later that evening those panelists joined Civil Discourse host Jamie Newton at the GMCR / KURU studio to continue and expand their conversation.

This Civil Discourse installment is titled Immigration Justice, 2017: Risks, Rights, and Opportunities and Jamie’s guests were:

Allegra Love is an immigration attorney, founder and Director of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, and a licensed teacher in New Mexico. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, on the board of the New Mexico Bar Association’s Immigration Lawyer group, and on Santa Fe’s Commission for Youth and Children. She volunteers for the CARA Pro Bono Project assisting detained refugee families on the US/Mexico border.

Horatio Moreno Campos is an immigration attorney who practices law in Albuquerque, chairs the Board for Immigration Law section of the New Mexico State Bar, and is the supervising attorney of the Citizenship Program of OLÉ – Organizers in the Land of Enchantment. He teaches an online immigration course for Western New Mexico University.

Grecia Rivas Chavez is a 23-year old undocumented immigrant and Dreamer student who has been active in the immigrant rights movement for the past three years. She benefits from a federal program called DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. As an undocumented student, Grecia Rivas is working to make higher education accessible to all students.

Dr Magdaleno Manzanares was born in Mexico and emigrated to the United States. After 15 years of teaching university students, in 2013 he became Vice-President for External Affairs at Western New Mexico University. Dr. Manzanares is an expert on North American border conflicts – race, politics, and ethics – and the economics of security.

The panelists at the forum mentioned above were joined by George Carr, an immigration attorney who practiced law in Florida for 41 years. He represented migrant farmworkers on a range of rights issues – entitlement to food stamps, wage disputes, peonage, discrimination, and immigration – including a group of about 250 Guatemalan refugees seeking political asylum. He is retired and resides in Silver City.

Describing her own life experience, Grecia Rivas gave an overview of the conditions of life for immigrants at this time, especially those without documentation. Attorneys set out risks and rights of immigrants, stressing the importance of legal assistance for immigrants who have been detained or are threatened with deportation. Pathways toward citizenship were outlined, with emphasis on the importance of guidance by an attorney, and discussion of ways that concerned citizens can be helpful in the citizenship process.

Panelists explained the narrowly restricted criteria that determine eligibility for status as a refugee or asylum seeker, and the limited time and baffling procedures that often confront immigrants seeking protection. From direct experience and with reference to the historical record, our panelists illuminated a long tradition of political oppression and economic exploitation of immigrants in the United States, citing indications that these conditions appear to be worsening in the present social and political environment.

GMCR / KURU also recorded the WNMU forum of 30 Mars 2017 titled Fighting the Dragnet and it is currently in post production.  Check back here for updates.

Immigration Justice, 2017: Risks, Rights, and Opportunities was broadcast live on 30 March 2017.  Additional broadcasts are TBA.

You can also listen at your convenience via the following link…

Civil Discourse / Immigration Justice, 2017: Risks, Rights, and Opportunities