CBH Talk | Open Arms, Closed Borders and the Future of America’s Immigration Myth
With climate change, the global rise in xenophobia and nationalism, increasing economic disenfranchisement, and rampant disinformation that amplifies “othering,” America’s immigration system is crashing towards catastrophe. The debate about who belongs in America mirrors our national polarization and cuts through social and political spaces. This discussion focuses on America’s long-standing, if aspirational, identity of protecting and advancing immigrant human rights, the useful myth of this identity, and whether a new isolationism is destined to replace it. WNYC’s Arun Venugopal moderates a conversation with founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California Tom K. Wong; Latinx artist, film director, author Paola Mendoza; and New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Murad Awawdeh.
Participants
Murad Awawdeh is a strategist, organizer, and advocacy expert currently serving as the Executive Director at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC). The son of Palestinian immigrants, Murad has dedicated over two decades of his life fighting for low-income communities of color across the State of New York. He grew up organizing to stop dangerous and hazardous developments in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and engaging community residents to build power and bring transformational change to their neighborhoods. As the NYIC's Executive Vice President of Advocacy & Strategy he successfully led electoral, legislative, and policy campaigns at the federal, state and local levels, and mobilized hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at demonstrations against anti-immigrant policies. As the Executive Vice President of NYIC Action, the NYIC’s sister 501(c)4 political advocacy and action organization, he has successfully led grassroots electoral campaigns to elect progressive candidates. Murad has been featured in VICE and the Huffington Post, and was honored with a U.S Congressional Recognition, and Public Service Awards from the New York State Senate and Assembly. He serves as a Trustee of the New York University Family Health Centers Board, as a member of the Justice 2020 Committee, and as Commissioner of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission.
Paola Mendoza is a Latinx artist, film director, author and cultural organizer who uses art to disrupt and disarm, to change our thinking and to advance movements for immigrants, women and reproductive justice. She is a co-founder of The Women’s March and served as its Artistic Director. She co-authored the New York Times best seller Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard around the World. Her bestselling book, Sanctuary, was described by the New York Times as “a gripping work of fiction, with a message about xenophobia that’s rooted in a scarily real world.” Her films Entre Nos, Free Like the Birds and Autumn’s Eyes have garnered multiple awards and critical acclaim. They tackle the complex issues of poverty and immigration on women and children in the United States. She is currently directing a feature-length documentary about domestic workers. Paola is a Pop Culture Collaborative Gender Justice Fellow, a Race Forward Fellow, an Opportunity Agenda Fellow and a Pop Culture; Becoming America Fellow. She is a co-founder of The Meteor, a media company building a new home for feminist work, and co-founder of the Resistance Revival Chorus, the critically acclaimed women’s chorus that believes “Joy is an act of resistance.”
Tom K. Wong is an associate professor of political science and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, San Diego. He served as an advisor to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) under the Obama administration where he co-led the immigration portfolio and was recently appointed by Governor Gerry Brown to serve on the State of California 2020 Census Complete Count Committee (CCC). He is also Co-Director of the Human Rights and Migration program. His research focuses on the politics of immigration, citizenship, and migrant "illegality." As these issues have far-reaching implications, his work also explores the links between immigration, race and ethnicity, and the politics of identity. His first book, Rights, Deportation, and Detention in the Age of Immigration Control, analyzes the immigration control policies of twenty-five Western immigrant-receiving democracies. In analyzing over 30,000 roll call votes on immigration-related legislation in Congress since 2005, his second book, The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity, represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the contemporary politics of immigration in the United States.
Wong's research has been used by policymakers both in the U.S. and in Mexico, as well as by organizations that serve immigrant communities. His research has been cited in several federal lawsuits to defend DACA, end family separation at the southern border, and prohibit indefinite child detention. Wong and his work has been covered by the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NPR and major media outlets across the country in hundreds of articles. He is also on the board of New American Leaders, the California Immigrant Policy Center, and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. Wong also consults on campaigns elections and has run large-scale c3, c4, and independent expenditure campaigns specializing in mobilizing low-propensity voters of color and immigrant communities. He is lead evaluator for the Four Freedoms Fund civic engagement program and lead evaluator for the RISE Together Fund civic engagement program.
Arun Venugopal is Senior Reporter in the Race & Justice Unit at WNYC and Gothamist. He also serves as an occasional guest host at NPR's Fresh Air, sitting in for Terry Gross, and often contributes to Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour and CBS News and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The Atlantic. He lives with his family in Queens.
With climate change, the global rise in xenophobia and nationalism, increasing economic disenfranchisement, and rampant disinformation that amplifies “othering,” America’s immigration system is crashing towards catastrophe. The debate about who belongs in America mirrors our national polarization and cuts through social and political spaces. This discussion focuses on America’s long-standing, if aspirational, identity of protecting and advancing immigrant human rights, the useful myth of this identity, and whether a new isolationism is destined to replace it. WNYC’s Arun Venugopal moderates a conversation with founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California Tom K. Wong; Latinx artist, film director, author Paola Mendoza; and New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Murad Awawdeh.
Participants
Murad Awawdeh is a strategist, organizer, and advocacy expert currently serving as the Executive Director at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC). The son of Palestinian immigrants, Murad has dedicated over two decades of his life fighting for low-income communities of color across the State of New York. He grew up organizing to stop dangerous and hazardous developments in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and engaging community residents to build power and bring transformational change to their neighborhoods. As the NYIC's Executive Vice President of Advocacy & Strategy he successfully led electoral, legislative, and policy campaigns at the federal, state and local levels, and mobilized hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at demonstrations against anti-immigrant policies. As the Executive Vice President of NYIC Action, the NYIC’s sister 501(c)4 political advocacy and action organization, he has successfully led grassroots electoral campaigns to elect progressive candidates. Murad has been featured in VICE and the Huffington Post, and was honored with a U.S Congressional Recognition, and Public Service Awards from the New York State Senate and Assembly. He serves as a Trustee of the New York University Family Health Centers Board, as a member of the Justice 2020 Committee, and as Commissioner of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission.
Paola Mendoza is a Latinx artist, film director, author and cultural organizer who uses art to disrupt and disarm, to change our thinking and to advance movements for immigrants, women and reproductive justice. She is a co-founder of The Women’s March and served as its Artistic Director. She co-authored the New York Times best seller Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard around the World. Her bestselling book, Sanctuary, was described by the New York Times as “a gripping work of fiction, with a message about xenophobia that’s rooted in a scarily real world.” Her films Entre Nos, Free Like the Birds and Autumn’s Eyes have garnered multiple awards and critical acclaim. They tackle the complex issues of poverty and immigration on women and children in the United States. She is currently directing a feature-length documentary about domestic workers. Paola is a Pop Culture Collaborative Gender Justice Fellow, a Race Forward Fellow, an Opportunity Agenda Fellow and a Pop Culture; Becoming America Fellow. She is a co-founder of The Meteor, a media company building a new home for feminist work, and co-founder of the Resistance Revival Chorus, the critically acclaimed women’s chorus that believes “Joy is an act of resistance.”
Tom K. Wong is an associate professor of political science and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, San Diego. He served as an advisor to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) under the Obama administration where he co-led the immigration portfolio and was recently appointed by Governor Gerry Brown to serve on the State of California 2020 Census Complete Count Committee (CCC). He is also Co-Director of the Human Rights and Migration program. His research focuses on the politics of immigration, citizenship, and migrant "illegality." As these issues have far-reaching implications, his work also explores the links between immigration, race and ethnicity, and the politics of identity. His first book, Rights, Deportation, and Detention in the Age of Immigration Control, analyzes the immigration control policies of twenty-five Western immigrant-receiving democracies. In analyzing over 30,000 roll call votes on immigration-related legislation in Congress since 2005, his second book, The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity, represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the contemporary politics of immigration in the United States.
Wong's research has been used by policymakers both in the U.S. and in Mexico, as well as by organizations that serve immigrant communities. His research has been cited in several federal lawsuits to defend DACA, end family separation at the southern border, and prohibit indefinite child detention. Wong and his work has been covered by the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NPR and major media outlets across the country in hundreds of articles. He is also on the board of New American Leaders, the California Immigrant Policy Center, and the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. Wong also consults on campaigns elections and has run large-scale c3, c4, and independent expenditure campaigns specializing in mobilizing low-propensity voters of color and immigrant communities. He is lead evaluator for the Four Freedoms Fund civic engagement program and lead evaluator for the RISE Together Fund civic engagement program.
Arun Venugopal is Senior Reporter in the Race & Justice Unit at WNYC and Gothamist. He also serves as an occasional guest host at NPR's Fresh Air, sitting in for Terry Gross, and often contributes to Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour and CBS News and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The Atlantic. He lives with his family in Queens.
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