Immigration Attorneys Lead Discussion on 'Broken System' During Third Installment of The Constitution: Rights to Know
It was a packed house at Tompkins County Public Library on Thursday, November 20 for a discussion on immigration. It was the third of a four part series hosted at TCPL called The Constitution: Rights to Know, which focuses on critical aspects of the U.S. Constitution, particularly during ongoing controversies and challenges.
Steve Yale-Loehr, a retired immigration law professor at Cornell and author of Green Card Stories led Thursday's discussion, which was divided into four parts. The first two worked to answer the questions: What is our current immigration system, and where does it fit in the U.S. Constitution? Why is the U.S. immigration system broken? The final two discussion poitns focused on success stories and possible solutions.
You can watch the entire program from Thursday, November 20 below.
During the discussion, Tania Peñafort, staff attorney for Journey's End Refugee Services, shared her own personal story of going from "dreamer to living the dream." Peñafort came to the U.S. at just 3-years-old, as a tourist, but then overstayed and became "out of status." She finally obtained permanent resident status in 2015, when she was in her late 20s.
Throughout the presentation, Yale-Loehr and Peñafort broke down aspects of the immigration system, shared stories of immigrants they have worked with, delved into the effects they are seeing from the current administration's crackdown, and answered audience questions. The presentation ended with tangible ways people can take action to make their voices heard. You can see a .pdf of the entire presentation below. You can also find ways to help Peñafort's organization, Journey's End Refugee Services, by clicking this link.