The Center in Law, Society and Culture present

"Immigration Research-Advocacy Exchange Workshop"

Thursday, March 1, 2012
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Social Ecology 1, Room 112

Organized by Sameer Ashar (Law), Susan Coutin (Crim., Law & Society), Sam Lam (Law) and Pauline White Meeusen (Crim., Law & Society)

The role of public advocacy in immigration law and policy has grown as a result of political stasis on comprehensive immigration reform, the existence of a large contingent of undocumented people within the United States, the absence of relief for many immigrants facing removal, and provisions of law that strip courts of jurisdiction over challenges to state action.  Advocacy has moved from courtrooms and legislative and agency settings to the media and onto the streets. Advocates have successfully used research to challenge key programs in the immigration enforcement regime, including 287(g) and Secure Communities. Public advocacy has, in turn, informed the research agendas of think tanks and university centers.

The Immigration Research-Advocacy Exchange Workshop brings together UCI faculty members, graduate students, and law students to brainstorm the initiation of cross-unit collaborations, bridging approaches to immigration research and advocacy. The workshop will begin with an informal networking session from 4:00-5:00 p.m. during which participants may share and discuss with one another their approaches to immigration-related research and advocacy. Attendees will then gather for a large group discussion from 5:00-6:00 p.m., facilitated by professors Ashar and Coutin. Discussion will focus more formally on how to strengthen connections across UCI relating to immigration research and advocacy, and to determine promising avenues for collaboration in research and advocacy. Refreshments will be provided.

Please RSVP to Pauline White Meeusen at pwhiteme@uci.edu by Monday, February 27 and include a brief (one to two sentence) biography.

For more information, visit http://clsc.soceco.uci.edu/pages/events-calendar.