In the next broadcast of Talking Foreign Policy, Michael Scharf, interim dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a panel of experts examine immigration reform in light of President Barack Obama’s recently announced executive actions to take effect this year.
Talking Foreign Policy, a radio program produced by Case Western Reserve in partnership with WCPN ideastream (90.3 FM), airs at 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5. It will be available worldwide at ideastream.org/programs/.
Although an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants are living in the United States, Congress has been unable to produce a legislative fix to what many consider a flawed immigration system.
Some supporters of immigration reform say Obama’s planned changes, such as requiring certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation, don’t go far enough. Meanwhile, opponents are trying to block actions seen as overstepping presidential authority.
The program panel includes Case Western Reserve Law alum Austin T. Fragomen Jr., who leads the world’s largest immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy. He participates from the NPR affiliate in New York City.
Joining Scharf in the Cleveland studio of WCPN are David Leopold, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association; Margaret Wong, an immigration law expert and author of the book Immigrants Way; and Jenna Peyton, a Case Western Reserve law school adjunct professor and Cleveland immigration lawyer who volunteered last summer in New Mexico to provide legal assistance to thousands of mothers and children who fled to the United States from Central America.
