Speech

Difficult Dialogues: Immigration

The U.S. government’s sentiments toward immigrants are changing, according to members of the Boulder community at Chautauqua Community House in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday. The panel conversation was part of a series of “Difficult Dialogues” hosted by the Center for Humanities & the Arts.

Community members and university students sat in a circle, led by Jennifer Ho, professor of ethnic studies and director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts at the University of Colorado, Boulder. They spent 90 minutes sharing stories, opinions, and compassion.

The discussion opened with a video of actor Ian McKellen reciting a speech on immigration by Shakespeare. The floor was opened to the room to share their reactions on the relevancy today the speech from the 1600s holds.

“The strangers should be removed,” McKellen recited.

This line induced a dialogue in the community house about the term “stranger” versus “immigrant”, that “strangers” are seen as an outside threat, but it is they who have done hard labor jobs in our country since the time of Shakespeare.

Immigration barriers were formerly based upon the inability to understand each other’s language, but now a natural citizen of the United States is at risk of being stopped by ICE agents simply for the appearance of their skin.

Throughout the discussion, participants found common ground.

“No one voiced any dissent,” Ho said. “It seemed like they were all united around feeling that something needs to change in how the U.S. is treating immigrants.”

Another topic discussed was the difference between criminal and civil law. Undocumented immigrants coming to the US are viewed as criminals, when they are actually violating a civil law. Many described the process itself, often involving hours of questioning, as dehumanizing.

Participants agreed the widespread misunderstanding of immigration policy is what perpetuates prejudice. Not only that Americans are undereducated about the immigration process, but also that immigrants who are undereducated themselves are then painted as the ‘bad guy’ because of it.

Fear was also present in the community house as attendees discussed the fact that the U.S. government has stripped citizenship from people before, and could do it again.

The process of gaining citizenship in the U.S., many said, does not come with ease. It is undermined by Americans who say ‘just do it the legal way’, not considering the time, cost, emotional, and physical tolls. For many immigrants, it becomes a question of feeding one’s family or risking their life crossing the border, pouring everything they have into a lawyer they can’t afford.

Lily McGovern, 19-year-old integrated physiology student at CU contributed to the dialogue with her perspective as the only Democrat in her conservative family.

“I’ve learned more about immigration policies than I ever thought possible because I’ve had to research them in order for them to stand against my conservative family’s values,” she said.

As the evening came to a close, a mutual understanding filled the room: that conversations like this are where change begins.