Immigration 2021: Where We Are. Where We Should Head.

The United States has a long history of contradictory–often exclusionary –behavior toward immigrants. George Washington said we should provide asylum for the persecuted, but just 15 years later the Alien and Sedition Acts were enacted.

Jim Goodman, a Rochester-based journalist who has been publishing articles about immigration in The Progressive magazine, will remind us about the xenophobic streak that runs throughout our history as a backdrop to the Trump assault on immigration. He will discuss the repressive legacy of Trump and what needs to be done to reverse these anti-immigrant policies.

His articles tell the stories of immigrants – in the Rochester area and elsewhere – who have been uprooted and deported by Trump. Goodman has also delved into the horrors of immigrant detention centers and how the persecuted have been treated like criminals. And he has detailed how immigrants and activists have fought back, determined not to let Trump have the last word on their fate.

He will also explore how immigration cannot be separated from the role U.S. foreign policy has played in driving people from their homelands and closing doors to safe haven.

Goodman started covering immigration during the 1970s when reporting for a civil liberties newsletter. As a reporter and editorial writer for the local Gannett newspapers for more than three decades, he covered such issues as the sanctuary movement in Rochester during the mid-1980s and the mistreatment of farmworkers.

Co-sponsored by the Rochester Committee on Latin America (ROCLA) and The Latin America Solidarity Committee of Buffalo (LASC).

December 2, 2020 7PM