UMass Amherst CDD to Host ‘Federal Immigration Policy: Animus and Impacts’ Discussion on Oct. 16

The UMass Amherst Community, Democracy, and Dialogue (CDD) initiative will host Ragini Shah of Suffolk University and Nicholas Valentino of the University of Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 16, to discuss what influences attitudes towards immigrants, how those attitudes are reflected in policy, and how those policies impact both the state and the UMass campus community.

Following their opening comments, Shah and Valentino will engage in a discussion and Q&A moderated by UMass Amherst's Rebecca Hamlin, professor of legal studies and director of the Legal Studies Program.

Registration is required for the event, which will be held from noon-2 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium.

Shah is a clinical professor of law at Suffolk and the founder and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic, whose scholarship examines immigration law from the perspective of those who experience its impacts. Her book "Constructed Movements, Extraction and Resistance in Mexican Migrant Communities," offers insights from Mexican migrant communities on how migration is an extractive process and offers examples of organizing in Mexico designed to create alternatives to the migration as extraction cycle. Over the years, the Immigration Clinic has represented a number of individuals including immigrants detained by ICE facing removal, undocumented youth seeking to remain in the U.S., and workers seeking to vindicate their rights in the workplace. The clinic has also worked on a number of projects including helping community groups propose legislation, creating and delivering "Know Your Rights" during the Trump administration and beyond, and preparing guides for community organizers on the rights of undocumented immigrants.

Valentino, the Donald R. Kinder Collegiate Professor of Political Science and research professor in the Center for Political Studies at Michigan, specializes in political psychological approaches to understanding public opinion formation, socialization, information seeking, and electoral participation. His research has focused on the intersecting roles of racial attitudes and public emotions, especially the distinct power of anger versus fear. He has also written extensively on the causes and consequences of empathy for ethnic outgroups, and he currently serves as a PI of the American National Election Studies (ANES).

Hamlin's research is focused on law and immigration politics, with particular emphasis on migrant categorization and the concept of a refugee. Her published work has examined how the United States and other liberal democracies use administrative agencies and courts to adjudicate migration and citizenship questions, and the political responses to judicial involvement in migration matters.

More information about this and other upcoming CDD programs and events can be found at umass.edu/dialogue.