The Most Interesting People I Know
News:Politics
Brianna Rennix is an immigration lawyer and a Senior Editor at Current Affairs magazine. She works near the border in Dilley, Texas, helping prepare detained immigrant women for their asylum hearings. This is a job that requires you to ask people about the worst things that have ever happened to them. And if you fail, they may be deported to their death.
Immigration has been in the news a lot recently, particularly the torturous conditions immigrants are being held in. Unfortunately, a lot of this coverage isn't properly contextualized and there's a lot of misinformation about how our immigration system actually works. I've wanted to have Brianna on for a while because, as I tell her, she writes about immigration with more analytical and moral clarity than anyone else I've come across. We touch on a lot of it here, and I really encourage you to read her work on immigration that can be found in the show notes.
We cover:
Brianna's work as an immigration lawyer, how Clinton and Obama laid the groundwork for Trump's immigration policies, the push and pull factors driving immigration, America's role in stoking violence in Central America, the origins of MS13 and Barrio 18, Trump's efforts to destroy the asylum process, asylum claims in theory and in practice, the intensity of asking people to relive their worst experiences day in and day out, and what you can do to help.
Brianna's work:
This Week in Terrible Immigration News 7-29-19
Waiting for the Holy Infant of Atocha
The Case for Opening Our Borders
Crammed into cells and forced to drink from the toilet – this is how the US treats migrants
Things You Can Do Beyond Calling Your Congressperson
Understanding the Administration’s Monstrous Immigration Policies
What Would Human Immigration Policy Look Like?
Can We Have Humane Immigration Policy?
Links:
Majority of undocumented immigrants show up for court, data shows
A Century of U.S. Intervention Created the Immigration Crisis
US Involvement in Regime Change in Latin America
Polls: Most Voters Are Cool With Trump’s Deportation Raids, But Not His Racist Tweets
How to Create a Crisis
Observing immigration court
Never Again Action
Video of Ihlan Omar being welcomed home
‘Nobody Opened the Door’: Neighbors Rally During an ICE Raid in Houston
Video: Town Of Trump Voters Angry After Local Businessman Gets Deported
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