0:00:00.472,0:00:04.930 We often hear these days[br]that the immigration system is broken. 0:00:04.954,0:00:09.600 I want to make the case today that[br]our immigration conversation is broken 0:00:09.624,0:00:13.968 and to suggest some ways that, together,[br]we might build a better one. 0:00:14.735,0:00:17.634 In order to do that, I'm going[br]to propose some new questions 0:00:17.658,0:00:19.022 about immigration, 0:00:19.046,0:00:20.252 the United States 0:00:20.276,0:00:21.599 and the world, 0:00:21.623,0:00:26.669 questions that might move the borders[br]of the immigration debate. 0:00:27.495,0:00:31.655 I'm not going to begin with the feverish[br]argument that we're currently having, 0:00:31.679,0:00:36.189 even as the lives and well-being[br]of immigrants are being put at risk 0:00:36.213,0:00:38.969 at the US border and far beyond it. 0:00:39.567,0:00:42.201 Instead, I'm going to begin[br]with me in graduate school 0:00:42.225,0:00:45.905 in New Jersey in the mid-1990s,[br]earnestly studying US history, 0:00:45.929,0:00:49.344 which is what I currently teach[br]as a professor at Vanderbilt University 0:00:49.368,0:00:51.120 in Nashville, Tennessee. 0:00:51.602,0:00:53.088 And when I wasn't studying, 0:00:53.112,0:00:55.356 sometimes to avoid[br]writing my dissertation, 0:00:55.380,0:00:58.203 my friends and I would go into town 0:00:58.227,0:01:03.064 to hand out neon-colored flyers,[br]protesting legislation 0:01:03.088,0:01:06.533 that was threatening to take away[br]immigrants' rights. 0:01:07.481,0:01:10.289 Our flyers were sincere,[br]they were well-meaning, 0:01:10.313,0:01:12.537 they were factually accurate ... 0:01:12.561,0:01:15.156 But I realize now, they were also[br]kind of a problem. 0:01:15.642,0:01:16.815 Here's what they said: 0:01:16.839,0:01:21.342 "Don't take away immigrant rights[br]to public education, 0:01:21.366,0:01:24.090 to medical services,[br]to the social safety net. 0:01:24.114,0:01:25.661 They work hard. 0:01:25.685,0:01:27.581 They pay taxes. 0:01:27.605,0:01:29.460 They're law-abiding. 0:01:29.484,0:01:32.451 They use social services[br]less than Americans do. 0:01:33.054,0:01:35.111 They're eager to learn English, 0:01:35.135,0:01:39.539 and their children serve[br]in the US military all over the world." 0:01:40.419,0:01:43.918 Now, these are, of course, arguments[br]that we hear every day. 0:01:43.942,0:01:47.420 Immigrants and their advocates use them 0:01:47.444,0:01:51.174 as they confront those who would[br]deny immigrants their rights 0:01:51.198,0:01:53.721 or even exclude them from society. 0:01:54.453,0:01:57.098 And up to a certain point,[br]it makes perfect sense 0:01:57.122,0:02:01.944 that these would be the kinds of claims[br]that immigrants' defenders would turn to. 0:02:02.595,0:02:06.424 But in the long term,[br]and maybe even in the short term, 0:02:06.448,0:02:09.299 I think these arguments[br]can be counterproductive. 0:02:09.996,0:02:11.501 Why? 0:02:11.525,0:02:13.613 Because it's always an uphill battle 0:02:13.637,0:02:16.888 to defend yourself[br]on your opponent's terrain. 0:02:17.669,0:02:21.633 And, unwittingly, the handouts[br]my friends and I were handing out 0:02:21.657,0:02:25.051 and the versions of these arguments[br]that we hear today 0:02:25.075,0:02:27.844 were actually playing[br]the anti-immigrants game. 0:02:28.701,0:02:31.437 We were playing that game[br]in part by envisioning 0:02:31.461,0:02:33.690 that immigrants were outsiders, 0:02:33.714,0:02:36.855 rather than, as I'm hoping[br]to suggest in a few minutes, 0:02:36.879,0:02:40.930 people that are already,[br]in important ways, on the inside. 0:02:42.303,0:02:45.840 It's those who are hostile[br]to immigrants, the nativists, 0:02:45.864,0:02:48.658 who have succeeded[br]in framing the immigration debate 0:02:48.682,0:02:50.889 around three main questions. 0:02:51.588,0:02:56.657 First, there's the question of whether[br]immigrants can be useful tools. 0:02:57.235,0:03:00.752 How can we use immigrants? 0:03:00.776,0:03:04.799 Will they make us richer and stronger? 0:03:05.751,0:03:08.667 The nativist answer[br]to this question is no, 0:03:08.691,0:03:11.318 immigrants have little[br]or nothing to offer. 0:03:12.993,0:03:17.201 The second question is whether[br]immigrants are others. 0:03:18.201,0:03:21.586 Can immigrants become more like us? 0:03:22.705,0:03:25.371 Are they capable of becoming more like us? 0:03:25.395,0:03:27.028 Are they capable of assimilating? 0:03:27.052,0:03:28.795 Are they willing to assimilate? 0:03:29.477,0:03:31.812 Here, again, the nativist answer is no, 0:03:31.836,0:03:36.220 immigrants are permanently[br]different from us and inferior to us. 0:03:37.157,0:03:41.784 And the third question is whether[br]immigrants are parasites. 0:03:42.745,0:03:46.359 Are they dangerous to us?[br]And will they drain our resources? 0:03:47.177,0:03:50.757 Here, the nativist answer is yes and yes, 0:03:50.781,0:03:54.126 immigrants pose a threat[br]and they sap our wealth. 0:03:55.761,0:03:59.846 I would suggest that these three questions[br]and the nativist animus behind them 0:03:59.870,0:04:03.960 have succeeded in framing the larger[br]contours of the immigration debate. 0:04:03.984,0:04:08.835 These questions are anti-immigrant[br]and nativist at their core, 0:04:08.859,0:04:14.753 built around a kind of hierarchical[br]division of insiders and outsiders, 0:04:14.777,0:04:16.340 us and them, 0:04:16.364,0:04:19.014 in which only we matter, 0:04:19.038,0:04:20.294 and they don't. 0:04:21.201,0:04:24.617 And what gives these questions[br]traction and power 0:04:24.641,0:04:26.805 beyond the circle of committed nativists 0:04:26.829,0:04:31.476 is the way they tap into an everyday,[br]seemingly harmless sense 0:04:31.500,0:04:33.227 of national belonging 0:04:33.251,0:04:35.916 and activate it, heighten it 0:04:35.940,0:04:37.626 and inflame it. 0:04:38.740,0:04:43.181 Nativists commit themselves[br]to making stark distinctions 0:04:43.205,0:04:45.719 between insiders and outsiders. 0:04:45.743,0:04:50.180 But the distinction itself is at the heart[br]of the way nations define themselves. 0:04:50.658,0:04:54.416 The fissures between inside and outside, 0:04:54.440,0:04:59.122 which often run deepest[br]along lines of race and religion, 0:04:59.146,0:05:02.458 are always there to be[br]deepened and exploited. 0:05:03.370,0:05:07.493 And that potentially[br]gives nativist approaches resonance 0:05:07.517,0:05:11.352 far beyond those who consider[br]themselves anti-immigrant, 0:05:11.376,0:05:15.550 and remarkably, even among some[br]who consider themselves pro-immigrant. 0:05:16.325,0:05:20.731 So, for example,[br]when Immigrants Act allies 0:05:20.755,0:05:23.957 answer these questions[br]the nativists are posing, 0:05:23.981,0:05:25.318 they take them seriously. 0:05:25.342,0:05:28.497 They legitimate those questions[br]and, to some extent, 0:05:28.521,0:05:31.541 the anti-immigrant assumptions[br]that are behind them. 0:05:32.414,0:05:36.130 When we take these questions seriously[br]without even knowing it, 0:05:36.154,0:05:39.975 we're reinforcing the closed,[br]exclusionary borders 0:05:39.999,0:05:42.180 of the immigration conversation. 0:05:43.458,0:05:44.625 So how did we get here? 0:05:44.649,0:05:48.932 How did these become the leading ways[br]that we talk about immigration? 0:05:49.523,0:05:50.952 Here, we need some backstory, 0:05:50.976,0:05:53.308 which is where my history[br]training comes in. 0:05:53.332,0:05:59.538 During the first century of the US's[br]status as an independent nation, 0:05:59.562,0:06:03.274 it did very little to restrict[br]immigration at the national level. 0:06:03.298,0:06:05.823 In fact, many policymakers[br]and employers worked hard 0:06:05.847,0:06:08.362 to recruit immigrants 0:06:08.386,0:06:10.008 to build up industry 0:06:10.032,0:06:13.738 and to serve as settlers,[br]to seize the continent. 0:06:14.948,0:06:17.537 But after the Civil War, 0:06:17.561,0:06:22.555 nativist voices rose[br]in volume and in power. 0:06:23.371,0:06:28.283 The Asian, Latin American,[br]Caribbean and European immigrants 0:06:28.307,0:06:31.081 who dug Americans' canals, 0:06:31.105,0:06:32.904 cooked their dinners, 0:06:32.928,0:06:34.620 fought their wars 0:06:34.644,0:06:36.845 and put their children to bed at night 0:06:36.869,0:06:40.428 were met with a new[br]and intense xenophobia, 0:06:40.452,0:06:44.015 which cast immigrants[br]as permanent outsiders 0:06:44.039,0:06:47.124 who should never be allowed[br]to become insiders. 0:06:48.148,0:06:50.865 By the mid-1920s, the nativists had won, 0:06:50.889,0:06:52.611 erecting racist laws 0:06:52.635,0:06:58.254 that closed out untold numbers[br]of vulnerable immigrants and refugees. 0:06:59.158,0:07:02.331 Immigrants and their allies[br]did their best to fight back, 0:07:02.355,0:07:04.829 but they found themselves[br]on the defensive, 0:07:04.853,0:07:08.070 caught in some ways[br]in the nativists' frames. 0:07:08.775,0:07:13.609 When nativists said[br]that immigrants weren't useful, 0:07:13.633,0:07:16.012 their allies said yes, they are. 0:07:16.932,0:07:21.874 When nativists accused[br]immigrants of being others, 0:07:21.898,0:07:24.434 their allies promised[br]that they would assimilate. 0:07:25.789,0:07:31.819 When nativists charged that immigrants[br]were dangerous parasites, 0:07:31.843,0:07:34.951 their allies emphasized[br]their loyalty, their obedience, 0:07:34.975,0:07:37.439 their hard work and their thrift. 0:07:38.293,0:07:41.746 Even as advocates welcomed immigrants, 0:07:41.770,0:07:48.189 many still regarded immigrants[br]as outsiders to be pitied, to be rescued, 0:07:48.213,0:07:50.024 to be uplifted 0:07:50.048,0:07:52.193 and to be tolerated, 0:07:52.217,0:07:58.089 but never fully brought inside[br]as equals in rights and respect. 0:07:59.194,0:08:05.890 After World War II, and especially[br]from the mid-1960s until really recently, 0:08:05.914,0:08:08.271 immigrants and their allies[br]turned the tide, 0:08:08.295,0:08:11.697 overthrowing mid-20th century restriction 0:08:11.721,0:08:16.317 and winning instead a new system[br]that prioritized family reunification, 0:08:16.341,0:08:17.960 the admission of refugees 0:08:17.984,0:08:20.838 and the admission of those[br]with special skills. 0:08:21.642,0:08:22.812 But even then, 0:08:22.836,0:08:27.458 they didn't succeed in fundamentally[br]changing the terms of the debate, 0:08:27.482,0:08:29.697 and so that framework endured, 0:08:29.721,0:08:34.628 ready to be taken up again[br]in our own convulsive moment. 0:08:35.744,0:08:38.260 That conversation is broken. 0:08:38.793,0:08:42.681 The old questions[br]are harmful and divisive. 0:08:43.486,0:08:46.003 So how do we get from that conversation 0:08:46.027,0:08:50.576 to one that's more likely to get us[br]closer to a world that is fairer, 0:08:50.600,0:08:52.171 that is more just, 0:08:52.195,0:08:53.711 that's more secure? 0:08:55.036,0:08:57.375 I want to suggest that what we have to do 0:08:57.399,0:09:01.088 is one of the hardest things[br]that any society can do: 0:09:01.112,0:09:05.089 to redraw the boundaries of who counts, 0:09:05.113,0:09:08.287 of whose life, whose rights 0:09:08.311,0:09:10.808 and whose thriving matters. 0:09:11.485,0:09:14.284 We need to redraw the boundaries. 0:09:14.308,0:09:17.747 We need to redraw the borders of us. 0:09:19.242,0:09:24.521 In order to do that, we need to first[br]take on a worldview that's widely held 0:09:24.545,0:09:27.056 but also seriously flawed. 0:09:27.080,0:09:29.348 According to that worldview, 0:09:29.372,0:09:33.079 there's the inside of the national[br]boundaries, inside the nation, 0:09:33.103,0:09:37.234 which is where we live, work[br]and mind our own business. 0:09:37.766,0:09:40.841 And then there's the outside;[br]there's everywhere else. 0:09:41.635,0:09:45.459 According to this worldview,[br]when immigrants cross into the nation, 0:09:45.483,0:09:48.449 they're moving from[br]the outside to the inside, 0:09:48.473,0:09:50.534 but they remain outsiders. 0:09:51.145,0:09:55.313 Any power or resources they receive 0:09:55.337,0:09:58.744 are gifts from us rather than rights. 0:09:59.371,0:10:04.212 Now, it's not hard to see why[br]this is such a commonly held worldview. 0:10:04.236,0:10:08.018 It's reinforced in everyday ways[br]that we talk and act and behave, 0:10:08.042,0:10:11.397 down to the bordered maps[br]that we hang up in our schoolrooms. 0:10:11.727,0:10:15.355 The problem with this worldview[br]is that it just doesn't correspond 0:10:15.379,0:10:17.616 to the way the world actually works, 0:10:17.640,0:10:20.092 and the way it has worked in the past. 0:10:21.111,0:10:25.796 Of course, American workers[br]have built up wealth in society. 0:10:26.391,0:10:27.583 But so have immigrants, 0:10:27.607,0:10:31.461 particularly in parts of the American[br]economy that are indispensable 0:10:31.485,0:10:34.287 and where few Americans work,[br]like agriculture. 0:10:34.840,0:10:36.438 Since the nation's founding, 0:10:36.462,0:10:40.741 Americans have been inside[br]the American workforce. 0:10:41.660,0:10:46.982 Of course, Americans have built up[br]institutions in society 0:10:47.006,0:10:48.731 that guarantee rights. 0:10:49.199,0:10:50.675 But so have immigrants. 0:10:50.699,0:10:54.071 They've been there during[br]every major social movement, 0:10:54.095,0:10:56.551 like civil rights and organized labor, 0:10:56.575,0:10:59.870 that have fought to expand[br]rights in society for everyone. 0:11:00.364,0:11:03.812 So immigrants are already[br]inside the struggle 0:11:03.836,0:11:06.708 for rights, democracy and freedom. 0:11:07.979,0:11:12.101 And finally, Americans[br]and other citizens of the Global North 0:11:12.125,0:11:14.516 haven't minded their own business, 0:11:14.540,0:11:16.882 and they haven't stayed[br]within their own borders. 0:11:16.906,0:11:19.059 They haven't respected[br]other nations' borders. 0:11:19.083,0:11:21.418 They've gone out into the world[br]with their armies, 0:11:21.442,0:11:23.898 they've taken over[br]territories and resources, 0:11:23.922,0:11:27.593 and they've extracted enormous profits[br]from many of the countries 0:11:27.617,0:11:29.405 that immigrants are from. 0:11:30.402,0:11:36.075 In this sense, many immigrants are[br]actually already inside American power. 0:11:37.268,0:11:42.156 With this different map[br]of inside and outside in mind, 0:11:42.180,0:11:45.119 the question isn't whether[br]receiving countries 0:11:45.143,0:11:47.453 are going to let immigrants in. 0:11:47.899,0:11:49.544 They're already in. 0:11:50.033,0:11:52.948 The question is whether[br]the United States and other countries 0:11:52.972,0:11:57.030 are going to give immigrants[br]access to the rights and resources 0:11:57.054,0:12:01.009 that their work, their activism[br]and their home countries 0:12:01.033,0:12:04.815 have already played[br]a fundamental role in creating. 0:12:06.468,0:12:08.803 With this new map in mind, 0:12:08.827,0:12:13.350 we can turn to a set of tough,[br]new, urgently needed questions, 0:12:13.374,0:12:17.093 radically different from the ones[br]we've asked before -- 0:12:17.117,0:12:21.424 questions that might change[br]the borders of the immigration debate. 0:12:22.509,0:12:26.774 Our three questions are[br]about workers' rights, 0:12:26.798,0:12:28.473 about responsibility 0:12:28.497,0:12:30.266 and about equality. 0:12:32.933,0:12:35.818 First, we need to be asking[br]about workers' rights. 0:12:36.405,0:12:40.695 How do existing policies make it harder[br]for immigrants to defend themselves 0:12:40.719,0:12:42.591 and easier for them to be exploited, 0:12:42.615,0:12:46.244 driving down wages, rights[br]and protections for everyone? 0:12:46.742,0:12:50.378 When immigrants are threatened[br]with roundups, detention and deportations, 0:12:50.402,0:12:52.514 their employers know[br]that they can be abused, 0:12:52.538,0:12:54.967 that they can be told[br]that if they fight back, 0:12:54.991,0:12:56.690 they'll be turned over to ICE. 0:12:57.460,0:12:59.710 When employers know 0:12:59.734,0:13:03.070 that they can terrorize an immigrant[br]with his lack of papers, 0:13:04.161,0:13:06.217 it makes that worker hyper-exploitable, 0:13:06.241,0:13:09.093 and that has impacts[br]not only for immigrant workers 0:13:09.117,0:13:10.733 but for all workers. 0:13:12.375,0:13:15.361 Second, we need to ask questions[br]about responsibility. 0:13:16.004,0:13:19.930 What role have rich, powerful[br]countries like the United States 0:13:19.954,0:13:22.439 played in making it hard or impossible 0:13:22.463,0:13:25.536 for immigrants to stay[br]in their home countries? 0:13:26.331,0:13:29.562 Picking up and moving from your country[br]is difficult and dangerous, 0:13:29.586,0:13:33.300 but many immigrants simply do not have[br]the option of staying home 0:13:33.324,0:13:35.507 if they want to survive. 0:13:35.531,0:13:37.258 Wars, trade agreements 0:13:37.282,0:13:39.932 and consumer habits[br]rooted in the Global North 0:13:39.956,0:13:44.554 play a major and devastating role here. 0:13:45.489,0:13:48.540 What responsibilities[br]do the United States, 0:13:48.564,0:13:50.593 the European Union and China -- 0:13:50.617,0:13:52.860 the world's leading carbon emitters -- 0:13:52.884,0:13:57.615 have to the millions of people[br]already uprooted by global warming? 0:13:59.979,0:14:02.996 And third, we need to ask[br]questions about equality. 0:14:03.569,0:14:07.617 Global inequality is a wrenching,[br]intensifying problem. 0:14:08.037,0:14:11.480 Income and wealth gaps[br]are widening around the world. 0:14:11.504,0:14:14.832 Increasingly, what determines[br]whether you're rich or poor, 0:14:14.856,0:14:16.171 more than anything else, 0:14:16.195,0:14:18.033 is what country you're born in, 0:14:18.057,0:14:21.109 which might seem great[br]if you're from a prosperous country. 0:14:21.133,0:14:25.696 But it actually means[br]a profoundly unjust distribution 0:14:25.720,0:14:30.773 of the chances for a long,[br]healthy, fulfilling life. 0:14:31.464,0:14:34.151 When immigrants send money[br]or goods home to their family, 0:14:34.175,0:14:37.324 it plays a significant role[br]in narrowing these gaps, 0:14:37.348,0:14:39.391 if a very incomplete one. 0:14:39.771,0:14:42.806 It does more than all[br]of the foreign aid programs 0:14:42.830,0:14:44.813 in the world combined. 0:14:46.778,0:14:49.349 We began with the nativist questions, 0:14:49.373,0:14:51.983 about immigrants as tools, 0:14:52.007,0:14:53.618 as others 0:14:53.642,0:14:54.983 and as parasites. 0:14:55.666,0:14:59.156 Where might these new questions[br]about worker rights, 0:14:59.180,0:15:00.777 about responsibility 0:15:00.801,0:15:02.355 and about equality 0:15:02.379,0:15:03.602 take us? 0:15:04.400,0:15:09.370 These questions reject pity,[br]and they embrace justice. 0:15:09.888,0:15:13.614 These questions reject[br]the nativist and nationalist division 0:15:13.638,0:15:15.059 of us versus them. 0:15:15.083,0:15:18.275 They're going to help prepare us[br]for problems that are coming 0:15:18.299,0:15:22.517 and problems like global warming[br]that are already upon us. 0:15:23.493,0:15:27.284 It's not going to be easy to turn away[br]from the questions that we've been asking 0:15:27.308,0:15:29.560 towards this new set of questions. 0:15:30.281,0:15:31.699 It's no small challenge 0:15:31.723,0:15:36.324 to take on and broaden the borders of us. 0:15:36.874,0:15:40.902 It will take wit,[br]inventiveness and courage. 0:15:41.228,0:15:43.837 The old questions have been[br]with us for a long time, 0:15:43.861,0:15:46.577 and they're not going[br]to give way on their own, 0:15:46.601,0:15:48.661 and they're not going[br]to give way overnight. 0:15:49.907,0:15:52.077 And even if we manage[br]to change the questions, 0:15:52.101,0:15:54.043 the answers are going to be complicated, 0:15:54.067,0:15:57.484 and they're going to require[br]sacrifices and tradeoffs. 0:15:58.377,0:16:01.656 And in an unequal world, we're always[br]going to have to pay attention 0:16:01.680,0:16:05.153 to the question of who has the power[br]to join the conversation 0:16:05.177,0:16:06.451 and who doesn't. 0:16:06.878,0:16:09.315 But the borders of the immigration debate 0:16:09.339,0:16:10.697 can be moved. 0:16:11.098,0:16:13.630 It's up to all of us to move them. 0:16:14.542,0:16:15.750 Thank you. 0:16:15.774,0:16:18.698 (Applause)