by Peter Scheckner and Martha Honey
Introduction
In fall 2024, we organized two thematically linked courses: We Were All Foreigners: Global Immigration through Cinema and Poetry, an in-person course that examined through art the global migration crisis, and Immigration Policy: Too Hot to Handle?, a Zoom course that looked at the history and politics of immigration in the United States through conversations with experts, social service providers, and immigrants living in the Hudson Valley.
The two courses culminated with an all-LLI event: the screening of a new documentary, Borderland: The Line Within, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis.
Member Interest
Immigration proved a popular topic. Some hundred LLI members enrolled in the two courses and, similarly, about one hundred attended the Borderland screening. Immigration was perhaps the number one topic during this past presidential election. The United States has nearly 50 million immigrants, more than any other country. What we couldn’t fully foresee was how, as our courses progressed, the immigration issue would become so amplified and vilified in the 2024 presidential race.
Presidential Candidate Stands
Both presidential candidates took tough stands on immigration. Vice President Harris promised to crack down on migrants crossing illegally into the United States, to pass strong bipartisan legislation, and to continue construction of the border wall actually first started by President Clinton in 1993.
On his first day in office, President-elect Donald Trump proposed to use “shock and awe” tactics to detain and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, repeatedly calling them “animals,” “criminals,” and “stone-cold killers” who were “flooding” unchecked into the United States, committing crimes, and taking jobs and homes. Trump repeatedly claimed Haitians were eating pets in a small town in Ohio.
Facts Matter
As the Immigration Policy course demonstrated, much of what is said about immigrants is not factually based. “We learned that, in reality, the number of migrants crossing the southern border fell sharply in 2024,” says class member Joanne Goodman. “And, according to the presenters and experts we heard in class, immigrants commit fewer crimes than US citizens, and their settlement in economically depressed US cities has helped to turn around and revitalize these urban areas. All of this was far different from what we were hearing on the campaign trail.”
Furthermore, the Zoom class presenters showed that working migrants are critical to the agriculture, construction, and hospitality industries. In general, they are entrepreneurial and highly productive; they pay taxes and contribute to Social Security.
The US immigration system is widely viewed as broken. Since 1990, both Democratic and Republican administrations have failed to enact comprehensive immigration reforms. Globally, as the film class demonstrated, the number of immigrants has doubled in the last decade, reaching nearly 120 million in 2023. According to the United Nations, one in 69 people had been forced from their homes—either within their own country or across an international border. Anti-immigrant reaction in the United States is being mirrored throughout much of the world, but particularly in Europe.
Immigration and the Arts
The Global Immigration course, which viewed films and read poems from Latin America, Africa, Central Asia, China, and the United States, offered an empathetic perspective on the global surge of migrants. The films portrayed the migrants’ journeys and struggles from the viewpoint of the migrants themselves; the poems were written mainly by immigrants “I found the two courses enriched one another,” says Tony Avirgan, who took them both. ”One provided facts and analysis that corrected the misinformation being spread by candidate Trump, while the other showed through art the roots and realities of the migrant experience.”
As our country moves into a new administration and an uncertain political era, immigration seems destined to remain a contentious and, sadly, greatly demonized issue. We hope that these twin courses may have helped to broaden perspectives, deepen understanding, and better prepare LLI members for what lies ahead as our country and our community grapple with the migrant question.
An Immigrant's Perspective
As Ray Yip, himself an immigrant, commented, “The class We Were All Once Foreigners offered me an unusual opportunity to reflect deeply. I am probably one of the most recent immigrants in the class—got my green card in 1976 and became a citizen in 1984. I feel privileged and fortunate to have become an immigrant in this amazing country. What is very upsetting to me,” Yip explained, “is that immigration has become one of the top and most contentious issues in this past presidential election. Our immigration policy certainly has room for some improvement, but let us not forget that we were all once foreigners.”
We thank all those who worked on these courses as producers, Susan Manuel, Felice Gelman, and Barbara Danish, and as managers, Jeff Christensen, Susan Christoffersen, Carol DeBartolis, Fern Fleckman, and Gretchen Lytle as well as the DEI/Social Justice Team for encouraging us to undertake this topic.
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