Immigration Week To Be Celebrated In AZ

TUSCON - Immigration Week will explore the complex issue of immigration in Arizona with experts sharing research and experience during free and open to the public events on the UA campus.

The University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, known as SBS, will present Immigration Week focusing on immigration issues in Arizona during the week of March 20.

SBS will bring a rich, interdisciplinary perspective to this complex issue with UA and outside experts and community panels on immigration and social justice, law and security, public health and the economy, as well as films, poetry, music, a youth engagement day and a daylong UA SBS research showcase.

"We have scholars participating from anthropology, sociology, journalism, geography, history, gender and women's studies, the Southwest Center, the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, Mexican American studies and Latin American studies. Our faculty will join with other experts from both on campus and in the community to lead the dialogue about a topic that is so important to our state and the country," said John Paul Jones III, dean of SBS.

"The goals of these events include providing opportunities to learn about immigration and to discuss immigration issues through civil discourse, with a special focus on understanding the root causes of immigration and on proposing reasonable solutions," Jones said.

The event schedule is as follows:

March 20, 5-7 p.m. – The panel discussion "Southwest Entry Point: Immigration and Human Rights" will examine how we reconcile both the human face of immigration and the societal impact. Panelists include Isabel Garcia, co-chair of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos; Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, adjunct lecturer in Mexican American studies; Isaías G. Noguez, coordinator of political affairs and outreach, Mexican Consulate, Tucson; and Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham human rights activist. The discussion with be moderated by Joseph Wilder, director of the UA Southwest Center. It will be held in the Social Sciences Building, Room 100.

March 21, 5-7 p.m. – The UA Poetry Center will host "Vuela, Vuela Palomita:" An Evening of Immigration Poetry and Corridos (Songs). The evening will be emceed by Javier D. Durán, associate professor in Spanish and Portuguese and director of the UA's interdisciplinary Center, Confluence. Sociology professor Celestino Fernández will lead the audience through an historical overview of the corrido, a Mexican ballad form of poetry put to song. Performers Guillermo Sáenz and Ted Warmbrand will bring to life many of these songs. Additionally, John Washington, a UA creative writing graduate student, and poets will give dramatic readings of poetry related to immigration topics. Artwork about border issues also will be displayed, including work by SBS alumnus Joel Garcia.

March 22, 7-9 p.m. – The film "Asalto del Sueño" will be presented by Voices of Opposition, with an introduction, question and answer session and discussion by Linda Green, director of the Center for Latin American Studies and associate professor of anthropology. "Asalto del Sueño," or "Assaulted Dream," is a documentary by Uli Stelzner about the trials immigrants face traveling to the U.S. The event will be in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Auditorium, Room S202.

March 23, 4-5:45 p.m. – A lecture titled "What Immigration Raids Tells Us about Latino Families and the State" will be given by Mary Romero, a professor of justice and social inquiry at Arizona State University. The event will be hosted by the UA's Binational Migration Institute, and the discussion following the lecture will be moderated by Anna Ochoa O'Leary, co-director of the UA Binational Migration Institute and assistant professor in Mexican American studies. The event will be held in the Cesar E. Chavez Building, Room 205.

March 23, 6-8 p.m. – In the panel discussion "Balancing Neighborhood and Nation: Immigration, Security and the Law," law enforcement agents and lawyers who specialize in immigration-related work will discuss the relationship between immigration and national security. Panelists include David Gonzales, U.S. Marshal for the State of Arizona; Mario Palmerin Velasco, deputy attaché of the Mexico Attorney General's Office; Phil Gordon, mayor of Phoenix, Nina Rabin, director of border research for the Southwest Institute for Research on Women and director of the Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program in the James E. Rogers College of Law; and Maurice H. Goldman of the Goldman and Goldman Law Firm. The panel will be moderated by Scott Whiteford, professor in the Center for Latin American Studies. The event will be held in the Physics-Atmospheric Sciences Auditorium, Room 201.

March 24, 6-8 p.m. – In the panel discussion "Healthy Communities: Immigration and Public Health," health specialists will discuss the many ways that public health is related to immigration. Panelists include Scott Carvajal, associate professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the Center for Latin American Studies; Tom Weaver, professor emeritus in anthropology; and James Greenberg, research anthropologist in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. The discussion will be moderated by Antonio Estrada, head and professor of Mexican American studies. The event will be held in the Social Sciences Building, Room 100.

March 25, noon-2 p.m. – A youth engagement day "Arguments Against Apathy" is presented by Socorro Carrizosa, the director UA Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs. The event will be held on the UA Mall and include student speakers, including Daniel Hernandez Jr. and live music by the band "A Son y Sol," (also featuring UA students). Student groups from throughout the UA also will be available to hand out information on immigration-related activities, courses and research opportunities. Light refreshments will be served.

March 26, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. – "The Three R's of Immigration: Roots, Representations, and Repercussions" will showcase research in SBS. The day will begin with an historical overview of immigration by keynote speaker Regents' History Professor Oscar Martinez. The address will be followed by a session on the root causes of immigration, including economic displacement and structural issues. After a break, the film "Another Side of the Border," produced by SBS students Curtis Prendergast, Austin Counts and Kirsten Boele, will be shown. The film will be followed by a session on the way immigrants are portrayed in the media and by governments. The day will close with a session focused on the repercussions of immigration. Issues of security, re-crossing and death will be addressed. The community is invited to attend the entire day or individual sessions. The event will be located in the Richard P. Harvill Building, Room 150.

March 27, 5-7 p.m. – The panel "Assessing the Economic Impacts of Immigration" will examine the economic costs and benefits of immigration. The panelists will include Glenn Hamer, president and CEO, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Lea Marquez Peterson, president and CEO, Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Judith Gans, program manager for immigration policy at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy; and Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi, senior regional scientist in the Eller College's Business Research Center and adjunct associate professor in the School of Geography and Development. The discussion will be moderated by Marshall Vest, director of the Economic and Business Research Center in the Eller College of Management. The event will be held in the Social Sciences Building, Room 100.

March 21-30 – The UA group No Más Muertes/No More Deaths will place a mock border wall on the UA Mall.