Could Immigration Unite Americans?

Survey after survey suggests Americans strongly support immigration. Yet fear dominates the politics around immigration. Elected officials and pundits routinely use the rhetoric that immigrants are threats to culture, public safety, and jobs—not only to justify restrictions on migrants’ rights, but also to divide communities and gain power at the expense of democracy itself. What makes this fear-mongering so effective, and is there any way to fight it? How have communities, organizations, and governments successfully reconciled differing views on immigration over the past few years? And could immigration inspire unity rather than conflict and crisis?

National Immigration Forum president/CEO and ASU Social Transformation Lab fellow Ali Noorani, author of Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants, visits Zócalo to examine how new policies, stories, and responses to immigration can be used to build a more cohesive and welcoming nation.

Image credit: Illustration by Joycelyn Cabrera. From left to right: Ali Noorani and Miriam Jordan.