[Blogger’s Note:  Our guest blogger today is Careen Shannon, who is Of Counsel at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. This is an updated and condensed version of an article Careen wrote for the online magazine Salon.com.

Thumbnail image for rainbow arc.jpgAll of us at times become dispirited.  

As I’ve viewed immigration over the last 40 years, passionate advocates have come and gone, fortunate foreign citizens have been granted green cards and then naturalized; but the harshness and hard-heartedness of immigration law as a reflection of American cultural norms hasn’t really diminished.

For example, back

Helen and Cesar Chavez.jpgToday is the federal holiday of Columbus Day. In ironic recognition, President Obama will stop by a remote California village to dedicate the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, memorializing the contributions of the eponymous Mexican-American civil rights leader who fought tirelessly to gain justice for immigrant farm workers. 

Also today, Cesar’s widow, Helen, continues her effort, with many

From the first prehistoric evenings sitting around campfires, humans have been telling stories. Heroic myths, fairy-tale fables, oral histories — all have been seared into heart and memory through the power of narrative. Civil and criminal trials are merely stylized forms of storytelling.  Journalism’s hook, theatre’s Sturm und Drang, reality television’s sour and sweet confections —

Thumbnail image for frowning child 2.jpgA recent televised debate revealed an immigration fault line within the GOP. Texas Governor Rick Perry’s many challengers for the Republican presidential nomination railed against his decision to extend in-state tuition rates to undocumented college students, brought to the U.S. as children, who graduate from the Lone Star State’s high schools. His initial reply:

“If

idea light bulb.jpgWriting for The Hill, pundit Kathy Kemper just published a thoughtful piece on “Debt and immigration.”  In it she contrasts American policy-makers’ obsession with the financial Sword of Damocles, set to behead us on August 2, with Norway’s all-consuming focus on the aftermath of a xenophobic madman’s gutless acts of murder and mayhem. 

Americans, it seems, can