Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times

This episode looks at immigration detention in the second Trump administration. The administration has been greatly expanding detention facilities by buying warehouses to be converted into eight large-scale detention facilities, with the goal of having these facilities operational by the end of September of this year. The administration intends to use military procurement to speed up this transformation.

This episode reflects on immigration enforcement in the United States from the perspective of civil liberties, assessing the broader implications of contemporary enforcement practices for constitutional rights and the rule of law.

Elora Mukherjee, Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor Law at Columbia Law School, joins Alex Aleinikoff and Hiroshi Motomura to discuss her December 2025 op-ed in the New York Times, “I’m an Immigration Lawyer. Trump Is Shattering My Clients’ Lives” and the broader context around immigration law in our current moment. Please note: this episode begins with a discussion of the events in Minneapolis, but was recorded prior to the Janaury 24, 2026 shooting of Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, MN.

David J. Bier, Director of Immigration Studies and The Selz Foundation Chair in Immigration Policy at the Cato Institute, joins Hiroshi Motomura and Cristina Rodriguez to discuss the implications of 2025 Executive Order on H-1B visas, what might be motivating that Executive Order, and the ins and outs of economic, labor, and employment migration.

Jon Blitzer, staff writer for The New Yorker, discusses his recent article in the magazine, “Enemies of the State: How the Trump Administration declared war on Venezuelan migrants in the U.S.” In telling the story of a Venezuelan couple living in Chicago, one of whom was sent to CECOT, the notorious prison in El Salvador, and one deported to Venezuela, Blitzer lays bare the unconscionable policies of the Administration. He also describes his reporting on Aurora, Colorado, the city visited by Trump during the 2024 campaign and where Trump announced his plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act.

Immigration was a salient issue in the 2024 presidential election and that it hurt Democrats. Arrivals and entries had skyrocketed under Biden. The so-called Biden “reset” late in his administration was to deter asylum claims at the border, work with Mexico and other countries to prevent flows, open up alternative legal pathways, including large parole programs for designated nationalities. But the efforts to close the border came too late, and they left very few people persuaded. And Democrats again were lambasted as the open border party, and overall support for US immigration policies seemed to be shifting. However, the Trump administration has overreached. Even among Republicans, the change in sentiment is noteworthy. Can the Democrats can come up with a narrative and a set of policies that can appeal to a wide swath of the American public. But what should those policies be? And can the Democrats shed the label as the party of open borders? Our guest speaker is Frank Sharry, a longtime advocate and policy expert.

This episode looks at the US-Mexico border, exploring questions such as: are the policies of the Trump administration legal? Where have the record numbers of migrants gone? Have the crises that contributed to the surges of asylum seekers–surges that also occurred during Trump 1.0, and the Obama years– abated? Can current circumstances be sustained through enforcement alone? Our guest speakers are Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and Gretchen Kuhner, Director El Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración, a Mexican NGO that seeks to protect the rights of migrant women and families.

This episode dives into the facts on the ground in Los Angeles, examining the protests that aim to counter the terror spread through the workplaces and neighborhoods of Los Angeles because of the ICE actions and augmented by a federalized National Guard and the deployment of US Marines. Our guest speakers are from UCLA School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy: Ahilan Arulanantham, professor from practice and faculty co-director and Talia Inlander, the Center’s deputy director.

This episode explores how state and local governments significantly impact immigrants through policies that either support or resist federal enforcement. Some jurisdictions implement sanctuary measures to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and promote inclusion, such as offering in-state tuition to undocumented students. Under the Trump administration, there has been increased pressure on localities to participate in immigration enforcement, including efforts to penalize sanctuary jurisdictions through lawsuits, funding cuts, and legal threats. Our guest speaker is Muzzafar Chishti, Senior Fellow and Director, Migration Policy Institute office at NYU School of Law.

This week, our hosts explore the closing of the US refugee resettlement program, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and the asylum process. Our guest speaker is Mark Hetfield, President of HIAS