The University of Idaho College of Law will host “Emerging Issues in Immigration Law Under the Trump Administration,” lecture 1:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Menard Law Building, Room 104.
UI law professor and the event organizer Kate Evans said the lecture will feature various speakers who specialize in immigration law such as Ritchie Eppink, legal director at ACLU of Idaho, and Maria Andrade, an immigration attorney from Andrade Legal.
Evans said the law school is holding the event to clear up the speculation surrounding the immigration policies of President Donald Trump’s administration, especially in light of recent executive orders.
“There are things that immigrant communities are going to feel the impact of and we want to make sure that information is out there,” Evans said. “These issues are really legally interesting, new and complex — I think that they really struck a chord with the country as a whole and people don’t just want to know more, they need to.”
Evans said the speakers will discuss the recent executive orders signed by Trump and go into further detail about the orders that haven’t been subject to court challenges and media scrutiny, as well as why the courts have decided to step in in the first place and what is predicted to happen.
“We really want to parse out what’s going on and how you understand this from a legal scholarly perspective, but also from an immigrant community perspective,” Evans said.
Other speakers include Carolina Silva, a student adviser, and Maria Yepez, an UndocuQueer representative of the Crimson Group at Washington State University. Students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, whose goal is to prepare and guide “dreamers” to success so that they may do the same with future generations, will also speak.
“We’ll have folks … talking about the legal aspects of immigration, but also about how they’re dealing on a day-to-day basis with their lack of status or tenuous status and how communities are organizing in response to a time of such uncertainty,” Evans said.
Ritchie Eppink said he is looking forward to speaking and hopes the event will clear up any confusion.
“The event is a moment to understand the big questions associated with immigration policy,” Eppink said. “It will put policy consideration together with legal questions and ties an issue that many of us have strong feelings about and it also allows members of the immigrant community to be heard and supported.”
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia