Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum, takes us through the ambition of the America Competes Act, how it hopes to sharpen America's competitiveness, and its implications for immigration.
Miriam Feldblum, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, joins host Loren Steffy to discuss the burden of a broken immigration system on our schools and colleges, why access to higher education is a must, and some possible state-level solutions in the face of a federal impasse.
Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), discusses the U.S's competing narratives of the Southern border, their real effects on how Americans perceive migrants, and how the ideal of asylum is atrophying in the process.
Elena Marks, President and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation, returns to the Rational Middle for a close look at America's public health care system, how it fails the undocumented, and why this hurts all of us—with an eye-opening example of "the story of dialysis" among the undocumented.
Jeremy Robbins, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council, joins host Gregory Kallenberg to discuss the organization's recent merger with the New American Economy—and how such synergies allow advocates to better pursue immigration's deepest questions: "Who are we? What are we doing together?"
Denise Gilman, Director of the Immigration Clinic at UT Austin, discusses Texas's unique position in the immigration landscape and how persistent rhetorics of "immigrants as threat, fraud, danger" lead to policies such as Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star — a joint mission between the Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard that arrests migrants on criminal trespassing charges.
Keegan Warren-Clem, Director of Medical-Legal Partnerships at the People's Community Clinic in Austin TX, walks us through the human costs of America's denial of healthcare to the undocumented, what we can be doing better, and why it's a good idea to have lawyers in healthcare settings.
Nobel prize-winning economist David Card joins host Melissa Brannan to talk labor, immigration, and how it is that outmoded economic ideas that have fallen out of favor in other areas of social life continue to find traction when it comes to immigration.
Ring out the old! Ring in the new! In our last episode of 2021, Rational Middle Podcast hosts Gregory Kallenberg, Loren Steffy, Chris Lyon, and Melissa Brannan reflect on the year (almost) behind us, the year (nearly) upon us, and what it will take to remain optimistic about immigration reform.
Julia Gelatt, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, sits down with host Chris Lyon for a conversation about the economic effects and social causes of America's demographic shifts, as well as the historic entanglement between immigration and anxieties about the make-up of the nation.
Julie Sugarman, Senior Policy Analyst for PreK-12 Education at the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, takes us through the ins and outs of immigrant children's rights to education, the legal frameworks that enshrine these rights, and what challenges still exist.
Joy Olson, former Executive Director of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), returns to the Rational Middle—this time to discuss the under-represented phenomenon of migrant kidnappings: what it is, how it works, and the policies that make it worse.
What is it about immigration that attracts extremist speech? What even is extremism? Mark Potok, seasoned expert on the American radical right, takes us on a tour of nativism and the roots of immigration misinformation in this wide-ranging conversation with host Loren Steffy.
The team sits down for an almost-teary reflection on 100 episodes of The Rational Middle Podcast: highlights, lowlights (there were none), what Gregory and Chris are upto in DC, and a few predictions about what the future of immigration reform might have in store.
Jennifer Mercieca, award-winning historian and analyst of American political rhetoric, speaks with host Loren Steffy about the rhetorical strategies demagogues use to elicit supporters' emotions, and what this means for our public sphere. You don't want to miss this eye-opening (and amygdala-freeing) episode.
Dane Stangler, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Bipartisan Policy Center and also Senior Advisor at the Global Entrepreneurship Network, joins host Loren Steffy over the airwaves to discuss the sometimes neglected role of immigrants as entrepreneurs and how the U.S. immigration system could better welcome their contributions.
What is the immigration court system, how does it work, and what makes it different from regular courts? Immigration attorney Elizabeth Mendoza sheds light on this vital topic with host Loren Steffy.
"Immigration is a Black issue," says Allen Orr, President of The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Listen in as we resume our regular podcast programming with Allen Orr and host Melissa Brannan unpacking the specificity and oft-neglected reality of Black immigrant experiences, recently brought to the fore with the Haitian crisis.
Mo Kantner (Director of State & Local Initiatives at New American Economy) and Rational Middle's very own Gregory Kallenberg wrap the Immigration Mythbusting limited series with a close look at why the myth that immigrants don’t want to integrate, learn English, or participate in American culture continues to persist in the minds of many.
Chief Art Acevedo, Chief of Police for the Miami Police Department, joins host Loren Steffy to break open the harmful myth that immigrants and crime go hand in hand, and that this situation can be improved with greater involvement from local law enforcement.
Carola Suárez-Orozco (Distinguished Professor of Counseling and School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, as well as co-founder of Reimagining Migration) sits down with host Melissa Brannan to dissect the enduring myth that immigrant children represent a drain on the American education system.
Elena Marks (President and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation, as well as Nonresident Fellow in Health Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy) and Loren Steffy discuss the common myth that immigrants burden the American healthcare system.
In this bonus episode of the Rational Middle Podcast, Jina Krause-Vilmar (President and CEO of Upwardly Global, a group that works to eliminate employment barriers for immigrant and refugee professionals) sits down with host Loren Steffy to shine a light on the unique challenges facing Afghan refugees, and some of the ways that U.S. hiring practices can be more responsive to the situation.
Ruth Milkman, Sociologist of labor and labor movements at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, sits down with host Chris Lyon to discuss the pervasive myth that immigrants steal Americans' jobs and steal drive down wages.
Consulting psychologist Karl Krumm kicks off our limited-series special, "Rational Middle Podcast: Mythbusting Edition," with a provocative discussion of confirmation bias and other traps to watch out for when trying to talk—productively—about contentious issues.
Guests Laura Goldberg (Center for Houston's Future) and Pamela Lizette Cruz (Baker Institute's Center for the United States and Mexico) unpack the published report on the results of a workshop on U.S. immigration policy held by the two Centers, in a conversation moderated by Loren Steffy (who was a workshop participant!)
Hosts Gregory Kallenberg and Chris Lyon give you the rundown on today's Solutions Summit, "Immigration Mythbusting." Join us and learn all about productive ways to bust immigration myths!
John Medeiros, corporate immigration lawyer and Vice Chair of the Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter of AILA, sits down with host Chris Lyon to dive into the "alphabet soup" of US visa types, the problems with the current system of categorization and adjudication, and some creative ways we might begin to fix it.
Daniel Tichenor, professor of Political Science and director of the Wayne Morse Center’s Program for Democratic Governance at the University of Oregon, pops the hood on President Biden's apparent logjam on immigration reform—taking us on a tour of what such reform has looked like in decades prior in the process.
Writer and activist Jessica Goudeau sits down with host Loren Steffy to discuss her book, "After The Last Border," and the consequences, implications, and emotions of America's changing attitude towards refugees.
