USA
Immigration
![Chart Talk: How the Immigration Numbers Add Up](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2e0377cd-150b-4dc1-9de6-3aac82673db3/53817289949_640b410f72_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=779%2C0%2C3101%2C3101&w=290)
Do immigrants depress the wages of American workers? Are too many coming to the United States? What would happen if they stopped? Is there a mismatch between our immigration system and our economic needs? "Morning Joe" economic analyst and New York Times contributing opinion writer Steve Rattner lays out the numbers, the legalities - and the facts.
![At America’s Edge: Border Politics, Policy and People](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9c4ba8d5-e58f-49e8-98f9-8cd6a1b032ff/53814701100_e618cc7423_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=2752%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
America’s southern border is a flashpoint for contentious political and cultural disagreements, as well as the site of a growing humanitarian crisis that existing laws, policies and institutions seem incapable of addressing. Are there any real solutions in sight?
![Wicked Problem: Immigration — The Road Ahead](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/52e7eb60-d364-4a9f-999a-acd09dfcc1a6/53011144197_abd1631d59_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. For decades, American policy regarding those who reach our borders has been the subject of intense political disagreement, reflecting economic realities and cultural divides. What would a policy look like that meets both our labor and se...
![Read with Jenna: Migration and the Meaning of Home](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d898f07c-fb7e-4c46-b98f-b84a24dc7ca0/53003945984_ab28579a5c_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=609%2C0%2C2249%2C2249&w=290)
Javier Zamora’s migration journey took him from El Salvador to the United States by foot at age nine, while Jamie Ford’s great-grandfather emigrated from China to Nevada to mine. Both authors reflect on the ways in which migration has shaped them, unpacking what it means to be American and exploring the meaning of home.
![How Can We Reinvigorate the American Dream?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ed826b33-531a-49be-afbb-e7f26eb730a6/53000124742_2c6b2eea9d_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=629%2C0%2C2429%2C2429&w=290)
Drawing on decades of writing about the economy for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Leonhardt offers a preview of his forthcoming book and examines the past century of American history, from the Great Depression to today’s Great Stagnation, in search of an answer.
![Separated: Inside an American Tragedy (Book Talk)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d7c09665-3cea-4c2f-a02b-666fe7b4ea61/52178742049_b4d0fea421_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
Based on his extensive reporting on the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, Soboroff, an NBC News and MSNBC correspondent, exposes both the details of the program and its devastating consequences. This unvarnished depiction of the conditions under which separated children were detained won him the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award for...
![Can the United States be United?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/3a6ec467-8da1-4b18-a66d-5cffdfdd09de/aif-2022-united.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=299%2C0%2C772%2C772&w=290)
Beyond the everyday policy disagreements that have typically characterized Americans from blue states and red states, we seem more divided than ever about the fundamental direction of our nation. For the first time since the Civil War, our political disagreements erupted into violence at the US Capitol. And the pandemic has only made things worse, as our differences became...
![Straight Talk from the US Southern Border](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullff670dde-2bee-42c0-bfa1-f2a168a0c91d/48151979772_a5907d8441_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=290)
If you assume things have quieted down on the US-Mexico border, think again. The chaos and questions that have plagued the region for decades are reaching fever pitch while tens of thousands of lives remain in flux. How did we get here? Where — and how — are the children who were separated from their families? Are the administration’s latest crackdowns making any progress...
![Forging an American Immigration Policy for the 21st Century](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullac3354fd-600a-4efd-9201-f18e23f3a8de/48144540576_63c5d6d475_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=290)
Many Americans hold dear our identity as a “nation of immigrants” and the “land of opportunity.” But our immigration processes are convoluted, backlogged, and choked with would-be Americans desperate for a better life — while roughly 70 percent of US voters are opposed to increasing legal immigration levels. How should we decide who can come? Could our system be more respo...
![Aspen Challenge: Addressing Mental Health, Civic Power, and Immigration](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null14728ea8-9d88-495b-a8a2-46cc88a9c236/48145492357_7f36a1b6e0_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=290)
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Louisville and one team from Dallas who developed innovative solutions to issues that have chronically impacted their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Justin F. Kimball and Central High School Magnet Ca...
![Unleashing the Potential of Underserved Students](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ac81edee-44e7-4214-a2dd-1ecdef17a638/28241819107_31cee9e0c6_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=610%2C0%2C1779%2C1779&w=290)
Far too many students in the United States and around the world face challenges when seeking a quality education; this untapped potential is a waste of societal and economic resources. In this session, education and civil society leaders will talk about their efforts to engage underserved and refugee youth, and their successes and failures in helping those youth overcome b...
![What Is It Like to Be Inside the American Immigration System Today?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9a00dfa5-5cef-4522-9a78-aafe0d6a24d8/42377647294_3984ed270e_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
While Congress looks less and less likely to take on any meaningful move on comprehensive immigration reform, hundreds of thousands of people live in limbo every day. Many of them face daily trials, ranging from inconveniences to crippling uncertainty to, in some communities, hatred and outright danger. What’s it like to be at the mercy of our immigration system today?
![Defining 'American' in a Changing Nation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5d4a03ce-0cc4-451e-8b16-fc8d04dcf766/41257729120_c0b0161fa5_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
As the US ceases to be a white majority country (a demographic milestone we’re expected to reach by 2020), how will we as a society define what it means to be American — and who gets to decide? With increasing backlash against those seen as not belonging, how do we advance a national dialogue on American identity that considers the increasingly diverse and complex makeup o...
![Undocumented Citizen: An American Story](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e60a728a-075c-4b57-acd1-dfde0315779d/42353418434_42b2137196_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=500%2C0%2C2000%2C2000&w=290)
What does it mean to be American, and how is that story best told and understood? New York Times columnist David Brooks sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas to discuss citizenship without certainty, ahead of the publication of Vargas's memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Brooks and Vargas will e...
![Special Briefing: Human Rights on the US-Mexico Border](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/eb23cd07-9688-43a0-9903-ecbe94c83190/42147659525_31f43cf1b9_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=500%2C0%2C2000%2C2000&w=290)
The president of the Texas Civil Rights Project sits down with the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart to discuss human rights, legal precedent, and what is actually happening to families on the border.
![Families in Crisis at the Border: What is the Impact on Children?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/98482bb3-f998-4d11-a86d-110f64ea6d68/42234571544_fc01324314_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=543%2C0%2C1913%2C1913&w=290)
More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the Mexico/US border in recent weeks. Housed in tent camps, converted warehouses, and other shelters, they have had no idea when they will see their parents again. The Trump Administration may end the enforced separation by indefinitely detaining families together, but that is unlikely to eliminate enduring...
![Bridges, Walls, and Faith: The Tough Questions Facing Latinos in Trump’s America](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null4563c227-ad66-40af-9dd8-e8a005ac14ce/35500999041_c855ff7015_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1068%2C1068&w=290)
Latino evangelicals — a fast-growing population that is nearing 20 percent of American Latinos, and rising — exemplify the difficult positions many Christians find themselves in today, where social conservatism and deep Christian faith run headlong into hard questions about immigrants, refugees, the poor, and moral leadership. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez exemplifies this...
![A Conversation on Being Latino in America Today](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/79d1eec8-2fed-4aef-900d-ef4da4a9fd3c/35590879756_be77f47702_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1000%2C0%2C4016%2C4016&w=290)
As Latino Americans emerge as the majority minority and the new mainstream, representing 18 percent of the US population and approaching one-third by 2060, questions are emerging about where and how Latinos fit into the national narrative. Latinos are revitalizing rural communities, starting businesses, and entering the workforce and educational system at record rates, yet...
![Aspen Ideas Festival Young Adult Forum](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null0f13a7ea-8877-45f4-a2ee-1e4bb3aa8098/35442412602_3b120ee65e_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=301%2C0%2C996%2C996&w=290)
Join us for an interactive evening of presentations, small group discussions, performances, and opportunities to engage with other participants. Featuring Harold Green, Jonathan Greenblatt, Neal Katyal, Jon Lovett, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Manoush Zomorodi, and more. (Participants must be ages 14 – 24.) NOTE: Tickets are NOT available on aspenshowtix.com. Visit aspenideas.com...
![Refugee Economies: From Burden to Benefit](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulle42ef838-5adb-4f78-8f07-91b81d64e313/35424467242_d1a6d15b30_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=296%2C0%2C1007%2C1007&w=290)
This talk rethinks refugees as a potential economic benefit to the societies that host them, rather than simply passive victims of war and tyranny. Taking the audience on a research journey across continents, Alexander Betts, professor of forced migration and director of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University, shows how refugees’ skills, talents, and aspirations c...