USA
Immigration
![Aif Stock Hero Images 2](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2d408de0-a035-405d-b0f4-253e9a7081c2/AIFStockHeroImages2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=2607%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 2](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/2d408de0-a035-405d-b0f4-253e9a7081c2/AIFStockHeroImages2.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2607%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
The stories we hear about migrants trying to escape difficult circumstances tend to focus on hardship, conflict, statistics and policy. We rarely get a deep look at any of the people risking their lives to cross the U.S. border or take a boat to Europe, and we don’t get to know or understand them as fellow humans. Writer Javier Zamora came to the U.S. when he was nine year...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 5](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cce90c81-1fd8-412f-87d4-5ec4ba7a09fe/AIFStockHeroImages5.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=2623%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 5](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cce90c81-1fd8-412f-87d4-5ec4ba7a09fe/AIFStockHeroImages5.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2623%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Almost everyone agrees that immigration policy in the United States is lacking, but despite decades of debate, Congress has not been able to pass comprehensive reform on the issue. For some, the primary issues are border security and economic concerns, and for others, labor needs and a commitment to humanitarianism take precedence. Why is it so hard to find common ground,...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 5](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cce90c81-1fd8-412f-87d4-5ec4ba7a09fe/AIFStockHeroImages5.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a7c51&q=80&rect=2427%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 5](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cce90c81-1fd8-412f-87d4-5ec4ba7a09fe/AIFStockHeroImages5.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2427%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
During the period of several months in 2018 when the Trump administration was separating migrant families at the U.S. border with Mexico, NBC News and MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff was exposing the raw details of the situation. He toured a detention facility holding young boys in Texas, and interviewed parents hundreds of miles away in California. He gave the public stark...
![Istock 494949548](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0351e1e9-5f7c-4739-ad2d-0b29190e7be0/iStock-494949548.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=7d247d&q=80&rect=1377%2C0%2C2001%2C2000&w=400)
![Istock 494949548](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0351e1e9-5f7c-4739-ad2d-0b29190e7be0/iStock-494949548.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1377%2C0%2C2001%2C2000&w=400)
Award-winning author and playwright Ayad Akhtar grapples with identity and belonging just like the protagonist in his book "Homeland Elegies." "In some ways being an outsider has given me a freedom to be able to withstand and bear some of the forced outsiderness. It gives me a perspective," he says. His fictional book, named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New...
![Karl Rove 2019 AIF](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulldfde2989-d874-45b9-8cb4-3750a2eee0a3/48144448336_044ace6d76_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a7c51&q=80&rect=1331%2C0%2C5301%2C5304&w=400)
![Karl Rove 2019 AIF](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulldfde2989-d874-45b9-8cb4-3750a2eee0a3/48144448336_044ace6d76_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1331%2C0%2C5301%2C5304&w=400)
Karl Rove says President Trump has a powerful hold on the rank and file of the Republican party.
![Jeh Johnson 2019 AIF](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null41c10d0b-6e02-4dcc-9826-c98d2f417187/48152582472_f1a1f34f20_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=508%2C0%2C2630%2C2631&w=400)
![Jeh Johnson 2019 AIF](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null41c10d0b-6e02-4dcc-9826-c98d2f417187/48152582472_f1a1f34f20_o1.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=508%2C0%2C2630%2C2631&w=400)
With tariff threats, migration problems, and now, a mass shooting near the border, the US-Mexico relationship is strained.
![44171618104 B300aecc96 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8be174c7-94dd-4562-9ac8-7d52108fd0e4/44171618104_b300aecc96_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=8a5f4e&q=80&rect=149%2C0%2C1067%2C1066&w=400)
![44171618104 B300aecc96 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8be174c7-94dd-4562-9ac8-7d52108fd0e4/44171618104_b300aecc96_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=149%2C0%2C1067%2C1066&w=400)
What does it mean to be American? How is that story best told and understood?
![41237212690 Ea1ff63492 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c6ae05cf-63b9-4418-b643-ca41e2e10ace/41237212690_ea1ff63492_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a80bc&q=80&rect=533%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=400)
![41237212690 Ea1ff63492 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c6ae05cf-63b9-4418-b643-ca41e2e10ace/41237212690_ea1ff63492_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=533%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=400)
David Miliband thinks the refugee crisis is solvable. So how do we start?
![43068236871 719d2882d4 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ff316c7b-5ee0-482e-be7b-acaa1f2697c4/43068236871_719d2882d4_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=8a5f4e&q=80&rect=160%2C0%2C1023%2C1023&w=400)
![43068236871 719d2882d4 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ff316c7b-5ee0-482e-be7b-acaa1f2697c4/43068236871_719d2882d4_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=160%2C0%2C1023%2C1023&w=400)
At age 25, Gaby Pacheco was the first undocumented Latina to testify in front of Congress.
![29658848568 Dd5e5dacc9 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/25864163-c58d-4eab-afcd-24725400100f/29658848568_dd5e5dacc9_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=276%2C2%2C1066%2C1066&w=400)
![29658848568 Dd5e5dacc9 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/25864163-c58d-4eab-afcd-24725400100f/29658848568_dd5e5dacc9_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=276%2C2%2C1066%2C1066&w=400)
Kirstjen Nielsen on Trump, Russia, and illegal immigration.
![42147659395 70c48c2a83 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cee8813a-d729-4b9f-893c-d4d47e6f3cb1/42147659395_70c48c2a83_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a7c51&q=80&rect=144%2C0%2C1067%2C1066&w=400)
![42147659395 70c48c2a83 H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/cee8813a-d729-4b9f-893c-d4d47e6f3cb1/42147659395_70c48c2a83_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=144%2C0%2C1067%2C1066&w=400)
How can the public get past compassion fatigue to continue to fight for immigrants?
![35590879436 Ab713e53ef H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5d95241f-ef46-4b17-9c63-053f691a9f1f/35590879436_ab713e53ef_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=23%2C0%2C1087%2C1087&w=400)
![35590879436 Ab713e53ef H](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/5d95241f-ef46-4b17-9c63-053f691a9f1f/35590879436_ab713e53ef_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=23%2C0%2C1087%2C1087&w=400)
Latino Americans represent 18% of the US population.