Opponents of immigration often link immigration to crime, and rhetoric in the media has casted immigrants as criminals, leading some public officials to propose greater immigration control as a mechanism to reduce crime. This episode examines the relationship between immigration and crime to debunk the many myths circulating in the media about immigrants to the U.S.

In recent decades security at the US Southern border has increased to stop the arrivals of immigrants and refugees. This episode examines how border security, specifically the presence of the border wall in Arizona communities and Customs and Border Patrol’s practice of screening residents at border checkpoints, affects the Latino/a/x population of young adults in the region. We will discuss racial profiling practices, how they impact human rights, and how they erode residents’—including US citizens’—sense of belonging to the nation.

How can we revamp asylum policies to ensure that a humanitarian approach guides US practices toward asylum seekers?The right to seek asylum is protected under US federal law and the right to seek safety from persecution is backed by international law. Despite this, as immigrants and asylum seekers cross into the United States along the US-Mexico border, Congressional Representatives are negotiating changes to the US asylum system to slow the number of migrants into the US. In this episode, we discuss the impact of various proposals and how the US asylum system could be revamped to ensure that a humanitarian approach guides changes to this system.

As immigrants cross into the United States, or in cases where local law enforcement agencies have agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), immigrants are often imprisoned in detention facilities until their immigration court cases can be heard. When they are released, some are subjected to state monitoring through GPS tracking devices. Often neglected in these accounts are what happens to detained immigrants’ children and how they respond to their parents’ detention and their tracking through such devices. In this episode, we will be discussing the impact of immigrant detention and alternatives to detention on children’s well-being.

The Spring 2023 session of the Florida Legislature saw the passage of SB 1718, a law that criminalizes many aspects of immigrant lives in the name of curbing undocumented migration. In this episode, we will be discussing the law’s effects on immigrants and their communities.Episode 1 features:Dr. Elizabeth ArandaProfessor of Sociology and the Director of the Im/migrant Well-Being Research Center, University of South FloridaNanci PalaciosDeputy Director of Faith in FloridaDr. Heide CastañedaProfessor of Anthropology, University of South Florida