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By Andrew Cohen
The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity is co-hosting a four-day program for working journalists on covering immigration—an issue that has become central to national debates on the economy, health care, education, and law enforcement. The session will take place November 14–17.
Working with UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, the institute hopes to provide reporters and editors an in-depth understanding of the dynamics involved in America’s often-divisive immigration debate—and the tools to uncover new perspectives and insights backed by research and data. The seminar will focus especially on the economic impact of immigrants, and on issues related to the enforcement of immigration law.
Designed for journalists seeking expertise in this area, the program will welcome reporters and editors from around the country who span print, broadcast, and online media. Aarti Kohli, the Warren Institute’s director of immigration policy, believes the gathering will lead to more responsible and sophisticated reporting on immigration issues.
“Immigration law and policy is enormously complex,” Kohli says. “We have a huge federal administrative apparatus addressing migration, and now states and cities are getting into the mix. Given this shifting landscape, it is more important than ever that we provide journalists with the substantive knowledge to ask the right questions.”
The program will examine the costs and benefits of immigrants to the U.S. economy, and the role immigrants play in the national workforce. It will also analyze immigration enforcement strategies—at the border, in the workplace, and elsewhere—and debates over federal versus local enforcement and the ways that government handles detention and due process.
“Immigration is a defining issue for America,” says Tyche Hendricks, a lecturer at the Graduate School of Journalism. “At a time when newsrooms are being asked to do more with less, this intensive training is key to give journalists new expertise for covering this critical topic.”
The program, funded by a grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies in partnership with the New York Times Company Foundation, will take place at the School of Journalism library. An agenda with the scheduled list of speakers is available here.