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Go beyond the headlines about U.S. immigrants and immigration policies and meet people who have come in search of greater opportunities for themselves and their families. How do new arrivals navigate the tension between who they are and what others ask them to become? What is lost — and what is gained — in a new country?  

In partnership with Dodge Poetry, the program will open with Valeria Pedraza, a queer Mexican poet whose honors include being a 2026-2027 Emerge–Surface–Be Fellow and 2026 Undocupoets Fellow.

Watch the PBS special Immigration: A Bigger World and Not Aliens, about creating new lives in the U.S., at home.

Our panel will be moderated by Ingrid Echeverria, Attorney and former Chair of the Asylum Committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. 

Our panelists include:  

Serges Demefack, Black Immigrant Justice Program Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee

Ralph Thomassaint Joseph, Caribbean Community Correspondent at Documented

Viri Martinez, Legislative and Political Action Manager, Make the Road New Jersey

Amber Reed,  Co-Executive Director, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey (AAPI NJ)