Immigration and Security in the United States: Bad Policy or Good Politics?

On 2 May 2019, we discussed with Prof. Christopher Hayter about the interesting question:

Immigration and Security in the United States: Bad Policy or Good Politics?

Over the past decade, United States has grappled with managing an increasingly backlogged immigration system while receiving an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers from Latin America. More recently, the United States has attracted international attention for the immigration policies of the Administration of President Donald Trump. Critics in the U.S. and abroad have deemed the Administration’s policies short-sighted, unjust, and ineffective, yet fail to account for the broader political context and rationale behind these actions. This presentation provided historical and political context underlying immigration policy within the U.S. It was explained why and how through several contemporary examples, such as “the wall”, asylum policy, and the “Muslim travel ban”, the Administration has taken such actions.

About the speaker:

Christopher Hayter is an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs in the College of Public Service and Community Solutions at Arizona State Universtity. Prior to joining ASU, Dr. Hayter served as executive director of the Policy Evaluation and Transformation Group at the New York Academy of Sciences where he lead the Academy’s work in program evaluation, higher education and science policy, organizational restructuring and strategic planning, and entrepreneurship research. He was also executive director of the Academy’s Scientist Without Borders program, an online platform for generating, sharing, and advancing innovative science and technology-based solutions to the world`s most pressing global development challenges. Hayter has nearly fifteen years of experience managing complex science and innovation policy projects at organizations such as National Governors Association, Council on Competitiveness, National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP). He also worked for five years in the private sector establishing and managing new resort ventures for a large hospitality company. Prior to joining the Academy, he served as Visiting Lecturer of Public Policy at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.