Several student organizations held a forum last night to discuss H.R. 4437, also known as the Immigration Reform Act, a bill that would amend current immigration laws to establish stricter border control and increased penalties for undocumented immigrants.
The bill was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in December 2005 and is now being debated in the Senate.
The forum, which was sponsored by the Jefferson Society, the University Democrats and the Vietnamese Student Association, was held in the Kaleidoscope Center for Cultural Fluency.
Sociology Prof. Milton Vickerman spoke at the forum "to present a more general overview of [the] issues." In his talk, he discussed the details of the bill and explained the arguments that support and oppose it.
"To understand what's happening, you have to understand the social and political factors that led up to the passage of the bill," Vickerman said.
Vickerman also talked about the implications of the bill on the current political climate.
"The whole thing has been engrossed in election-year politics," Vickerman said. "Everything hinges on what happens in a few weeks."
Following Vickerman's overview, there was a question and answer session and a student debate. The debate was moderated by a member of the Jefferson Society and was student-run. To facilitate discussion, Kaleidoscope representatives gave participants packets that highlighted certain parts of the bill, including the mandated construction of a 700-mile fence across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Students expressed views both for and against the ballot measure.
"I'm skeptical of the bill and its implications," said Zuri Darrell, a third-year College student and Kaleidoscope intern.
Students supporting the bill argued that if immigration is not controlled it will have negative economic and cultural effects on U.S. communities.
Kaleidoscope holds forums about current cultural topics every other week. Darrell said he started working there because he felt the University population was uninformed about multicultural issues.
"It's almost impossible to live in today's society without embracing multiculturalism," Darrell said.
Kaleidoscope intern Katie Truong said that the center aims to get different organizations to cosponsor the forums together.
"The reason we get groups to cosponsor is that we want to bring different groups together," Truong said.
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