LOS ANGELES, CA – On Wednesday, November 2, at 12:15 pm Pacific, 3:15 pm Eastern, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) will host Illegal Entry and Reentry Laws: Their Racism, Their Impact, and the Movement to End Them. CILP’s Director of Communications, Gabriela Domenzain, and her guests will explore the most prosecuted federal crimes in the United States: Sections 1325 and 1326 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code. Written in 1929 by eugenicists to “protect white supremacy” and stop “Mexican peons from poisoning the American citizen,” today these laws criminalize Mexican and Latine immigrants almost exclusively. The federal government has massively expanded prosecutions under these laws the past 20 years, and has spent upwards of $1.3 billion a year, imposing suffering on untold thousands of immigrants. 

In this groundbreaking discussion, Gabriela will first speak to Alejandro, a San Diego father of three who is currently serving a sentence for illegal reentry in federal prison and the family who he’s separated from. Gabriela will then be joined by Kara Hartzler, a federal public defender in San Diego who is spearheading the legal effort to render illegal entry and reentry statutes unconstitutional based on their racist intent, Professor Kelly Lytle  Hernández, Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History at UCLA and MacArthur Fellow, who first discovered and documented how eugenicists shaped these laws, and UCLA Law Professor Ingrid Eagly, a former federal public defender and a leading researcher of these laws’ impact today. 

This discussion is particularly timely given the breakthrough decision by Chief Judge Du from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada who, in a detailed order citing extensive historical evidence, found the Illegal Reentry statute to be racist in intent and effect and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Biden Administration, despite having described racial justice as a priority time and again, has appealed this decision. On December 9, the Ninth Circuit will hear argument in that appeal, which will be livestreamed 9th Circuit Court hearing.  

There will be time for questions from journalists and audience members at the end of the program. 

Who:  

• Gabriela Domenzain, Director of Communications of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP)  
• Alejandro, a San Diego father serving an illegal reentry sentence, and his family. 
• Kara Hartzler, federal public defender in San Diego 
• Kelly Lytle Hernández, Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History at UCLA 
• Ingrid Eagly, UCLA Law Professor 

When: Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 12:15 pm Pacific/3:15 pm Eastern 

Where: Zoom Webinar, register here: bit.ly/3CBXDM1

Founded in 2020, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law expands the law school's role as a national leader in immigration law and policy, generating innovative ideas at the intersection of immigration scholarship and practice and serving as a hub for transforming those ideas into meaningful changes in immigration policy. 

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