Life Resettled

The Immigrant Experience

The reality of immigration in the United States today is daunting, nuanced, and difficult to decipher. 

Why are some people granted citizenship while others are forced to undergo long and grueling application processes? Why is immigration enforcement so important to so many? What roles do power, race, and country of birth play in the US immigration process? 

In this track, Fellows will examine immigration in the US both as a policy system and a lived reality. Through a combination of fieldwork, community-based learning, storytelling, and engagement with policymakers, Fellows investigate how legal frameworks, cultural identity, economic forces, and local institutions shape the experiences of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Fellows will leave with a deepened understanding of how national immigration policy decisions manifest at the local level, and how communities organize, adapt, and advocate in response.