This conference focused attention on the current status of U.S. immigration law and policy, with particular attention to the impact on children, women, and families. It brought together professors and practitioners in the field of immigration law with researchers and advocates engaged with immigrant and refugee communities.

Conference Schedule

Thursday, February 8, 7 pm     

Welcome by UO Provost Jayanth Banavar and Wayne Morse Center Codirector Ellen Herman

Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Historical Context and Contemporary Issues in the Trump Era, keynote address by Karen Musalo, professor of law and director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Hastings College of Law. Introduction by Michelle McKinley, professor, UO School of Law.

Friday, February 9

8:30-9:00 am   Registration and check in for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits

9:00-9:10 am   Welcome
UO Law Associate Dean Stuart Chinn and Wayne Morse Center Codirector Ellen Herman

9:10-10:40 am   DACA, Mixed-Status Families, and Unaccompanied Minors

Introduction by Patricia Cortez, MSW, community leader

Hon. Xiomara Torres, judge, Multnomah County Circuit Court, “Immigration and Its Impact on Juvenile Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights Cases”

Lauren Heidbrink, assistant professor, Department of Human Development, California State University, Long Beach, “Benevolent Complicity: The Detention of Unaccompanied Children”

Marissa Zarate, executive director, Huerto de la Familia and former immigration attorney

10:40 – 10:50 am   Break

10:50 am – 12 pm   Language and Interpretation Services in the Courts

Introduction by Michael Hsu, Oregon State Board of Parole and Post-Supervision

Hon. Manuel Covarrubias, judge, Superior Court of California, County of Ventura

Kelly Mills, program manager, Oregon Judicial Department Court Language Access Services

12:00-12:15 pm   Attendees who have registered and purchased lunches will get them outside of room 175 and return to 175 to eat during the lecture.

12:15- 1:15 pm   Representing Immigrants Accused of Crimes

Joseph Justin Rollin, codirector of the Immigrant Rights Project and staff attorney for the Oregon Justice Resource Center

1:15 – 1:30 pm   Break

1:30-3:00 pm   Detention and Deportation

Introduction by Michael Hames-Garcia, professor of ethnic studies, UO

Mathew Coleman, associate professor of geography, Ohio State University, “Traffic Enforcement as Immigration Enforcement: The Criminalization of Immigrant Automobility in the U.S.”

Tobin Hansen, Wayne Morse graduate research fellow and doctoral candidate, UO Department of Anthropology, “Post-Deportation Vulnerabilities: Navigating Social-Spatial Geographies in Northern Mexico”

Juliet Stumpf, Robert E. Jones Professor of Advocacy and Ethics, Lewis & Clark Law School, “Cooking with Crimmigration: Recipes for Mass Deportation in an Era of Neo-Nationalism”

3:00-3:10 pm   Break

3:10-4:45 pm   Roundtable: Future Directions for Immigration Law and Policy

Introduction by Hon. Mustafa Kasubhai, Judge, Lane County Circuit Court

Lynn Stephen, professor of anthropology, UO

Tanya Golash-Boza, professor of sociology, University of California, Merced

Dan Tichenor, Philip H. Knight Chair of Social Science, University of Oregon, and Senior Scholar, Wayne Morse Center

About the Lorwin Lectureship
The Lorwin Lectureship on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was created in 2009 with funding from the estate of Val and Madge Lorwin. Lectures by renowned scholars and experts promote greater appreciation for the importance of civil rights. 

About the O'Connell Conference
The O’Connell Conference is an annual event, made possible by former Oregon Supreme Court Justice Ken O’Connell, intended to allow the judicial and legal community to examine current topics in public policy.