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Scholars and legal experts gathered at UC Berkeley to debate the changing face of immigration laws in the United States at The 6th Annual Travers Ethics Conference.  

Panelists at the one-day conference, entitled “States and Migrants: New Challenges, Changing Responsibilities,” examined the topics of Immigration and Border Control, Immigration and Integration Policies and Complex Citizenship.  

According to Shannon Stimson, CO-Director of the Travers Program and UC Berkeley Political Theorist, immigration has always been a key issue in the United States for both legal citizens and immigrants. 

“This is an extremely important topic and it only became more so after September 11th. It's an issue that's come together in the American mind,” said Stimson.  

Col. Charles Travers, sponsor of UC Berkeley's Charles T. & Louise H. Travers Program in Ethics & Accounting in Government, opened the conference with welcoming remarks. 

Professor Joseph Carens from the University of Toronto presented the conference's keynote address, entitled “Who Belongs?: The Ethics of Integrating Immigrants.” 

Panelists from the third section of the conference on Complex Citizenry raised questions about the recognition of immigrant rights. UC Berkeley Professor of Political Science John Brady argued that immigrants need to be recognized as legitimate political actors.  

“I'm interested in how to get immigrants to the table of public debate. I'm more interested in opening the door,” said Brady. 

Brady argued that immigrants have important and unique insights into the political realm that must be recognized. 

Lucas Guttentag of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project provided a legal prospective on the topic of immigration in the United States.  

According to Guttentag, deportation and executive detention have gone unsupervised and unscrutinized by the government. This lack of supervision has caused the central protection of habeas corpus to be ignored. 

“Habeas corpus is the principle and ultimate safeguard. Deportation without access to the rights of habeas corpus is a violation of the constitution,” said Guttentag. 

Guttentag attacked the unilateral policies, practices and secrecy of the U.S. Justice Department in its attempt to circumvent constitutional regulations involving immigration. 

Paul Johnston of the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Citizenship Project in Salinas detailed the efforts of Mexican immigrants from rural California to organize and assert their legal rights.  

“This is the storm center of social change in California,” said Johnston.  

Johnston argued that the border between the United States and Mexico has become an overemphasized piece of geography and that society in California is not bound or static. 

“We are witnessing the emergence of overlapping societies, it is less satisfactory to think of the United States and Mexico as distinct societies,” said Johnston.  

According to Johnston, there is a split between federal and local enforcement laws which needlessly complicates the progress of immigrant movements.  

Much of the organization of Friday's event resulted from the work of conference coordinator and UC Berkeley Professor Amy Gurowitz.  

According to Gurowitz, much of the planning and research for the conference took place prior to the events of September 11th though some speakers did change the focus of their presentations after last fall's terrorist attacks. 

Both Stimson and Gurowitz said they have received positive responses from participants and attendees of the ethics conference. 

“There's been an overwhelmingly positive response. We had quite a few inquiries from the general public, a lot of e-mails,” says Gurowitz. 

Gurowitz says the Travers Program hopes to gather additional information of the topic of immigration for possible future events on the issue. 

In addition to UC Berkeley’s Department of Political Science and Institute for Governmental Studies, the conference was sponsored by the Commonwealth Club of California and the World Affairs Council of Northern California. 

Past topics for the Travers Ethics conferences have included Responsibility in the Global Age, Ethics and Post-Cold War Humanitarian Intervention: Beyond Realism and Idealism, Deception and Democracy and Impeachment: Law & Politics.