Monday, April 16, 2018 from 6 - 7 PM at the Community College of RI (CCRI) Newport Campus, One John H. Chafee Blvd.

Panelists: Steven Brown, Executive Director, RI ACLU; John Marion, Executive Director, Common Cause RI; and Susan Taylor, Immigration Lawyer

The issue of immigrants is a broad and complicated national issue, but one that also directly affects each and every one of us in Rhode Island.

Our panelists spoke on this overall theme and discussed recent developments - the Trump Administration's plans to ask about citizenship on the 2020 Census, the debate over so-called sanctuary cities, the fate of Dreamers under President Trump's repeal of the DACA program, the controversy over drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants and other related public policy issues.

Many think of the Census as only involving redistricting at the congressional, state, and local level. It is also critically important in the distribution of funding to Rhode Island and localities for federal assistance programs in the amount of over $3 billion. Meanwhile, the national debates over sanctuary cities, DACA and other immigration issues resonate strongly in Rhode Island, a state with large immigrant communities.