Professor Aldana's presentation on borders and the law concludes Racial Justice Speaker Series 2020-21

In the April 7 lecture in the Racial Justice Speaker Series, UC Davis School of Law Professor Raquel Aldana, a human rights, immigration, civil rights, and criminal law expert, spoke on "'Citizenism' and the Shackles of Borders."

As it has been throughout the series, attendance was high, with great interest in immigration law in the United States and especially at UC Davis School of Law.

Professor Aldana laid out the case for the claim that the enforcement of borders has always been punitive and racialized. Yet, immigration law’s exceptionalism and bounded notions of social membership has left the noncitizens largely unprotected from the laws. This presentation argues that racial justice projects must embrace the dismantling of citizenism -- a view in which “ U.S. citizenship” is foundational to the distribution of rights – as central to the transformation of the United States into a more just nation.

Professor Aldana offered a focus on race and immigration that was an important way to end the Racial Justice Speaker Series 2020-21. We are lucky to have Professor Aldana on our faculty.