SwatTalks

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SwatTalks is an Alumni Council program that brings the talent and expertise of Swarthmore alumni, faculty, and staff to the greater College community through free, virtual seminars. Each SwatTalk lasts one hour and is available through Zoom. SwatTalk sessions will be recorded as permitted by the presenters.

 

Upcoming SwatTalks:

 

“Toward a Balanced Immigration Policy” with Marcela Escobari ’96

November 12 AT 8 P.M. ET

Immigration is perhaps the most vexing issue in American politics. Under Joe Biden, many Americans complained that the federal government was doing little to stem the tide of undocumented immigrants coming into the United States over the Southern border. Now under Donald Trump, large numbers of Americans are horrified by the videos of masked ICE agents arresting undocumented — and sometimes legal — immigrants in Home Depot parking lots. Is a balanced immigration policy — one that garners the support of a majority of Americans — possible?

Marcela Escobari ‘96 believes it is. A senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, she has been on the frontlines of immigration policy. Under Barack Obama, Marcela served as the assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. She held the same position during the Biden administration, in addition to serving in the White House National Security Council as special assistant to the president and coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. Drawing on lessons from her time both in and out of government, Marcela argues that narrow, targeted reforms—including stronger enforcement, the creation of more legal pathways to immigration, expediting work permits, and closing asylum loopholes — can help solve the immigration problems that have so dominated American politics for the last three decades. 

Please join Marcela for a conversation about how the United States can strike the right balance on immigration policy.  

For a preview of some of Marcela’s thoughts, please read this recent report, “Managing migration under pressure: Lessons from the Biden presidency to build a migration policy in the national interest,” she co-wrote for Brookings. 

Register for November's SwatTalk with Marcela Escobari ’96

 

SwatTalk with Peter Katzenstein ’67 and David Laitin ’67

December 

More Details Coming Soon

 

SwatTalk with Jon Raymond ’94

JaNUARY

More Details Coming Soon

 

Watch Recordings of Past SwatTalks

 

Accommodations & Questions 

If you require accommodations to participate in this webinar, please contact alumni@swarthmore.edu at least 24 hours in advance for assistance.

If webinars are permitted to be recorded, they will be made available on the SwatTalks recordings page at a later time.

If you have any technical difficulties with Zoom, please contact help@swarthmore.edu.

Speaker Recommendations

To suggest a future panelist, please use our recommendation form.