Media gallery

Law & Society Series

The Uncertain Future of U.S. Immigration Policy

9th Annual Law & Society Symposium

Charleston Music Hall
Friday, February 10, 2017
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. 

Presented by the Riley Institute and the Charleston Law Review of the Charleston School of Law

President Trump campaigned on the promise to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, and he has taken steps to fulfill his promise. He issued a temporary ban on refugees and immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Coupled with Congress’s inability to pass meaningful immigration reform, the new administration’s priorities raise questions about the future of U.S. Immigration policy. To view the program, click here.

The 2017 symposium examined the legal issues facing immigrants, both undocumented and with legal status, and discussed how they might be addressed under this new administration. Experts from around the country weighed in on 3 panel discussions: Immigrants and Criminal Law: What Might We Expect Under a Trump Administration?, Examining the Civil Liberties and Rights Of Immigrants, and Immigration Reform and its Effect on the Economy: Can South Carolina Afford to Do Nothing?

The keynote speaker for the symposium was Tammy Besherse, director of immigration policy, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, who shared a powerful message of the human side of the uncertainty immigrants face in today’s political climate.

Video One includes:

Welcome
David DuTremble, Editor in Chief, Charleston Law Review
Don Gordon, Executive Director, Riley Institute
Andy Abrams, Dean, Charleston School of Law

Introduction of Symposium Theme
Geoffrey Waite, Symposium Editor, Charleston Law Review

Panel One: Immigrants and Criminal Law: What Might We Expect Under a Trump Administration?
Amanda Bethea Keaveny, Attorney, Amanda Bethea Keaveny P.A.
George N. Miller, Partner, Dozier Miller Law Group
Helen Parsonage, Partner, Elliot Morgan Parsonage

Video Two includes:

Panel Two: Examining the Civil Liberties and Rights Of Immigrants
Sunita Patel, Practitioner-in-Residence Civil Advocacy Clinic, American University Washington College of Law
Patricia Ravenhorst, Director, SC Immigrant Victim Network
Doug Thie, Attorney, Clawson and Staubes LLC

Video Three includes:

Keynote address
Tammy Besherse, Director of Immigration Policy, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center

Video Four includes:

Panel Three: Immigration Reform and its Effect on the Economy: Can South Carolina Afford to Do Nothing?
Gerald Goulder, Founding Attorney, Goulder Immigration Law Firm
Hans Christian Linnartz, Lead Attorney, Linnartz Immigration Law Office
Mark David Witte, Associate Professor of Economics and MBA Director, College of Charleston

Closing
Kyle Smithwick, Associate Symposium Editor, Charleston Law Review