Following Barack Obama’s announcement that he would use executive authority on immigration policy, BC Social Work Professor Westy Egmont went on CNNto discuss what the order means for the millions of immigrants affected by the president’s decision.
“I’m sure that tonight, there’s a lot of weeping and joy in millions of homes across the United States,” Egmonttold CNN International anchor Errol Barnett. “This is a profound opportunity for people to come out of the shadows… It means for some people the ability to go to work legally. It means for many people the ability to stay with their children who have already been given under DACA the opportunity to stay in the country. It certainly is going to mean an emotional opportunity to breathe deeper, to feel cohesively a part of the community in which in they live, and to take hope for the future… But many others are going to feel left out, they’re going to feel afraid, they’re going to feel very uncertain… [There will be] those who believe that the instant value of what’s being offered gives them a sense of well-being, but there will be many others who will say why didn’t we get comprehensive reform.”
We encourage you to watch a clip of Egmont’s interview at CNN.com.
Professor Egmont’s voice on immigration has been in demand of late: Last week he gave the keynote address at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Massachusetts Chapter annual meeting on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross. The topic of his talk was “Migrate on Monday, Attend School on Tuesday: Helping the Newest Arrivals.” He also attended the Metropolis 2014 Migrations Conference in Milan, Italy during the first week in November.
Professor Egmont leads the Immigrant Integration Lab (IIL), an applied research lab exploring the intersection of social work, social policy, and immigrant inclusion. We invite you to learn more about the lab on our website.