Students tackled another controversial subject at Bridging the Divide’s third civil discourse event. Participants were given a series of prompts about immigration and discussed questions such as: who is allowed to enter a country? How long are they allowed to stay? What rights do they have in that country?
UW-Superior’s Bridging the Divide student leader Oreoluwa Sofolahan. Photo by Emmett Appleby | The Promethean
The event was focused specifically on immigration as it relates to the United States, and Oreoluwa Sofolahan, UWS’ Bridging the Divide student leader, gave participants some important details about U.S. immigration policy.
“At the start of 2024, the current backlog of cases for asylum seekers is 3-5 years by some estimates. However, for naturalization the length of time is 6-10 months,” Sofolahan said.
Students discussed policies such as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which “is aimed at protecting qualifying young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, temporarily shielding them from deportation and providing them work authorization with possible renewal every two years” (National Immigration Forum).
One student mentioned that the United States is a country founded by immigrants, saying that should be considered when talking about immigration in the U.S.
Sofolahan expressed that she was “impressed and grateful” for the way Bridging the Divide has panned out so far. Prior to this event, she facilitated two other civil discourse events: one on affirmative action and one on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Sofolahan’s passion for civil discourse is what drew her to be part of Bridging the Divide.
