The Rational Middle

Xiao Wang is an immigrant and Co-Founder and CEO of Boundless Immigration, a team made up of immigrants and experts who assist those who are seeking green cards and citizenship in finding resources and information to make their journey less daunting.

On this week's episode is Justin Gest, author and Associate Professor of Policy and Government, George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government. Justin and a team of demographers and economists have released a study on GDP growth scenarios based on immigration policy. We also discuss one of the principle approaches to addressing immigration hesitancy of Americans and how advocates can better explain the opportunities to those who oppose immigration based on personal economic fears.

Join three hosts from The Rational Middle — Chris Lyon, Gregory Kallenberg, and Loren Steffy — as they announce an event aimed at finding actionable solutions to the challenges of border security and access to American citizenship. Learn more about the summit at rationalmiddle.com/summit

Joy Olson, the former Executive Director of The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) talks with host Loren Steffy about the current challenges at the border and how the public perception on the benefits and purpose of immigration can be shifted.

Dr. Bob Sanborn and Yael Ross return to The Rational Middle podcast to discuss the seasonal influx of unaccompanied minors coming across the U.S.-Mexico border and how the dismantling of the system by Trump has exacerbated the challenge.

Join us for a conversation with Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice. He is an attorney with 40 years of experience practicing labor and civil rights law. We discuss agriculture, global markets, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

Host Loren Steffy interviews Rick Taft, the founder and president of Ideaspace Project, a website aimed at helping those interested in immigration reform track the most prominent voices and exploring ideas for how to impact change.

Lucas Guttentag — a professor of the practice of law at Stanford law school, senior research scholar at Yale Law school, distinguished immigration litigator, and former Obama administration official — shares the story of the Immigration Policy Tracking Project which catalogued over 1,000 Trump immigration policy changes in order to make undoing them easier for the Biden administration.

This week, newly-minted Rational Middle host Melissa Brannan chats with award-winning author Ernesto Cisneros about his book Efrén Divided, the story of a Mexican-American boy whose mother is deported during an ICE raid.

Hosts Chris Lyon, Gregory Kallenberg, and Loren Steffy talk about next steps on immigration. Will Congress take a piecemeal approach or swing for the fences on comprehensive reform now that the American Rescue Plan is assured passage in Congress.