The Rational Middle
In these divided times, a number of important challenges are facing our nation. One of the largest is immigration reform. Histrionics have ruled the day and started a firestorm of debate on the issue. Rational Middle is working to change that by providing a holistic view through conversations with thought leaders, legislators, business owners, and citizens which can help us find common ground in the larger debate surrounding comprehensive reform.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 26 minutes
- Episodes
- 179
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2023
Exploring the Crisis of Immigrant Child Labor with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, speaks with host Omar Gallaga about the growing challenge of migrant child labor violations in the United States.
Randy Johnson: 40 Years of Policy Change
Randel Johnson, the former Senior Vice President of the Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, joins us today. Randy has over four decades of experience i…
Ahmed K. Ali: Knowledge is Important
Dr. Ahmed K. Ali is an associate professor of Architecture at Texas A&M. He is also the Director of the Resource-Based Design Research Lab at TAMU. This week, he joins host Loren Steffy to discuss hi…
Trying to Find the Middle: Theresa Cardinal Brown
This week, we are joined once again by Theresa Cardinal Brown. Theresa Cardinal Brown is the Bipartisan Policy Center's Senior Advisor for Immigration and Border Policy. Brown joins host Gregory Kall…
David Bier: What Congress Wouldn't Let Me Say
David J. Bier is the associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. He is an expert on legal immigration, border security, and interior enforcement. He recently testified before the…
Changing the Way We Think About Immigrants: Douglas Hotlz-Eakin
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is an American economist. He was formerly Director of the Congressional Budget Office and chief economic policy adviser to Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Holtz-…
Fighting for Their Rights: Ahilan Arulanantham
Ahilan Arulanantham is a human rights lawyer and Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. He's also the faculty co-director of the school's Center for Immigration Law and Policy. Ahilan has dedica…
Small Steps to Move Immigration Forward: DW Gibson
DW Gibson is an American journalist, author, radio host, and cultural critic. He is also the author of the 2020 book, 14 Miles: Building the Border Wall, about the border wall that Former President T…
How Foreign-Born STEM Workers Are Making This Country Better: Amy Nice
Amy Nice is a Distinguished Immigration Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Cornell University. She's had a long and storied career in immigration, but most recently spent 18 months at the White House at…
The Problems inside Detention Centers: Mary Yanik and Homero López
We have two guests on the podcast this week! Homero López is the legal director at Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) in Louisiana. ISLA is the primary legal services provider for detenti…
What needs to change to help Asylum Seekers: Zachary Manfredi
Zachary (Zak) Manfredi is the Litigation and Advocacy Director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP). Zak oversees ASAP’s litigation matters and policy advocacy, and he often represents ASAP i…
There is No America without Immigrants: Dr. Hasia Diner and Dr. Carl Bon Tempo
Dr. Hasia Diner and Dr. Carl Bon Tempo are our guests this week. Dr. Diner is the Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at NYU, and Dr. Bon Tempo is an associate professor at…
Then and Now: Immigration Reform with Charles Kamasaki
Charles Kamasaki is the Senior Cabinet Advisor of UnidosUS, (formerly the National Council of La Raza), the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, and a Distinguished Visit…
Shahid Haque and the Open Borders App
Shahid Haque is an immigration attorney based out of Helena, Montana. He runs a law firm called Border Crossing Law, and he recently launched an app to automate immigration consultations. The app, na…
Tech Layoffs and the H1-B Visas with Gaurav Khanna
Gaurav Khanna is a respected scholar whose research focuses on development economics, labor economics and applied econometrics. He is an assistant professor of economics at the School of Global Polic…
What does Biden's Trip to Mexico Really Mean? with Tony Payan
Tony Payan is the Director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Payan joins host Chris Lyon to discuss Biden's recent trip to Me…
How Will the New Congress Handle Immigration? With Charles Foster
Charles Foster is an immigration attorney and chairman of Foster LLP in Houston. His work includes being a Senior Immigration Policy Advisor for George W. Bush, an immigration policy advisor on the 2…
What Comes After Title 42 with AILA President Jeremy McKinney
The end of Title 42 is looming. What comes next? And what exactly is Title 8?
Jeremy McKinney is the American Immigration Lawyer Association (AILA) President and an immigration and naturalization law…
The International Student Experience with Rajika Bhandari
Rajika Bhandari is an international higher education expert, writer and speaker. She came to America, from India, to further her education. Her award-winning Memoir, America Calling: A Foreign Studen…
Glenn Altschuler and Immigration Misconceptions
Glenn Altschuler is an American writer, as well as a professor and administrator at Cornell University. Altshuler joins host Melissa Brannan to discuss his recent op-ed and common misconceptions abou…