Law and Story: Reframing the National Conversation about Immigration - Rev. David Vasquez
Speaker:
Levy & Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller
01 Mar 2019
7:00 PM
Pioneer Room, Memorial Union
Rev. Dr. David Vasquez-Levy, President of the Pacific School of Religion, and Tom Miller, Iowa State Attorney General, will discuss both our immigration laws and the current immigration narrative. How can our academic, legal, and religious communities move the discussion away from fear and towards a more compelling vision of our place in an increasingly global society? David Vasquez-Levy was in northeast Iowa at the time of the Postville raid in 2008 and worked as part of the community response effort. He remains a leader on issues of immigration, promoting social awareness and public policy that maximizes a healthy and just mix of diverse persons in our communities. Part of the National Affairs Series: Building a Better Democracy
[b]Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy[/b]
Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy is a national leader working at the intersection of faith, higher education, and social change. Following the May 12, 2008, immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, he served as part of the Postville Relief Effort core team. His leadership included coordination of resources, humanitarian assistance, legal support, spiritual and mental health counseling, family reunification, advocacy, and long-term community re-development. This work has led him to serve as a consultant on various documentaries and contribute a faith perspective to the national conversation on immigration, including speaking at a congressional briefing and participating in two immigration consultations at the White House.
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David Vásquez-Levy is the author of various publications that explore migration stories in sacred texts and in people’s lives, and he has taught courses and led international study and service trips in Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Ghana, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. His international experience has also included refugee resettlement work in Canada and studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. He was raised in Guatemala in an interreligious household - Jewish and Christian - and has lived, studied, and worked in four countries.
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Vásquez-Levy has served at First Lutheran Church in Cincinnati, Ohio; St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Batesville, Indiana; and as part of a co-equal team of pastors leading the Office for College Ministries at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.Â
[b]Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller[/b]
Tom Miller is serving in his ninth, four-year term as Attorney General of Iowa. He grew up in Dubuque and received his law degree from Harvard Law School, after which her served as a VISTA volunteer in Baltimore, Maryland, for two years, and then as legislative assistant to U.S. Representative John C. Culver (D-IA). Mr. Miller returned to Iowa in 1973 and worked in private practice as well as served as city attorney of McGregor and Marquette. He was first elected to the position of Iowa Attorney General in 1978.
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