Join us for a candid conversation with Kica Matos, President of the National Immigration Law Center, on the realities of U.S. immigration policy today – and how these decisions resonate far beyond our borders.
From ICE enforcement practices and detention policy to ongoing legal challenges and federal reform efforts, this timely program will examine how immigration policy is being shaped – and contested – in real time, and what it means for communities, the rule of law, and our nation’s future.
A partnership between the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and Hartford Public Library
Details
When: Thursday, February 19 | 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Doors open 5:30pm
Where: Hartford Public Library’s Downtown Library
Center for Contemporary Culture
500 Main Street
Tickets: No charge | RSVP Required
Please consider making a small contribution to the World Affairs Council when registering in support of this program.
If you require special accommodations to take part in this program, please call (860)874-2434 at least two weeks in advance.
With Special Guest
Kica Matos is the president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF). She is also a Distinguished Practitioner at Yale University’s Brady Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Kica joined NILC and IJF as executive vice president of programs and strategy in January 2023. Prior to this, Kica was vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice. She also served as the director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change. She has extensive experience as an advocate, community organizer, and lawyer.
Kica has also headed up the U.S. Reconciliation and Human Rights Program at Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining Atlantic Philanthropies, she was deputy mayor in New Haven, overseeing community programs and launching new initiatives, including prisoner re-entry and youth and immigrant integration. Kica was previously the executive director of JUNTA, New Haven’s oldest Latino advocacy organization. She also worked as an assistant federal defender for death-sentenced inmates and with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Amnesty International on the death penalty and criminal justice issues.
She has a B.A. from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, an M.A. from the New School, and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Albertus Magnus College in 2017 and the University of New Haven in 2019. She is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, and in 2021, she was inducted into the CT Women’s Hall of Fame.
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The World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person, online, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC, its individual staff, board members, members, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
