Last week's event in the series "Conflict. Civility. Respect. Peace. Northeastern Reflects" asked the question, "What is America"?
In many ways, this presidential race has been unlike others before it—Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is the first female presidential nominee of a major party, while Republican nominee Donald Trump has bucked tradition at nearly every turn on the campaign trail.
Though it generally arises as an issue every four years, an intense debate about immigration policies and reform among political candidates and civilians alike has been stoked by one of Trump’s campaign platforms: a promise to “build a wall” across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Panelists during a Wednesday evening discussion at Northeastern—titled “What is America? Globalization and the new age of migration”—posited that sentiments of accepting then rebuking immigrants has long been a pattern throughout American history, though the tone of the rhetoric during this presidential cycle in particular is new.
