The Hodgkinson Lecture 2019

The Hodgkinson Lecture was established in 2017 in honor of Harold “Bud” Hodgkinson, renowned lecturer, writer, and analyst of demographics and education. The third Hodgkinson Lecture was delivered by Julia Gelatt, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, whose work focuses on the legal immigration system, demographic trends, and the implications of local, state, and federal US immigration policy.

Gelatt’s lecture presented some of the demographic facts and figures that drive immigration debates in the United States and explained what these numbers mean. She addressed misconceptions and stereotypes about the size, composition, and growth of the unauthorized immigrant population. Gelatt also examined how immigration trends are playing out differently in different parts of the country and how that is shaping differences in immigration policymaking across the country.

This Kettering Foundation Working Paper includes Gelatt’s lecture as well as highlights of the ensuing discussion and graphs and charts that illustrate the trends described.