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Immigration Detention Expansion During Trump’s Second Term / Nayna Gupta & Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

May 26
Episode 1909
We all need to be looking forward beyond all past administrations and this current one. The goal of immigration enforcement should not be to detain and deport as many people as possible. The goal of a credible and humane immigration enforcement system should be to maximize compliance with the law, to get people to follow the rules, to improve public safety and maintain public trust. When any administration, whether it's this one or prior ones, is using the number of detentions or deportations as the mark of a successful system, we have lost our way. That is not the mark of a credible and humane system. We can effectively enforce our laws without using detention and deportation as the main bottom line.

American Immigration Council's Nayna Gupta and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick join This Is Hell! to discuss their report, "Immigration Detention Expansion in Trump’s Second Term”. 

Nayna Gupta is an immigration attorney, policy expert, and the current Policy Director at the American Immigration Council. Based in Washington, D.C., she leads the Council's legislative, administrative, and policy advocacy portfolio. Her work primarily focuses on immigration enforcement, the U.S. immigration detention system, and the intersection of criminal law and immigration civil policy. She is a frequent commentator on major networks like Al Jazeera, analyzing mass deportation strategies and federal immigration expenditures.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is a Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. He previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the Council, working on impact litigation, Freedom of Information Act litigations, and practice advisories. Prior to joining the Council, he was an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow placed as a Staff Attorney at the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York City, representing immigrants placed in removal proceedings because of a prior criminal conviction. Aaron holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in Politics and East Asian Studies from Brandeis University.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Nayna Gupta

 

Guest

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

@reichlinmelnick

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is a Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. He previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the Council, working on impact litigation, Freedom of Information Act litigations, and practice advisories. Prior to joining the Council, he was an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow placed as a Staff Attorney at the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York City, representing immigrants placed in removal proceedings because of a prior criminal conviction. Aaron holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in Politics and East Asian Studies from Brandeis University.

 

Guest

Nayna Gupta

@nayna_gupta

Nayna Gupta is an immigration attorney, policy expert, and the current Policy Director at the American Immigration Council. Based in Washington, D.C., she leads the Council's legislative, administrative, and policy advocacy portfolio. Her work primarily focuses on immigration enforcement, the U.S. immigration detention system, and the intersection of criminal law and immigration civil policy. She is a frequent commentator on major networks like Al Jazeera, analyzing mass deportation strategies and federal immigration expenditures.