Kari Hong believes the United States immigration system’s current flaws are not the result of Donald Trump’s presidential administration.
“All of what we are seeing today was created in 1996 when President Bill Clinton signed a law called IIRAIRA,” the attorney said at Lafayette College on Wednesday. IIRAIRA, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, introduced the term “illegal immigrants,” which Hong said created a system more punitive than fair.
The appellate attorney for Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project spoke to an audience of over 80 students for a talk named “Mass Deportation, Detention, and ICE: How We Got Here, What We Can Do.” Hosted by the International Affairs department, she explored the rise in mass deportations and the law consequences over the past three decades. Hong argued that deportees are being stripped of their communities, separated from their families and often punished for minor offenses rather than dangerous offenses pushed by mainstream media.
“For 30 years, we’ve been told that immigrants are invaders, criminals, threats,” Hong said. “None of that is true.”
She drew on her extensive legal career to emphasize the importance of legal representation for immigrants, especially in cases involving children. The speaker illustrated her point by recounting the story of Roberto Orozco Ramirez, a longtime Froid, Montana, resident who was arrested and charged with illegal reentry before the conservative-leaning community rallied around him.
“If you hear about immigration only through campaign ads or cable news, this probably sounds reasonable,” she said. “We’re told that immigrants are illegal, that they’re criminals, but the people of Froid saw something different.”
Hong pointed to statewide initiatives in New York and Oregon aimed at building systems to provide legal representation for immigrants.
“The right to counsel on immigration court is not a handout,” she said. “It’s fairness. It is efficiency.”
The attorney criticized the current system’s focus on mass detention and the use of violence, saying that “we do not need detention to have an immigration system.”
Hong called for new pathways to legal status for immigrants and the abolition of ICE.
“Locking up innocent people is a choice,” she said, calling on bipartisan efforts to repeal a 1929 act criminalizing border crossings. She urged attendees to prioritize due process and humanity for those navigating the immigration system.
Editor’s note: An improperly obtained quote was removed from this article on April 21, 2026.