5th Annual Gudeman Lecture

Monday, April 20th, 2026, at 4 p.m., the Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with other departments on campus, will be hosting Dr. JC Salyer of Barnard College and the Arab American Family Support Center to speak on the difficulties disabled immigrants face when attempting to come to America. 

Dr Sayler's Abstract: The treatment of noncitizens under the second Trump administration has been unusually harsh and unashamedly overt in its xenophobia and demonization of immigrants. It is important to recognize, however, that these policies and practices are predicated and enabled by the long-standing disparagement of the rights of noncitizens and the denial of recognition of their social membership by U.S. immigration law. This talk will examine the experiences of migrants by focusing on the characterization and treatment of non-citizens with disabilities in the immigration enforcement system. Having a disability can significantly impact the journey of migrants, including by being the basis of the persecution that causes some migrants to flee their home countries, by limiting migration options, by exacerbating difficult and dangerous conditions of migration and detention, by impeding the ability to make claims for asylum and other legal protections, and by hindering resettlement and support in the United States. By critiquing the immigration enforcement system’s ableist ideology with a disability justice lens, this talk will elucidate the general structures and assumptions in U.S. immigration law that lead to treatment and results that are disproportionately punitive and inequitably.

Cosponsors: Immigration History Research Center and Human Rights Program