Trump 2.0 Immigration Policy and Asian Americans

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, the majority of whom are immigrants or the children of immigrants. The Trump Administration plans to undertake mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, and AAPI individuals make up 10% of all undocumented people. This event will focus on the history of how we got to this moment, the potential implementation of this policy, and how it may impact the Asian American community.

Light refreshments will be served. This event is co-sponsored by the HKS AAPI Caucus.

Speakers include: 

• Erika Lee, Bae Family Professor of History, Radcliffe Alumnae Professor, and the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
• Jia Lynn Yang, National Editor at The New York Times and author of One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965
• Jacqueline Chen (Co-moderator), Harvard Kennedy School MPP 2026
• Caren Yap (Co-moderator), Harvard Kennedy School MPP 2025

 About the Speakers

Erika Lee is one of the nation’s leading immigration and Asian American historians. She is the inaugural Bae Family Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumni Professor at Harvard University and Past President of the Organization of American Historians. From 2023-2024, Lee was the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard, she was Regents Professor, the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History, and the Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. The granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Lee grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, attended Tufts University, and received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Recently awarded an honorary degree from Tufts University and elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Lee also testified before Congress during its historic hearings on discrimination and violence against Asian Americans.

Jia Lynn Yang is a national editor at The New York Times. She was previously deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Trump and Russia. Before becoming an editor, Yang wrote about business and economics at The Post and at Fortune Magazine for over a decade. Yang’s family immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in the 1970s and was able to stay in the country thanks to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. One Mighty and Irresistible Tide is her effort to understand the people who fought to give her family a place in America.

About the Series

This event is part of the Ash Center’s “Understanding Disruption” event series. These conversations will focus on domains — such as higher education, media, and civil society — to gain insight into the character of these disruptions, what the disruptors are hoping to achieve, what opponents are concerned about, and what the consequences of these disruptions will be.

Event Details

Registration is required for this event using the link above. This event is in-person and open to Harvard ID holders. Please register using your Harvard email address.

The Ash Center encourages individuals with disabilities to participate in its events. Should you wish to enquire about an accommodation, please contact our events team at info@ash.harvard.edu prior to the event.

Additional questions? Email the Ash Center events team at info@ash.harvard.edu.