Perry World House Statement on Upcoming "Detention and Deportation" Event

Perry World House is committed to building an inclusive community on campus and to serving as a home for debate and dialogue on the important, and sometimes controversial, challenges that face the world. We are also committed to providing the Penn community access to a broad set of views on critical global issues because we do not endorse views, we engage them.

Since Perry World House opened our doors three years ago, we have been deeply engaged with the timely and sensitive issue of migration. One of our central research themes—Global Shifts: Urbanization, Migration, and Demography—is dedicated to understanding the movement of people. In the last year alone, Perry World House has hosted events on sanctuary cities, the migrant “caravan” and international human rights law, media portrayal of refugees, refugee return movements, and more. We have also supported research efforts on the Model International Mobility Declaration (MIMD), a new strategy to augment the existing humanitarian response model in light of shifting patterns of refugee movements, and the broader issue of boundaries between organized human communities. Our Visiting Fellows and Scholars have included Jacques Baeni Mwendabandu, Michel Gabaudan, Susan Martin, Anne Richard, Sozi Tulante, and others in the migration, refugee, and asylum arenas.

As with Perry World House’s previous initiatives, our Borders and Boundaries program is hosting an event this week on “Detention and Deportation from Obama to Trump,” which features several speakers, including Thomas Homan, with very different perspectives. The conversation will continue next week when Perry World House hosts a program on “Corruption, Caravans, and Cages: Asylum - Past, Present, Future.” Members of the Penn community may disagree with a particular speaker at these events, but having conversations about those differences is part of what makes universities such as Penn essential locations for free expression, debate, and dialogue.