The League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County took on the issue of immigration on Friday as experts delved into the numbers and issues behind what drives immigrants to the United States.
“We’re in a very important moment in the history of immigration in the United States,” Exequiel “Zeke” Hernandez, one of the presenters, said. “There’s a widespread misunderstanding about just very basic facts about who immigrants are and what they do.”
Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers,” joined Steven Larin, deputy director of Nationalities Service Center to present on the Hot Topic discussion entitled, “Immigration Issues in Southeastern Pennsylvania — The Big Picture.”
In delving into the topic of immigration, Hernandez compared the discussion to the story of blind men trying to describe an elephant from the part they feel on the animal. One tugs on the tail and says it’s like a rope. Another its side, and says it’s like a wall.
“It’s such a big issue that people have really different perceptions of it depending on what angle they’re looking at it, but no one is seeing the full animal, so to speak,” Hernandez said, explaining what motivated him to write his book.
