“Getting Beyond the Border: How Immigration Became a Political Crisis”: All are welcome to hear from West Hartford native Jonathan Blitzer, the New York Times bestselling author of Everyone Who Is Gone is Here and staff reporter for The New Yorker. His talk will be followed by a conversation with Bob Fishman, Executive Director of CIRC (CT Immigrant & Refugee Coalition) and Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Service). A book signing will follow the presentation. Books can be pre-ordered from RiverBend Bookshop at www.riverbendbookshop.com, note in the comments section "Beth Israel Event". There is no charge, but a suggested online donation of $20 to CIRC or IRIS is encouraged. Registration is required at cbict.org.

Jonathan is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the New York Times best-selling author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis. He won a 2017 National Award for Education Reporting, has been a three time finalist for a Livingston Award, and the recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award and the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize from the French-American Foundation. His writing and reporting have also appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Atavist, Oxford American, and The Nation. He was a 2021 Emerson Fellow at New America.