Joy Reid joins us as the host of “Melissa Harris-Perry” this weekend.
Many state governments are proving to be more progressive on issues surrounding undocumented immigrants than the federal government. California is one of the leading states providing opportunity to undocumented immigrants with its Safe and Responsible Driver Act which grants driver’s licenses to eligible Californians, regardless of immigration status. This month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has been slammed. Nearly 500,000 Californians have applied for a driver’s license under the new law. That's double the number of applications the DMV had projected to receive at this point in the year. And while this is an economic and social lifeline for millions of undocumented immigrants, it might also put them at risk with federal authorities. Our panelists will discuss the current state of immigration reform and what happens when state and federal law conflict. Panelists include:
- Ari Melber, co-host of MSNBC's "The Cycle" and MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent
- Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership
- Frankie Edozien, journalist and director of the “Reporting Africa” Program at NYU’s Journalism School
- Alisa Wellek, co-executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project
Plus, last week, our guest Adam Crapser opened our eyes to a story while on the show: there are U.S. veterans who have been deported. How is that possible? Why is it happening? And what is being done about it?
Then, it’s been one year since nearly 300 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school by the terror group Boko Haram. Their abduction was met with millions of tweets with the call to Bring Back Our Girls. Yet, in more than 365 days since the girls were taken, most of them still have not returned home. Not a single one of the girls has been rescued. But about 60 managed to escape and save themselves. One of those courageous young women joins us on Saturday.
And, last summer, thousands of unaccompanied minors streaming across the US-Mexico border captured the attention of the nation. In 2014, U.S. Customs border patrol apprehended more than 68,000 unaccompanied children and another almost 70,000 families. The response to what the Obama administration called an "urgent humanitarian situation" has been to shift the issue to Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. Our guest Tomas Auyuso, has done a photo documentary series about the crisis at Mexico’s southern border - and we're going to show you those images. Plus, Elon James White, who's been spending a substantial amount of time at the US-Mexico border, will join us as well.
In our second hour: class politics and the class of 2016. We’ll take a look at how income inequality is already shaping the presidential race. Ari Melber and Alfonso Aguilar will be joined by Tsedeye Gebreselassie, senior attorney at the National Employment Law Project, and Rich Tafel, founder of Log Cabin Republicans and Public Squared.
Check out these interesting reads about income inequality and the 2016 presidential election:
- Income inequality emerges as key issue in 2016 presidential campaign
- Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio and Looking for Answers on Income Inequality
- 2016 Hopefuls and Wealthy Are Aligned on Inequality
- Hillary Clinton Tests Two Themes for 2016: Working Together and Inequality
- Is It Inequality or Mobility? Neither Economists nor GOP Candidates Can Decide
All that, plus, a discussion about high stakes tests in the wake of the Atlanta educators being sentenced to prison; and this week’s Foot Soldiers who put on pumps to raise money and awareness for survivors of sexual assault.
Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10am ET on msnbc. Join the conversation—share your thoughts about these issues on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.