CHAPEL HILL -- The Chapel Hill Institute for Cultural and Language Education and the UNC Institute for Study of the Americas launch a four-part community series on immigration today titled "Addressing the Hard Questions."

Sessions will be held each Sunday in April at the FedEx Global Education Center at the corner of McCauley and Pittsboro streets on the UNC campus. Free parking is available under the building.

The series will look at questions such as, How does immigration affect North Carolina's criminal justice system? How are law enforcement agencies, state and local policy-makers in North Carolina responding to undocumented immigration? Is deportation a solution? How have 287g deportation ordinances affected communities in Alamance and Mecklenburg counties? What happens to the children when their parents are arrested and/or deported? What about border security? How do we know who's here?

"Many of us understand the issues," said Jane Stein, one of CHICLE's founders. "We know that when there are jobs to be filled and active recruiting of workers, people will come. We know that when subsistence farming becomes impossible, people will find other work to provide for their families. We know that when families are separated because of migration, they will seek to reunite. We know that when children have been born in this country, they are citizens with rights while siblings just a little older do not have those rights. We know that efforts to control one of our borders has been costly in terms of lives lost and money spent.

"However, our good will and our understanding aren't enough. We need to face the arguments that are being used by those who are setting the tone of the discussion and making decisions."