Democracy Hour {Mill Valley, CA}
Hosted at The Hivery | March 24 | 12 - 1 PM | Mill Valley, CA
The Democracy Hour is a monthly gathering of local women who believe deeply in democracy, and in the power of showing up and taking meaningful action.
This is a safe, supportive space to learn together and build community through thoughtful conversation, shared curiosity, and collective values. Inspiring speakers, film screenings, issue spotlights, action sessions, and other events are in the works!
MARCH THEME: ICE – Know Our Rights, Protect Our Democracy
GUEST SPEAKER: Bill Ong Hing, Professor of Law at the USF School of Law and founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center
If you’re like us, you’re hearing about ICE activity in neighborhoods and workplaces and wondering: What would I do? What exactly are my rights?
Please join us for a discussion about constitutional protections, immigration law, and the role we each play in sustaining democracy.
We’ll begin with a foundational question: What is democracy? Then we’ll explore key protections—including the right to assemble & protest and the right to privacy—as well as how these rights apply at home, at work, in public spaces, and with phones and documents. We’ll also talk about the difference between judicial and administrative warrants— and why it matters.
Our discussion will be led by Bill Ong Hing, Professor of Law at the USF School of Law and founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, who has devoted his career to social justice and immigration policy.
Since this is during the lunch hour, feel free to bring your lunch along.
Free and Open to All (RSVP Required)
Members: RSVP here!
Non-Members: RSVP here.
Discussion Leader: Bill Ong Hing
Throughout his career, Professor Bill Ong Hing pursued social justice through a combination of community work, litigation, and scholarship.
He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented publications on immigration policy and race relations, including Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System (Beacon Press 2023), American Presidents, Deportation and Human Rights Violations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2019); Ethical Borders—NAFTA, Globalization, and Mexican Migration (Temple University Press, 2010), Deporting Our Souls–Morality, Values, and Immigration Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2006), Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple University Press, 2004), and Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy (Stanford University Press, 1993).
His book To Be An American: Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation (NYU Press, 1997) received the award for Outstanding Academic Book by the librarians' journal Choice. He was also co-counsel in the precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court asylum case, INS v. Cardoza–Fonseca (1987), and represented the State Bar of California in In Re Sergio Garcia (2014), in granting a law license to an undocumented law graduate. Hing is the founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco and continues to volunteer as general counsel for this organization.
Professor Hing is the Founding Director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic.