Home » Former Congressman Mazzoli to speak on immigration reform April 11 at UK

Former Congressman Mazzoli to speak on immigration reform April 11 at UK

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Mazzoli
Former U.S. Rep. Ron Mazzoli

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 29, 2018) – Former U.S. Rep. Ron Mazzoli, D-Louisville, co-author of the last major immigration-reform law, will deliver the Spring 2018 Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Lecture on Wednesday, April 11 at the University of Kentucky.

The event begins at 3 p.m. and will be held in the UK Athletics Auditorium of the William T. Young Library. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Mazzoli, who represented Kentucky’s Third Congressional District from 1971-1994, joined with now retired Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming to develop and pass the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. More than five years in the making, the legislation established fines and jail terms for employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants and granted amnesty to undocumented aliens who could prove they had lived continuously in the U.S. for four years.

Immigration policy is now back in the national spotlight as the House, the Senate and the Trump Administration try to find common ground on key issues such as border security and permanent legal status for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

Mazzoli will give a retrospective of the Simpson-Mazzoli Act and events that have transpired in the 32 years since its passage. His presentation will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by former U.S. Chief District Court Judge Jennifer Coffman. Panelists will include Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and Robert King, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

“At a time when Americans are looking to Washington to leadership on immigration issues, Kentuckians can be proud that one of their members of Congress showed historic leadership on this issue, writing a law that remains in effect today,” said Ron Zimmer, professor and director of UK’s Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, which is sponsoring the event. “Ron Mazzoli has always been frank and plain-spoken, and his discussion of these issues in their current context offers a great opportunity for enlightenment of students, faculty, staff and the public at large.”

Mazzoli is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Louisville Law School. He was a state senator before being elected to Congress in 1970. After retiring from the House, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2004.