Open PDF in Browser: Sydney Poppe,* Foreword
This Symposium Issue came to life amid a period of immense complexity and weight in the modern immigration landscape. So much demands acknowledgment, so much requires reckoning, so much deserves attention: No matter one’s ideal vision of what immigration policy can and should be, comprehensively addressing everything at hand feels overwhelming, if not at times impossible.
But as Hiroshi Motomura reminds readers near the close of Borders and Belonging, his book that set the stage for the profound ideas explored at the Rothgerber Symposium, “[w]hat matters is seeing and taking steps along the way.”[1]
In and outside the realm of immigration reform, this idea—that real value derives from the work we do to inch closer to our ultimate goals—feels so evident that some may think it hardly needs repeating. But if my own experience bears any ounce of resemblance to especially those working in and adjacent to the law, we do not live by the message nearly enough. We ignore it, and at times we outright reject it, unable to give ourselves and others credit until every stone is overturned and a problem is wholly “fixed.”
I owe much of my efforts to dismantle these absolutist tendencies to my time as an editor of the Colorado Law Review. Of course, on a more basic level, to produce each issue is definitionally incremental, with every step inching us closer to publication. That said, I find that my true lesson in the value of the measured approach to change stems from the wide breadth of legal scholarship I have had the privilege to work on. Each article reflects an author’s willingness to devote themselves fully to small pieces of often massive puzzles. In doing so, the scholars embrace a sense of humility, acknowledging that the ideas they put forth have their limits but are nonetheless worthwhile. For not their willingness to focus on the small steps, the legal community writ large may fail to discern key nuances that can foster progress. These important details risk remaining blurred when solely keeping the big picture in focus.
For all who had the pleasure of attending the 2025 Rothgerber Conference, we bore witness to a group of individuals committed to fostering these ideals of measured recognition, reflection, and reform. While remaining committed to their respective aspirations for the future of immigration policy, each panelist contributed distinct points of notable consideration, thus providing us all with worthwhile stepping stones toward larger goals. This Issue serves as the proud home for Motomura’s keynote address, which encouraged proposals of steps to take toward a new vision of immigration policy, and the works of four authors—Professors Lisa Martinez, Stephen Lee, Juliet Stumpf, and Daniel Tichenor—who took heed of his call.
I want to express my profound esteem for the contributing authors of this Issue, particularly those who developed their pieces in the midst of active litigation. The devotion each of you possess for your respective issues and immigration policy broadly is so evident. And I am beyond grateful for my fellow CLR editors and our collaborators at the Byron White Center. Thank you all for helping cultivate such a poignant Symposium Issue. To our readers, I hope you glean the compelling insights of each piece and appreciate the measured steps toward shaping the future of immigration within the United States.
Sydney Poppe
Executive Editor, Colorado Law Review, Volume 97
*I again want to thank all editors of Volume 97 of the University of Colorado Law Review for devoting countless hours of effort toward putting together this Symposium Issue. I also want to express my deepest appreciation for my family and friends. I especially want to thank my mother, Kristin, for her unwavering support throughout it all; my grandpa, Dennie, for reminding me to always appreciate where I come from as I go forward; and my nana, Kay, for sparking, and always fostering, my deep love for learning. And to my grandmother, Donna: I’ll forever love you to the moon and back, and then some.
- Hiroshi Motomura, Borders and Belonging: Toward a Fair Immigration Policy 163 (2025). ↑