Nearly every American has an origin story — one told to him since childhood, and one he eagerly repeats with glowing pride — in which his ancestors fled a life of adversity in a faraway place to forge a better, more prosperous life in America. These stories offer each American his or her own personal tie to overcoming insurmountable desperation through fearless action, however tenuous that tie may be so many generations later. Many Americans’ ancestors came through Ellis Island, lured by the Statue of Liberty which beckoned to them like a siren:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Now, in the midst of a xenophobic public outcry at the influx of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S., policymakers are struggling to develop immigration regulation laws that placate the American people without shutting the door on the American Dream.

Not surprisingly, policymakers and citizens looking for guidance are turning to the unquestionable source of governmental power: The U.S. Constitution. Some of the most pressing concerns include which protections are afforded to undocumented immigrants under the U.S. Constitution and whether, and under what historical context, Constitutional ideals and practical immigration policies should intersect.

An in-depth exploration of these and other fascinating questions regarding U.S. immigration policy will take place during the University of Florida Constitution Day Program, scheduled for Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m. to noon in room 287 of the J. Wayne Reitz Union. Hosted by the Levin College of Law, UF’s Constitution Day Program is free and open to the public.

Inspired by the university’s Common Reading Program 2009 book selection, The Devil’s Highway — which documents the harrowing and fatal desert border crossing of a group of 26 ill-fated South and Central American immigrants — UF Constitution Day presentations include: “Welcome to America: The Constitution and Arriving Non-U.S. Citizens,” presented by David Hudson, professor of law; “Desert Mirage: The Elusive Protection of the Fourth Amendment for Undocumented Immigrants,” presented by Lea Johnston, assistant professor of law; and, "A Brief History of the Constitution and Immigration Restriction," presented by Juan Perea, the Cone Wagner Nugent Johnson Hazouri and Roth professor of law.

Philip J. Williams, the director of the UF Center for Latin American Studies and project co-director for Latin American Immigrants in the New South: Religion and the Politics of Encounter, will serve as an expert commentator during panel discussion and audience Q&A following the presentations. The UF Constitution Day Program will be moderated by Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin.

The event also will be available for viewing online as a webcast at www.law.ufl.edu. For more information, call Lindy Brounley at (352) 273-0655 or visit www.law.ufl.edu.

FAST FACTS: 2008 Undocumented Immigration Facts: (from The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2008.pdf)

• More than 4.3 million unauthorized immigrants entered the U.S. between January 1, 2000 and 2008.
• Forty-four percent of the undocumented immigrant population came to the U.S. during the 1990s.
• The estimated population of unauthorized Mexican immigrants residing in the U.S. in 2008 is 7 million.
• In 2000, there were an estimated 4.7 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants residing in the United States.
• In 2008, Florida had the third-largest population of undocumented immigrants, with an estimated 840,000.
• California leads with an estimated population of 2.9 million undocumented immigrants. Texas comes in second with 1.7 million.