Intersections with Dr. Russell
Sep 2, 2026 · 53 min · 16 segments
In this episode, Katherine Gin and Dr. Russell discuss the profound impact of current administrative policy changes on the pathways available to immigrants seeking lawful status in the United States…
back to Immigration 101, where I take today's conversation and ground us in data, research, and myth-busting.
Today's conversation was with Kathy Jin, founder of Immigrants Rising and now leading the work at the Legalization Project and Path to Papers.
There's no myth-busting or fact-checking needed for this one, but I want to ground us in a few things you might have heard in the episode.
It was the first major U.S. law to ban an entire nationality from immigrating, specifically Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled.
It stayed in place for over 60 years, extended and expanded along the way until Congress finally repealed it.
Kathy's family history is a direct window into how exclusion laws don't just close a door outright.
They leave a handful of narrow ones open and who gets to walk through them can almost be by chance.
It's an organization she co-founded focused on helping undocumented young people access education, careers, and other paths to thrive, regardless of immigration status.
From there, she started the Legalization Project and helped to launch Path to Papers.
Both focused on something Kathy said didn't get enough attention— helping people move out of undocumented status altogether into something more permanent.
The work she's doing now leans heavily on work visas, especially the H-1B, a visa you've heard me talk about on this show before.
The H-1B lets U.S. employers hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, usually jobs requiring a bachelor's degree or higher, heavily used in tech, engineering and health care.
For a lot of people who came to the U.S. as undocumented as children, it's one of the only realistic path from undocumented status into something lawful and permanent.
Kathy also does work with the O-1 visa and other visas, but the H-1B is the main one.
And right now, that path is under real strain, as you heard her talk about in the interview.
In September 2025, the current administration imposed a new $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions for workers currently outside of the U.S., Kathy called it the biggest blow to the pathway she's seen.
back to Immigration 101, where I take today's conversation and ground us in data, research, and myth-busting.
Today's conversation was with Kathy Jin, founder of Immigrants Rising and now leading the work at the Legalization Project and Path to Papers.
There's no myth-busting or fact-checking needed for this one, but I want to ground us in a few things you might have heard in the episode.
It was the first major U.S. law to ban an entire nationality from immigrating, specifically Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled.
It stayed in place for over 60 years, extended and expanded along the way until Congress finally repealed it.
Kathy's family history is a direct window into how exclusion laws don't just close a door outright.
They leave a handful of narrow ones open and who gets to walk through them can almost be by chance.
It's an organization she co-founded focused on helping undocumented young people access education, careers, and other paths to thrive, regardless of immigration status.
From there, she started the Legalization Project and helped to launch Path to Papers.
Both focused on something Kathy said didn't get enough attention— helping people move out of undocumented status altogether into something more permanent.
The work she's doing now leans heavily on work visas, especially the H-1B, a visa you've heard me talk about on this show before.
The H-1B lets U.S. employers hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, usually jobs requiring a bachelor's degree or higher, heavily used in tech, engineering and health care.
For a lot of people who came to the U.S. as undocumented as children, it's one of the only realistic path from undocumented status into something lawful and permanent.
Kathy also does work with the O-1 visa and other visas, but the H-1B is the main one.
And right now, that path is under real strain, as you heard her talk about in the interview.
In September 2025, the current administration imposed a new $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions for workers currently outside of the U.S., Kathy called it the biggest blow to the pathway she's seen.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.