Thursday, August 1, 2019

THE BORDER CRISIS

The topic is hot, and the conversation will be even hotter with Houston Chronicle’s Chris Tomlinson who has written about the topic and immigration expert, Charles Foster, moderator of the presentation. Add questions from our audience and let's see what happens.

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HESS Club
5430 Westheimer Ct.
Houston, TX 77056
 
Chris Tomlinson and Charles Foster
 
 

Chris Tomlinson

Houston Chronicle Business Columnist

Chris Tomlinson is a columnist for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, focusing on business, economics and policy. He is also the author of a New York Times bestseller, Tomlinson Hill, and produced the award-winning documentary film of the same name, which examines the history of racism in Texas.
 
Previously he was the supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in Austin, responsible for state government and political reporting. He also worked as an investigative reporter in Iraq and Washington DC. 
 
Tomlinson served as the AP’s East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya and was responsible for coverage of 14 countries. Before that he was AP’s Central Africa correspondent based in Rwanda. He has written extensively on Africa’s economic development and food crises. 
 
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, the AP assigned Tomlinson to cover the war in Afghanistan. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Tomlinson was the AP’s lead embedded reporter and spent two years in country. He is also a veteran, assigned to the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command for seven years during the 1980s. 
 
Tomlinson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with special honours in humanities.

 

Charles Foster

Partner, Foster LLP

 

CHARLES WILL MODERATE THIS PRESENTATION

Charles C. Foster is Chairman of Foster LLP, and has thirty plus years of experience representing and advising multi-national companies on U.S. immigration law.

Long recognized as a national expert in U.S. immigration law, Mr. Foster has served as senior policy advisor to both Presidents Bush and Obama during their Presidential campaigns and has testified before both the U.S. House and Senate Subcommittees on

Immigration on a variety of occasions. Mr. Foster has led for a decade the Greater Houston Partnership Task Force on Immigration Reform. He is the founding Chair of the State Bar of Texas Immigration & Nationality Law Section. He also serves as Honorary Consul General for the Kingdom of Thailand, and has received several high Royal Decorations from His Majesty, King Bhumibol. Additional service activities include: Chairman of Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston Advisory Board; Chairman of U.S.-China Partnerships; KIND Houston Advisory Board and Chairman of Americans for Immigration Reform. Executive Committee Member of the Greater Houston Partnership; Member of the Board of Directors of the Asia Society Texas Center; American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Houston Ballet, the Hobby Center for Public Policy, Barbara Bush’s Celebration of Reading and Invest in the USA (IIUSA).

Mr. Foster, as Chairman for 24 years, initiated and led the effort to build a permanent home for the Asia Society in the Houston Museum District. He also initiated and co-chaired the George Bush Presidential Monument, the James A. Baker Monument, the Robert Mosbacher Memorial Bridge, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Monument.

Mr. Foster received his undergraduate and law degrees from The University of Texas, and is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He lectures frequently before legal, academic, and professional organizations in Texas and throughout the United States, and has authored numerous articles on U.S. immigration law. Mr. Foster served for five years as an Adjunct Professor of Immigration Law at the University of Houston Law Center. He is fluent in Spanish and has received numerous awards, including the 1997 Houston International Service Award by the Houston Jaycees and Consular Corps, the 2000 Friend of China Award, the ADL’s 2006 Milton H. Popkin Award for Distinguished Community Service, the 2013 Houston Bar Association Leon Jaworski Award for community service and 1998 American Immigration Law Foundation Honorary Fellow. He has also received annual recognition as a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine, Texas Lawyer’stop “Go To Immigration Lawyer” for the State of Texas and one of the nation’s “20 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” in immigration by Human Resource Executive. His role as an immigration lawyer was featured in the 2010 film Mao’s Last Dancer.

Mr. Foster previously served as Chairman of the Governor’s Task Force on Immigration, the GHP’s Economic Development Advisory Committee and World Trade Division, the American Bar Association’s Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law, the State Bar of Texas Committee on Laws Relating to Immigration and Nationality and is past National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Houston Forum and the Houston Club and Board member of Ripley / Baker.