Immigration Learning Circles
In February 2025, WALC launched a new community program called Immigration Learning Circles. Designed to foster dialogue and understanding, these circles invite local and regional experts, scholars, and individuals with lived experiences to share diverse perspectives on immigration-related topics. Past sessions have featured discussions on settler colonialism, refugee oral literacy, the history of the U.S. Mexico Border, the U.S. immigration system, and the history of Mexicans in Wisconsin.
This initiative is part of WALC’s ongoing commitment to broaden the public’s understanding of literacy—expanding it beyond reading and writing to include civic and cultural literacy. By creating space for meaningful conversation, the program aims to build community awareness around immigration and refugee resettlement, in Oshkosh and in the Fox Valley region. As of September 2025, the circles have attracted approximately 120 new audience members to WALC, expanding the organization’s community reach and impact. Immigration Learning Circles are open to the public on a sliding scale donation basis and are held at the WALC Downtown Oshkosh Learning Center.
Upcoming Learning Circles
The Asian-Latino Borderlands
Join Dr. Lucero Estrella, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Lawrence University, as she explores the history of Asian migrants and the Asian-Latino borderlands.
The Asian-Latino Borderlands invites us to take a deeper dive—engaging in conversation with our speaker while exploring a history that is often overlooked and rarely shared.
The State of US Immigration Today:
Current Realities of the US Immigration System & Current Challenges Facing Newcomers in our Community
Revocations, reinterviews, travel bans, decision holds, pervasive enforcement: President Trump has delivered on a promised new era of immigration policy in the United States. Intentional disruption, uncertainty and chaos now permeates an already broken system. Regardless of status, no immigrant group is safe from potential detention and deportation, even if unlawful.
Join Molly Smiltneek, a local immigration attorney, for a discussion about current realities and challenges facing immigrants in our community
Past Learning Circles











