That was one of the conclusions of “Global Migration and Cities: Urban Governance, Migration, and the Refugee Crisis,” a panel discussion held Friday, Feb. 9 at the Lincoln Center campus.

The panel, which was part of conference organized by the Fordham Urban Consortium, featured

-Els de Graauw, P.D., associate professor of political science, at Baruch College

-Jennifer Gordon, professor of law at Fordham Law School

-Annika Hinze, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and director of the Urban Studies program at Fordham

Judy Benjamin, Ph.D, the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, moderated the panel, which touched upon everything from the plight of Syrian war refugees to the estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants living in New York City.

Hinze noted that although refugees are no longer confined to camps, and immigrants in the United States no longer only settle in “gateway” cities such as New York City, cities still offer a level of integration that a nation states can’t offer.

“There are already communities in place that provide immigrants with an intermediary, rather than being plunged into a new national context with different customs,” she said.

She said it’s also important to remember that immigrants are also settling in places like Alabama and North Carolina.

“This is an important conversation to have, because in a way, it takes away this dichotomy between the large metropolis and rural areas, because rural areas are increasingly feeding immigration,” she said.

De Graauw agreed, noting that immigrant affairs offices are springing up around the country.

“Ten to 15 years ago, you could probably count on one or maybe two hands how many cities had those offices. Today, we have over 40 of them, and they’re not just in the expected places like New York City. They’re also found in much smaller places, like Memphis,” she said.

“Cities are trying to figure out what they can do, because they are responsible for creating productive, healthy and stable communities. They know all too well that if you alienate or drive underground big segments of your population, it’s going to have ripple effects in many different ways.”

Local context is still important, as a place like Detroit is more amenable to the notion that immigrants are a demographic lifeline than say Atlanta, which de Graauw said is seeing greater immigrant population growth in the suburbs. But issues such as municipal I.D. cards, which New Haven first unveiled in 2007, bring together cities into groups such as Cities for Action, which a coalition of over 150 mayors and municipal leaders.

Gordon said Amman, Jordan, is a good example of how a city can ally itself with an international non-governmental organization to push its national government in a progressive direction. The European Union and the United Nations promised aid to Jordan if it agreed to make it possible for 200,000 Syrian refugees to work legally. In August, the national government agreed, but it restricted that employment to specific work, such as that in garment factories, and it set aside 20 desirable occupations to Jordanians. Amman officials have pushed back hard though, and have tentatively received exceptions for jobs in construction.

“That to me is a potential positive story about cities, and international human rights organizations combining to successfully put pressure on the national government,” Gordon said.

Barber was a renowned international political theorist and an author of many groundbreaking books. As the inaugural distinguished senior fellow of the Fordham Urban Consortium, Barber worked with consortium founder and Urban Law Center faculty co-director Sheila R. Foster and other consortium faculty to launch his brainchild, the Global Parliament of Mayors.

The GPM was launched in September 2016, bringing together mayors from all over the world to promote collective city decision–making across borders. The GPM is now an independent governance body that will continue to advance the rights of cities to lead on global problems that affect them.

“Dr. Barber was not only a brilliant political theorist but also a tremendous force in the global city rights movement,” said Foster.

“In addition to his matchless intellectual gifts and passion for democracy, he was a truly kind and caring human being who brought joy and light to individuals the world over. It was my honor to work with him. I will miss him greatly.”

Barber also founded the Interdependence Movement and served as its president. Much of his advocacy and policy work grew out of his scholarship, including his book If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (Yale University Press, 2013), which proposed the formation of the Global Parliament of Mayors. Earlier works include Strong Democracy (University of California Press, 1984) and the international bestseller Jihad vs. McWorld (Ballantine, 1996). In all, he published 18 books, the most recent of which is Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming (Yale University Press, 2017).

Among Barber’s many accolades are a knighthood from the French government, the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin, and the John Dewey Award. He was also awarded Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Social Science Research fellowships as well as honorary doctorates from Grinnell College, Monmouth University, and Connecticut College.

He held the chair of American civilization at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and served as Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University.