--- title: Sonia Sotomayor on Immigration Reform: 'People Feel At Risk' description: Justice Sonia Sotomayor hinted at her views on one of the topics that most divides the other two branches of government: immigration canonical: https://time.com/4952586/justice-sonia-sotomayor-immigration-college-supreme-court/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-21T21:47:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:10.521Z article:section: Politics og:title: Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Immigration Reform: 'People Feel At Risk' og:description: She also spoke about college affordability og:url: https://time.com/4952586/justice-sonia-sotomayor-immigration-college-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd61a903f02ab876c/698898a1a988ca5e546b84eb/sonia-sotomayor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Supreme Court Legal Eats og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Immigration Reform: 'People Feel At Risk' twitter:description: She also spoke about college affordability twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd61a903f02ab876c/698898a1a988ca5e546b84eb/sonia-sotomayor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Immigration Reform: 'People Feel At Risk' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Undocumented Youths Are Sharing Their Stories Online in Protest [Watch (HLS stream): Undocumented Youths Are Sharing Their Stories Online in Protest](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4kHKhoxO.m3u8) (2:00)  _Published 2017-08-30. While the Trump Administration considers the future of an Obama-era program that has allowed over 800,000 undocumented youth to live freely in the U.S., immigrants and their allies are taking to the streets in protest._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 21, 2017 9:47 PM UTC  Sonia Sotomayor discusses the food traditions of the Supreme Court at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington on June 1, 2016. Sonia Sotomayor discusses the food traditions of the Supreme Court at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington on June 1, 2016. Cliff Owen—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 21, 2017 9:47 PM UTC As a Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor knows she shouldn’t speak out on political issues. But at an event in Washington, D.C. Thursday, she hinted at her views on one of the topics that most divides politicians in the other two branches of government: immigration. “It’s a real issue,” Sotomayor said at an event at the Newseum hosted by iCivics, a nonprofit [founded by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736341/sandra-day-oconnor/). “Why? Because some people feel at risk. If that is what is motivating them, whatever answer we find as a nation is going to have to deal with that. It’s going to have to address it in some meaningful way that will give people some sense of greater security than what they’re feeling.” Pacing among the crowd and giving hugs to questioners, Sotomayor, a member of the liberal wing of the court, also waded into college affordability. “I think there are many more programs that the government should be supporting and participating in,” she said in response to a question from a Latina high school student about how government could be more inclusive. “The rising cost of college today is not just strangling people of color like us, but it strangles everybody. So government has to be looking at that.” As Sotomayor promoted civic engagement and encouraged people to respect those with opposing political views, she took a gentle swipe at television news. “Television is soundbites,” she said, saying society has lost something when people get their news from cable rather than newspapers. “And soundbites have the danger of cutting off important discussions that require in-depth consideration of issues.” But she acknowledged that in today’s heated climate, some people may not be open to productive dialogue. “If someone is a racist within their stomach, there may be nothing you can say that will change that,” she said. “There are some conversations that won’t change the problem, or for which you can’t find a solution. What you have to do is try to find commonality with enough people so that person’s voice won’t win out.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4952586/justice-sonia-sotomayor-immigration-college-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4952586/justice-sonia-sotomayor-immigration-college-supreme-court/"},"headline":"Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Immigration Reform: 'People Feel At Risk'","datePublished":"2017-09-21T21:47:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:10.521Z","description":"She also spoke about college affordability","url":"https://time.com/4952586/justice-sonia-sotomayor-immigration-college-supreme-court/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd61a903f02ab876c/698898a1a988ca5e546b84eb/sonia-sotomayor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd61a903f02ab876c/698898a1a988ca5e546b84eb/sonia-sotomayor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Supreme Court Legal Eats","caption":"Sonia Sotomayor discusses the food traditions of the Supreme Court at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. 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