Introduction

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

This week, about three dozen people — many of them undocumented workers — set out on the “UndocuBus,” en route to the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina to draw attention to the politics of immigration. A Times editorial has cheered on the bus ride, calling it “daring.”

But is it wise to encourage illegal immigrants to announce their status? And given the current deadlock in Congress over immigration reform, what does “coming out” accomplish?

Rose Cuison Villazor, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, suggested this forum.