The Neuchatel Graduate Conference is proud to welcome Professor Jim Hollifield to give a lecture reflecting on the Liberal Paradox in the current climate in the US where President Trump pursues a nationalist and nativist agenda. Hollifield developed several key concepts in migration studies including the ‘Migration State’, the ‘Missing Regime’, and the ‘Liberal Paradox’. The latter describes the tradeoffs that liberal democracies face in their immigration policies—to maintain economic competitiveness and high levels of non-inflationary growth, liberal states must keep their economies open to immigration, while maintaining border control and respecting migrant rights. In the 2024 US Presidential election, immigration, asylum seeking, and border control were lightning rods mobilizing the electorate. Trump promised to restore border control, stop asylum seeking, and roll back the rights of immigrants and minorities. Has Trump with his illiberal and restrictive approach to immigration found a way out of the Liberal Paradox, and what will the consequences of his policies be for the American polity, the economy, and society? Hollifield will draw on decades of research into the political economy of immigration to explain the effects of Trump’s policies. Is this the end of the liberal interregnum in US and world politics (1945-2025 RIP) and if so, what next?