Steamboat Springs — Tamar Jacoby has spent the better part of her writing career trying to understand immigration-related issues.

She served as the deputy editor for the The New York Times’ op-ed page and has written for the Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Weekly Standard and Foreign Affairs.

Through it all, Jacoby, who is now president of ImmigrationWorks USA and the third speaker in the 2011 Seminars at Steamboat series, has become one of the foremost experts on immigration and immigration policy.

Jacoby will speak at 5 p.m. Thursday at Strings Music Pavilion. Tickets are free and available for pickup at 4:15 p.m. at the pavilion.

In her current position with ImmigrationWorks USA, she helps small-business owners looking to advance better immigration law.

Her topic, dubbed “Are We Still a Nation of Immigrants?” will examine not necessarily the politics of immigration, but rather the policy behind it.

Immigration is “one of the big public policies that this country faces,” Seminars organizer Jane Stein said. “There are politics behind immigration, but she’ll be focusing on policy. One of her focuses will be how this is important for small businesses.”

Jacoby contends that legalizing unauthorized immigrants would boost the country’s economic performance. She says immigrants know market conditions and are quick to move to where jobs are.

In 1998 she authored “Someone Else’s House: American’s Unfinished Struggle for Integration.”

“Immigration was on our list of topics,” Stein said. “She’s definitely an expert in the area.”

Jacoby was in England on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

To reach Luke Graham, call 970-871-4229 or email lgraham@SteamboatToday.com