Moral Judgments, Expressive Functions, And Bias In Immigration Law, Emily Ryo
Dec 2015
Moral Judgments, Expressive Functions, And Bias In Immigration Law, Emily Ryo
Emily Ryo
In a lucid and trenchant style characteristic of Professor Hiroshi Motomura’s writing, Immigration Outside the Law offers rich descriptive and prescriptive analyses of three major themes underlying debates about unauthorized migration: the meaning of unlawful presence, state and local involvement in the regulation of unauthorized migration, and the integration of unauthorized migrants into American society. This review advances several ideas that I argue are important to understanding these key themes. In brief, I suggest that a more comprehensive understanding of public debates about unauthorized migration requires examining lay moral judgments about unlawful presence, the expressive functions of immigration law, and …
Detained: A Study Of Immigration Bond Hearings, Emily Ryo
Dec 2015
Detained: A Study Of Immigration Bond Hearings, Emily Ryo
Emily Ryo
Immigration judges make consequential decisions that fundamentally affect the basic life chances of thousands of noncitizens and their family members every year. Yet, we know very little about how immigration judges make their decisions, including decisions about whether to release or detain noncitizens pending the completion of their immigration cases. Using original data on long-term immigrant detainees, I examine for the first time judicial decision-making in immigration bond hearings. I find that there are extremely wide variations in the average bond grant rates and bond amount decisions among judges in the study sample. What are the determinants of these bond …
An Unexceptional Aspect Of President Obama's Immigration Executive Actions, Jill Family
Jan 2015
An Unexceptional Aspect Of President Obama's Immigration Executive Actions, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
Discussing Obama's recent immigration executive actions and the Obama administration's exercises of executive power.
Easing The Guidance Document Dilemma Agency By Agency: Immigration Law And Not Really Binding Rules, Jill Family
Dec 2012
Easing The Guidance Document Dilemma Agency By Agency: Immigration Law And Not Really Binding Rules, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
Immigration law relies on rules that bind effectively, but not legally, to adjudicate millions of applications for immigration benefits every year. This article provides a blueprint for immigration law to improve its use of these practically binding rules, often called guidance documents. The agency that adjudicates immigration benefit applications, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), should develop and adopt its own Good Guidance Practices to govern how it uses guidance documents. This article recommends both a mechanism for reform, the Good Guidance Practices, and tackles many complex issues that USCIS will need to address in creating its practices. The …
Opinion Analysis: Deferring To (Even More) Limited Relief From Removal, Jill Family
May 2012
Opinion Analysis: Deferring To (Even More) Limited Relief From Removal, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
In a unanimous decision on Monday, the Court held that the Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reasonably construed a statute to forbid the imputation of a parent’s U.S. residency and immigration status to a child to compute the child’s eligibility for relief from removal (deportation). The Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit in Holder v. Gutierrez, consolidated with Holder v. Sawyers.
Argument Recap: Imputing Eligibility For Relief From Removal, Jill Family
Jan 2012
Argument Recap: Imputing Eligibility For Relief From Removal, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
At oral argument on January 18, the Court questioned the attorneys in Holder v. Gutierrez and Holder v. Sawyers about calculating relief from removal. At issue in these consolidated cases is whether a parent’s immigration status and residency in the United States may be imputed to a minor child to calculate eligibility for relief from removal. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) said no; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said yes.
Argument Preview: Calculating Relief From Removal, Jill Family
Jan 2012
Argument Preview: Calculating Relief From Removal, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
Holder v. Gutierrez and Holder v. Sawyers call into question the BIA’s decision to forbid the imputation of a parent’s immigration status and residency in the United States to a minor child for the purpose of calculating eligibility for relief from removal. Scratching that simple surface reveals a complex history of imputation and relief from removal.
Administrative Law Through The Lens Of Immigration Law, Jill Family
Dec 2011
Administrative Law Through The Lens Of Immigration Law, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
Immigration law does lag behind in the advancement of public law, but not in all respects. While immigration law is idiosyncratic in many ways, this article finds immigration law in the administrative law mainstream when it comes to its troubles with nonlegislative rules (sometimes called guidance documents). There are concerns throughout administrative law that agencies use such rules to bind regulated parties practically, even if not legally, without the procedural protections of notice and comment.
This article analyzes immigration troubles with nonlegislative rules and makes three main contributions. First, it casts new light on the negative effects of guidance documents …
A Broader View Of The U.S. Immigration Adjudication Problem, Jill Family
Dec 2010
A Broader View Of The U.S. Immigration Adjudication Problem, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
Immigration adjudication is ailing. A combination of problems within the administrative system and steady efforts to narrow the role of the federal courts has resulted in a system subject to much criticism. It is not unusual to find court of appeals judges describing the administrative adjudication system as dysfunctional.
Becoming An Immigration Lawyer, Jill Family
Dec 2009
Becoming An Immigration Lawyer, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
This book is an essential resource for law students and lawyers interested in a career in administrative law. In the first half of the book, a national expert describes the field, and outlines your optimal entry strategies. The second half offers individual, personalized examples of the various career paths in administrative law, and details the demands and rewards of each. The "how-to" essays are authored by 19 of the leading law firm practitioners, government agency counsels, federal administrative law judges, non-profit group advocates and legal educators. In plain language, they open your eyes to the many rewarding careers that lie …
Pro Bono In Action: An Immigrant's Need For Representation, Jill E. Family
Dec 2009
Pro Bono In Action: An Immigrant's Need For Representation, Jill E. Family
Jill E. Family
Legal representation always matters, but the need for representation intensifies when the most basic rights are at
stake. In immigration removal (deportation) cases, the federal government adjudicates whether an individual may
live and work in the United States, or whether that person must relocate to another country. Reasons for wanting
to be in the United States vary, from a desire to remain with family to a fear for one's life in a home country. In these immigration proceedings, an executive branch employee, an immigration judge, applies the Immigration and Nationality Act, a body of statutes long recognized to rival the …
"Streamlining" The Rule Of Law: How The Department Of Justice Is Undermining Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Shruti Rana
May 2009
"Streamlining" The Rule Of Law: How The Department Of Justice Is Undermining Judicial Review Of Agency Action, Shruti Rana
Shruti Rana
Judicial review of administrative decision making is an essential institutional check on agency power. Recently, however, the Department of Justice dramatically revised its regulations in an attempt to insulate its decision making from public and federal court scrutiny. These “streamlining” rules, carried out in the name of national security and immigration reform, have led to a breakdown in the rule of law in our judicial system. While much attention has been focused on the Department of Justice’s recent attempts to shield executive power from the reach of Congress, its efforts to undermine judicial review have so far escaped such scrutiny. …
Developments In The Immigration Courts, Jill Family
Dec 2008
Developments In The Immigration Courts, Jill Family
Jill E. Family
This is the tenth in the annual series of volumes on Developments in Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. This book describes and analyzes current developments in administrative law and regulatory practice, both by process, (e.g. judicial review and rulemaking), and by areas (i.e. particular areas of practice).
The Many Sides Of Immigration Law And Policy, Jill E. Family
Dec 2005
The Many Sides Of Immigration Law And Policy, Jill E. Family
Jill E. Family
At First Glance, immigration law might appear as a narrow and secluded area of the law. While practicing and
studying immigration law does require focused expertise, immigration law, in fact, has strong connections to many other areas of law, and the field itself is diverse. The number of immigration cases in the federal courts has increased greatly over the last five years.This increase has led to court reform proposals that exemplify the nexus between immigration law and other legal issues.
