Law Commons^™

In Efforts To Regulate Immigration, States Test Limits Of Their Authority, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

Aligned Incentives: Envisioning Syzygy, Karl T. Muth

Karl T Muth

In the wake of the failure of AIG, this paper deals with the question of whether incentive alignment is truly the problem with contemporary insurance products (as many in the media and the economics community have alleged) by examining two hypothetical types of insurance where incentives are extraordinarily well-aligned.

Rationing Justice?: The Effect Of Caseload Pressures On The U.S. Courts Of Appeals In Immigration Cases, Anna O. Law

Anna O. Law

Beginning in late 2003, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits experienced a deluge of immigration cases caused by changes in another part of the immigration bureaucracy. How did these two circuits, especially the Ninth circuit and its personnel, which handle more than 50% of all immigration appeals nationwide, respond to the "immigration surge" as it came to be called? Using interview data from 25% of the active judges on the court and some central staff, the article examines the series of internal experiments in case management that the Ninth Circuit was forced to undertake in …

Car Stops, Borders, And Profiling: The Hunt For Undocumented (Illegal?) Immigrants In Border Towns, Brian Gallini, Elizabeth Young

Brian Gallini

A Final Obstacle: Barriers To Divorce For Immigrant Victims Of Domestic Violence In The United States, Mariela Olivares

Mariela Olivares

Low-income immigrant victims of domestic violence face significant—and understudied—social, legal and political obstacles in obtaining divorces from their abusive spouses. Moreover, funding restrictions on legal service providers often prohibit their representation of victims in divorce proceedings, which further reduces immigrant victims’ ability to obtain meaningful divorce relief. These issues are virtually unexamined in the scholarly literature; the problem of the abused, immigrant wife seeking a divorce has been given short shrift. This Article examines the problems confronting this community then proposes reforms to address its particular needs. Part I explores the unique condition of the immigrant living in the United …

Understanding Judicial Decision Making In Immigration Cases At The U.S. Courts Of Appeals, Margaret S. Williams, Anna O. Law

Margaret S. Williams

Immigration is an increasingly important area of decision making for federal judges. The recent increase in appeals of immigration cases to the courts of appeals raises the question whether judges deciding these cases behave in ways consistent with the extant attitudinal literature, or if other factors such as case characteristics and institutional concerns weigh more heavily on the decision making of judges. It is possible, for example, that the country of origin for the alien or the panel on which a judge serves also influence her decision making. Using an original dataset of immigration cases drawn from the Third, Fifth, …

Beyond Status: Seeing The Whole Child, Angela D. Morrison, David B. Thronson

Angela D. Morrison

The Unintended Consequenses Of Low H-1b Visa Caps: Brain Blocking, Brain Diversion, And Racial Discrimination Against Asian Technology Professionals, Jeffrey L. Gower

Jeffrey L Gower

American business interests face increasing difficulties as they attempt to compete against global technology-based industries. As the U.S. educational system produces interests face increasing difficulties as they attempt to compete fewer technology workers, many firms look to foreign countries such as India, China, or other Asian countries that have an abundance of skilled professionals. The U.S. Congress created the H-1B visa program in 1990 for educated skilled foreign workers, and manipulated the yearly cap on several occasions. Limits were as high as 195,000 as recently as 2003, but were reduced to 65,000 by 2009. The result of placing a low …

Rethinking Immigration Detention, Anil Kalhan

Anil Kalhan

In recent years, scholars have drawn attention to the myriad ways in which the lines between criminal enforcement and immigration control have blurred in law and public discourse. This essay analyzes this convergence in the context of immigration detention. For decades, courts and observers have documented and analyzed a wide range of detention-related concerns, including mandatory and presumed custody, coercion and other due process violations, inadequate access to counsel, prolonged and indefinite custody, inadequate conditions of confinement, and violations of international law obligations. With the number of detainees skyrocketing since the 1990s, these concerns have rapidly proliferated - to the …

Understanding Judicial Decision Making In Immigration Cases At The U.S. Courts Of Appeals, Margaret S. Williams, Anna O. Law

Margaret S. Williams

Immigration is an increasingly important area of decision making for federal judges. The recent increase in appeals of immigration cases to the courts of appeals raises the question whether judges deciding these cases behave in ways consistent with the extant attitudinal literature, or if other factors such as case characteristics and institutional concerns weigh more heavily on the decision making of judges. It is possible, for example, that the country of origin for the alien or the panel on which a judge serves also influence her decision making. Using an original dataset of immigration cases drawn from the Third, Fifth, …

Exhaustion Of Administrative Remedies In Immigration Cases: Finding Jurisdiction To Review Unexhausted Claims The Board Of Immigration Appeals Considers Sua Sponte On The Merits, Larry R. Fleurantin

Larry R. Fleurantin

In order for an appellate court to review an agency action, the action must be final and all administrative remedies must be exhausted. With regard to the exhaustion requirement, the author examines how the majority of circuits have held that federal circuit courts have jurisdiction to review immigration claims considered sua sponte by the Board of Immigration Appeals. However, the Eleventh Circuit seems to be the one outlier finding no jurisdiction, and the author believes the holding in Amaya-Artunduaga v. United States Attorney General to be incorrect and recommends it be overruled

The Meaning Of Marriage: Immigration Rules And Their Implications For Same-Sex Spouses In A World Without Doma, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

An estimated 35,000 U.S. Citizens are living in our country with same-sex foreign partners, but with no right to stay here together on the basis of their relationship. Many are faced with a choice between their partners and the country they love. This is true, even if the couple is legally married in one of the growing number of states and foreign countries that recognize same-sex marriage. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines “marriage” under all federal law as an exclusively heterosexual institution, now stands squarely in their way. Reform options that would help these couples to stay …

Sorry Ma'am, Your Baby Is An Alien: Outdated Immigration Rules And Assisted Reproductive Technology, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

The growing use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and legal recognition of same-sex relationships are raising questions regarding the recognition of parent-child relationships. State and foreign family law have been wrestling with these issues for decades, but U.S. immigration law is lagging far behind. So far, guidance exists on only one ART related issue under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): whether a U.S. citizen transmits her citizenship to a child born abroad. Unfortunately, that guidance is contradictory. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) requires genetic kinship for citizenship transmission. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals focuses on the parents’ …

The Unintended Consequences Of Low H-1b Visa Caps: Brain Blocking, Brain Diversion, And Racial Discrimination Against Asian Technology Professionals, Jeffrey L. Gower

Jeffrey L Gower

American business interests face increasing difficulties as they attempt to compete against global technology-based industries. As the U.S. educational system produces interests face increasing difficulties as they attempt to compete fewer technology workers, many firms look to foreign countries such as India, China, or other Asian countries that have an abundance of skilled professionals. The U.S. Congress created the H-1B visa program in 1990 for educated skilled foreign workers, and manipulated the yearly cap on several occasions. Limits were as high as 195,000 as recently as 2003, but were reduced to 65,000 by 2009. The result of placing a low …

Immigrant Workers And The Thirteenth Amendment, Maria Ontiveros

Maria L. Ontiveros

This chapter examines the treatment of immigrant workers through the lens of the Thirteenth Amendment. It examines how the intersection of labor and immigration laws impact immigrant workers in general, "guest workers" and undocumented immigrants. It argues that immigrant workers can be seen as a caste of nonwhite workers laboring beneath the floor for free labor in ways which violate the Thirteenth Amendment. Further, it suggests ways in which immigrant workers can use the Thirteenth Amendment to improve their situation and offers an analysis of how the Thirteenth Amendment can form a bridge for organizing between labor, civil rights, immigration …

Fitting The Formula For Judicial Review: The Law-Fact Distinction In Immigration Law, Rebecca Sharpless

Rebecca Sharpless

The ill-defined law-fact distinction often stands as the gatekeeper to judicial review of an agency deportation order, restricting non-citizens facing deportation to raising only questions of law when appearing before an appellate court. The restriction on review most affects cases whose dispositions typically turn on the resolution of factual issues, including claims under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and claims for discretionary relief from deportation like cancellation of removal. Convention Against Torture claims, for example, often involve extensive fact-finding on the part of the immigration judge regarding conditions in the applicant’s home country and the applicant’s personal circumstances. …

Why Not Row To The Bahamas Instead Of Miami?: The Conundrum That Awaits Cuban Elite Baseball Players Who Seek Asylum And The Economic Nirvana Of Free Agency, Danyahel Michael Norris

Danyahel Norris

...The singular goal of all Cuban baseball defectors is to sign a lucrative contract to the highest bidder... It is a matter of some loose interpretation regarding how to treat a foreign player. This lack of clarity allows for a “loophole” so that Cuban baseball defectors can avoid the Rule 4 draft and become a free agent. The draft only applies to players from the United States ... If a player came from Cuba, or some other country not listed in Rule 4, then that player would not be subject to the draft. Usually, one can only achieve free-agent status …

U.S. Immigration Law: Where Antiquated Views On Gender And Sexual Orientation Go To Die, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Marisa S. Cianciarulo

This Essay examines the paradoxical approaches to gender and sexual orientation bias within the U.S. immigration system. On the one hand, the immigration system has managed to convey benefits to same-sex partners despite federal law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex unions for immigration purposes. Immigration law also provides benefits for victims of crimes disproportionately committed against women, such as human trafficking and domestic violence, although the systems in place for adjudicating these benefits are flawed. On the other hand, immigration law favors antiquated notions of gender roles that disadvantage U.S. citizen men and their children, and has failed to recognize …