Digital Commons Network^™

The Immigration Shadow Docket, Faiza Sayed

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Crisis Of Unrepresented Immigrants: Vastly Increasing The Number Of Accredited Representatives Offers The Best Hope For Resolving It, Michele R. Pistone

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. immigration system is exceedingly complex, and access to legal representation is the primary determinant in obtaining a just immigration outcome. Immigrants must navigate a byzantine, burdensome, and high stakes legal process, conducted in a language they often do not speak. They often must do so without any legal representation. Unlike criminal defendants, immigrants are not entitled to government-funded lawyers. Legal services organizations, such as Legal Services Corporation, that receive any federal funding are prohibited from providing legal representation to most immigrants. Faith-based and charitable legal services organizations provide some legal representation to immigrants through attorneys, staff members, and …

Heeding The Voices Of Migrant Youth: The Need For Action, Randi Mandelbaum

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Unaccompanied: The Plight of Immigrant Youth at the Border. By Emily Ruehs-Navarro.

The End Of Asylum Redux And The Role Of Law School Clinics, Elora Mukherjee

Faculty Scholarship

The Biden Administration has perpetuated many of the prior administration’s hostile policies undermining access to asylum at the southern border. This Essay first examines these policies and then identifies emerging opportunities for law school clinics to address these new challenges, including by serving asylum seekers south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Changemakers: From The Classroom To The Courtroom: Miguel Garcia, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Due Process Deportations, Angelica Chazaro

Articles

Should pro-immigrant advocates pursue federally funded counsel for all immigrants facing deportation? For most pro-immigrant advocates and scholars, the answer is self-evident: More lawyers for immigrants would mean more justice for immigrants, and thus, the federal government should fund such lawyers. Moreover, the argument goes, federally funded counsel for immigrants would improve due process and fairness, as well as make immigration enforcement more efficient. This Article argues the opposite: Federally funded counsel is the wrong goal. The majority of expulsions of immigrants now happen outside immigration courts— and thus are impervious to immigration lawyering. Even for those who make it …

Anti-Carceral Theory And Immigration: A View From Two Law School Clinics, Sabrina Balgamwalla, Lauren Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

This article explores clinical teaching philosophies related to anti-carceral theory and provides examples of how to support student learning in clinics serving immigrant clients. Anti-carceral theory in this context is used to refer to an approach that resists criminalization and incarceration within law, drawing on abolitionism, intersectional and anti-carceral feminism, and decolonization.

The anti-carceral lens provides framing and language to name the dynamics of social exclusion and discrimination inherent in immigration law. It also allows us to unpack immigration regulation as a series of choices made within the larger context of law enforcement and its systems of surveillance, policing, and …

Campos Seguros In Santa Cruz County, Patricia Barajas Villasenor

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monarch Services is a non-profit organization within Santa Cruz county. The agency provides services for domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Campos Seguros focuses on providing resources and advocacy to vulnerable populations, specifically Campesinos (farmworkers). Violence and abuse perpetrated against farm workers is an issue that demands more public attention and advocacy. Campesinos are highly vulnerable because of different contributing factors, these include immigration status, work uncertainty, and language barriers. Consequences include trauma, lack of reporting, and vulnerability to labor trafficking. Sexual abuse is highly prevalent within the agricultural realm; many employers can take advantage of Campesino’s vulnerable position. …

Transformative Immigration Lawyering, Jayesh Rathod

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Movement actors have long sought expansive reforms in U.S. immigration law, but two deep-seated tendencies are obstructing those efforts: incrementalism and path dependence. This Essay recommends that law clinics counter these forces by setting ambitious goals for structural change and by equipping students with knowledge and skills needed for transformative lawyering.

Law School News: From Classroom To Courtroom 11-10-2022, Michelle Choate

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Various Problems And Instabilities With The Implementation Of The Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Statute, Calli Schmitt

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) statute, highlighting its purpose to protect vulnerable immigrant children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. However, the implementation of SIJS faces significant challenges, including inconsistent state court interpretations, political interference, and visa backlogs, which undermine its humanitarian goals. The note proposes reforms to address these issues and ensure that SIJS beneficiaries receive the protections and pathways to permanent residency intended by Congress.

The T Visa Process And The Identification Of Victims Of Human Trafficking, Mandalena Prelashi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) is a contemporary effort to combat human trafficking. In 2000, the Congress enacted the T Nonimmigrant Status (or T visa) in the effort to protect victims of trafficking and to enhance law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prevent these crimes in the U.S. This thesis explores from a legal and social point of view the obstacles, hurdles, and challenges that victims of human trafficking face, when applying for a T visa. I find that (1) victims assess their exploitation as wrong and immoral but not amounting to human trafficking, thus they are …

Franco I Loved: Reconciling The Two Halves Of The Nation’S Only Government-Funded Public Defender Program For Immigrants, Amelia Wilson

Washington Law Review Online

Detained noncitizens experiencing serious intellectual and mental health disabilities are among the most vulnerable immigrant populations in the United States. The Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) creation of the National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP) following a class action lawsuit was an important step in finally bringing meaningful protections to this population. The EOIR pledged to ensure government-paid counsel for those facing removal who had been adjudicated “incompetent” by an immigration judge, as well as other protections for those who had been identified as having a “serious mental disorder” but who had not yet been found incompetent. The NQRP is …

U.S. Immigration Policies Affecting Mexican And Central American Youth And Their Access To Higher Education, Margaret Elizabeth Tejada

Capstone Collection

Undocumented Mexican and Central American youth, many of whom hold approved or pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Central American Minor Refugee and Parole Program (CAM) applications, are a growing population in the United States who are eager to pursue higher education like their U.S. Citizen and U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident peers. Yet, they are significantly limited by federal, state, and institutional policies that are geared towards the success of students with legal status. Through relevant literature and interviews with policy experts and educators who work directly with these youth and/or the regulations …

Issues Of Right To Legal Counsel In Immigrant Removal Proceedings: Due Process Framework And Applicability, Cambria A. Judd Babbitt

Honors Projects

Immigration removal proceedings suffer from a lack of procedural due process protections for non-citizens facing deportation charges. This research examines constitutional due process framework, what it entails, and how it is to be fairly applied to non-citizens in the United States. Special attention is paid to ways the immigration court system is subject to unjust and biased procedures that make it difficult for immigrants to succeed in their removal cases. The main focus of this study is on the importance of direct legal representation in removal proceedings to support non-citizens and keep courts accountable for upholding the due process of …

Champions For Justice 8th Annual, May 6, 2022, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

2021 Annual Report, University Of Maine School Of Law

Clinic Annual Report

• Program Overview 3
• General Practice Clinic 5
• Prisoner Assistance Clinic 6
• Juvenile Justice Clinic 7
• Refugee and Human Rights Clinic 10
• Protection from Abuse Program 12
• Clinic Staffing 13

The Mother Of Exiles Is Abandoning Her Children: The Systemic Failure To Protect Unaccompanied Minors Arriving At Our Borders, Rosa M. Peterson

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Unaccompanied minors arrive at the United States border every day. Many brought by the hope of finding a life lived without fear, a luxury many United States citizens take for granted. Their truths become the barriers and shackles which keep them in detention centers and unaccompanied minor facilities throughout the United States; children find their very words wielded as weapons against them in immigration court. Words often spoken to therapists in perceived confidence, during counseling sessions. This practice is a systemic failure to protect unaccompanied minors arriving at our borders who are seeking protection and help. The United States …

Embracing Crimmigration To Curtail Immigration Detention, Pedro Gerson

Faculty Scholarship

Immigration advocates have long objected to both the constitutionality and conditions of immigration detention. However, legal challenges to the practice have been largely unsuccessful due to immigration law’s “exceptionality.” Placing recent litigation carried out against immigration detention during the COVID-19 pandemic within the context of the judiciary’s approach to immigration, this Article argues that litigation is an extremely limited strategic avenue to curtail the use of immigration detention. I then argue that anti-immigration detention advocates should attempt to incorporate their agenda into criminal legal reform and decarceration efforts. This is important for both movements. Normatively, immigration detention raises comparable issues: …

Refoulement As Pandemic Policy, Haiyun Damon-Feng

Washington International Law Journal

COVID-19 restrictions on access to asylum likely violate non-refoulement obligations under international and federal law, and while they are extreme, they are not unique. There is a small but growing body of scholarly literature that rightly argues that such policies are pretextual covers used to enact restrictive immigration policy goals, but these arguments generally arise from an ahistorical perspective. This article positions restrictive COVID immigration policies in a broader historical context and argues that the United States has a long history of weaponizing fear of disease and contagion from migrants to justify restrictive immigration policies. The article offers a historical …

The Migrant Protection Protocols: Two Administrations, One Outcome, Alexandria Doty

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

Immigrants have long seen the southern border of the United States as the last stop before they are able to enter the land of the free. The Department of Homeland Security, however, strives to make the southern border as inhospitable as possible to those hoping to cross. The Migrant Protect Protocols is the latest attempt from Washington to block access to the United States to immigrants who are detained by forcibly returning them to Mexico to await their deportation proceedings. While Americans have read stories of families being torn apart at the border or listened to interviews of politicians promising …

Strengthening Immigration Support For Agricultural Labor Migration And Ending Modern Day “Harvest Of Shame” A Comparative Study Of The American And Australian Approaches, Dr. Ying Chen

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expanding Immigrant Justice By Training Professionals, Michele R. Pistone

Faculty Publications

As a law professor at Villanova University, I headed a clinic that helps hundreds of asylum seekers gain protection in the United States. On good days, I would remember the Talmudic saying, “whoever saves one life saves the world entire,” and take great pride in what my students and I were able to accomplish. On bad days, however, the fruits of our work could seem but a drop in the bucket, for every visit to immigration court demonstrated anew that our clients were the exception. Most immigrants face the immigration system without legal representation of any sort. This unfortunate and …

Fee Retrenchment In Immigration Habeas, Seth Katsuya Endo

Fordham Law Review

For noncitizens facing removal, habeas corpus provides one of very few avenues for Article III review. For decades, habeas proceedings have been interpreted as falling under the ambit of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), which provides for the award of attorneys’ fees to prevailing parties in suits against the federal government. But this understanding is being challenged, threatening the judicial backstop to executive and legislative overreach in immigration. Reducing the ability of lawyers to recover their fees in these circumstances will reduce the number and quality of habeas challenges by individuals being detained while they await removal—a particularly …

An Ngo Input For The Special Rapporteur For The Human Rights Of Migrants To The Office Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights Report On Human Rights Violations At International Borders: Trends, Prevention, And Accountability, Katherine Kaufka Walts, Sarah J. Diaz, Abigail Mitchell

Center for the Human Rights of Children

The Center for the Human Rights of Children, in collaboration with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights (“Young Center”) submits this input in response to the call for submissions made by the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants to inform the forthcoming report to the 50th session of the Human Rights Council regarding the United States’ current border management policies that aim to prevent migration atthe southern border. This input will focus on United States’ push back methods, namely the recently reimplemented Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) otherwise known as “Remain …

P*Law 2022, Center For Public Service Law

2021–2022 Flyers

This document outlines the full schedule for P*LAW Week 2022 at Cardozo School of Law, presented by the Center for Public Service Law. Held virtually from January 24 to January 27, the week featured panels, workshops, and discussions on key issues in public interest law, including immigration policy, educational equity, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, data privacy, military law, labor rights, and overdose prevention. Events brought together legal professionals, advocates, scholars, and Cardozo students to explore law’s role in advancing social justice and supporting vulnerable communities.

Problematic Private Immigration Detention Centers And The Lack Of Ice Oversight, Khou Yang

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Fee Retrenchment In Immigration Habeas, Seth Katsuya Endo

UF Law Faculty Publications

For noncitizens facing removal, habeas corpus provides one of very few avenues for Article III review. For decades, habeas proceedings have been interpreted as falling under the ambit of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), which provides for the award of attorneys’ fees to prevailing parties in suits against the federal government. But this understanding is being challenged, threatening the judicial backstop to executive and legislative overreach in immigration. Reducing the ability of lawyers to recover their fees in these circumstances will reduce the number and quality of habeas challenges by individuals being detained while they await removal—a particularly …

“I’D Never Let My Sister Do It”: Exploitation Within The U.S. Au Pair Program, Victoria Bejarano Hurst Muirhead

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The U.S. Au Pair Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State, is many things all at once: a cultural exchange program, a guest worker program, and an affordable childcare program. The hybrid nature of the program makes it attractive to foreign young people and U.S. host families alike. However, the hybrid nature of the program also renders au pairs susceptible to exploitation, particularly where labor rights are concerned. This Comment argues that in order to effectively mitigate the exploitation of au pairs, the Department of State must strengthen protections for au pairs and improve its oversight of the program, …

In Defense Of Deportation Defense, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Recent years have seen growing momentum toward expanding public funding for legal defense of immigrants fighting deportation. Yet, some recent scholarship argues that government-funded deportation defense carries the risk of legitimizing and entrenching an unsalvageable immigration enforcement system that should simply be abolished. As a result, immigrant rights advocates might hesitate to support deportation defense. This Essay argues that such hesitation would be a mistake. Legal defense is the most feasible means available right now to stop many deportations, and expanding deportation defense resources will strengthen the immigrant rights movement locally and nationally. Expanding deportation defense should be a high …