Law Commons^™

Reforming The Good Moral Character Requirement For U.S. Citizenship, Kevin Lapp

Indiana Law Journal

This Article explores the impact of the convergence of criminal law and immigration law on the most valued government benefit in the land: citizenship. Specifically, it examines how criminal history influences the opportunity to naturalize through the good moral character requirement for U.S. citizenship.

Since 1790, naturalization applicants have been required to prove their good moral character. Enacted to ensure that applicants were fit for membership and would not be disruptive or destructive to the community, the character requirement also allowed for the reformation and eventual naturalization of those guilty of past misconduct. This Article shows that recent changes in …

"Coming Out Of The Shadows": Dream Act Activism In The Context Of Global Anti-Deportation Activism, Laura Corrunker

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Article, based on ethnographic fieldwork with an undocumented, youth-led immigrant rights organization, explores undocumented youth activism in the United States in relation to global anti-deportation movements. The strategies that undocumented youth utilize in their fight for the DREAM Act, a bill that creates provisions for certain undocumented youth to legalize their status, are compared with examples of anti-deportation activism outside the United States. In comparing the DREAM Act movement with anti-deportation movements globally, three points of commonality emerge: (1) leadership of undocumented immigrants; (2) visibility; and (3) measures of "deservingness." This Article argues that comparing examples of immigrant activism …

Citizenship And Marriage In A Globalizing World: Multicultural Families And Monocultural Nationality Laws In Korea And Japan, Erin Aeran Chung, Daisy Kim

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Article analyzes how individual and local attempts to address low fertility rates in Korea and Japan have prompted unprecedented reforms in monocultural nationality laws. Korea and Japan confront rapidly declining working-age population projections; yet, they have prohibited the immigration of unskilled workers, until recently in Korea's case, on the claim that their admission would threaten social cohesion. Over the past two decades, both countries have made only incremental reforms to their immigration policies that fall short of alleviating labor shortages and the fiscal burdens of maintaining a large elderly population. Instead, prompted by the growth of so-called multicultural families …