Law Commons^™

Right To Asylum Under International Human Rights Law And Edward Snowden Case, Dr Nafees Ahmad

Dr Nafees Ahmad

No abstract provided.

Reclassifying "Terrorists" As Victims: Integrating Terrorism Analysis Into The Particular Social Group Framework Of Asylum, Emily Naser-Hall

Emily Naser-Hall

After the September 11th terrorist attacks at the hands of al-Qaeda operatives who slipped through the cracks of the US immigration system, immigration and asylum law became increasingly focused on ensuring that potential terrorists are not allowed into the United States. The USA PATRIOT Act and its subsequent legislation created what has become an unyielding bar to admission for any individual who is a member of a terrorist organization or who has committed terrorist activities. While the terrorism bar developed in response to real or perceived threats to US national security and has recently regained public light with the trial …

Reclassifying "Terrorists" As Victims: Integrating Terrorism Analysis Into The Particular Social Group Framework Of Asylum, Emily Naser-Hall

Emily Naser-Hall

No abstract provided.

Migration And Disaster-Induced Displacement: European Policy, Practice, And Perspective, Michael D. Cooper

Michael D. Cooper, Esq.

Over the last decade, a series of devastating natural disasters have killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions, and decimated the built environment across wide regions, shocking the public imagination and garnering unprecedented financial support for humanitarian relief efforts. Some suggest that disaster migration must be supported by the international community, first as an adaption strategy in response to climate-change, and second, as a matter of international protection. This study surveys the current state of law as it relates to persons displaced by natural disaster, with a specific focus on the 27 member states of the European Union plus …

Gang And Cartel Violence: A Reason To Grant Political Asylum From Mexico And Central America, Jillian Blake

Jillian Blake

This Essay argues that the United States should view the migrants fleeing violence in Mexico and Central America as refugees. This Essay will describe the nature of the threat from gangs and cartels, present the major arguments for granting gang-based asylum under international refugee law, and describe how the U.S. courts and government have interpreted those arguments. The final section of this Essay will offer an interpretation of refugee law that both bridges the gap between traditional interpretations of the Refugee Convention and also addresses a pressing need to adapt its original meaning to present-day conflicts in Latin America. This …

A More Promising Promised Land: Israel Copes With An Influx Of Asylum Seekers By Implementing The 1951 Convention Relating To The Status Of Refugees And The 1967 Protocol, Aliyah M. Phillips

Aliyah M Phillips

This Comment addresses the State of Israel’s most recent actions in coping with a mass influx of African asylum seekers, and whether those actions represent compliance with the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (“1951 Convention”), and the 1967 Protocol. Past scholarship has criticized Israel’s response to the influx, focusing on a lack of compliance. By examining Israel’s most recent practices with regard to asylum seekers, this Comment takes a novel and nuanced approach to identifying Israel’s compliance with the 1951 Convention. The argument set forth in this Comment operates from the presumption that a state’s compliance with …

Applying Torture And Asylum Protections To Prevent The Deportation Of Persons With Hiv/Aids, Christine Chiu

Christine Chiu

Granting a foreign national with HIV/AIDS permission to remain in a country, whether temporarily or indefinitely, is a weighty decision. Faced with limited resources and often fervent public antagonism towards increased immigration, states must pick and choose whom to expel from its borders. This paper examines the extent to which HIV status is considered in determining whether a petitioner is eligible or even has a right to remain in a country. The analysis consists largely of a comparison of the asylum and torture protections afforded to petitioners with HIV/AIDS in the United States, Canada, and the European Court of Human …

A Tale Of Two Decades: War Refugees And Asylum Policy In The European Union, Maryellen Fullerton

Maryellen Fullerton

A Tale of Two Decades: War Refugees and Asylum Policy in the European Union

The past twenty years have seen profound developments in the institutional competence of the European Union to address issues of migration and refugee status. The growth of the internal market, the expansion of passport-free travel, and the continuing arrival of individuals fleeing war or persecution led to the realization that a joint European approach to asylum seekers was necessary. Negotiations among the Member States have resulted in a Common European Asylum System. These European developments are largely unknown among refugee scholars, decision makers, and advocates in …

The New Sanctuary Movement: When Moral Mission Means Breaking The Law, And The Consequences For Churches And Illegal Immigrants, Kara L. Wild

Kara L. Wild

Are the churches involved in the New Sanctuary Movement -- a movement that hides illegal immigrants in churches to prevent them from being deported -- acting legally? If not, is there a way that they could pursue their goals in a legal manner? The author explores the movement's goal, to win public sympathy and eventual legality for the nation's illegal immigrant population by using methods that were popular during the successful 1980s Sanctuary Movement. The author examines the differences between the 1980s Movement and the current one, the likelihood of success for the New Sanctuary Movement's legal arguments, and the …

Two Years Later, How Far Have We Come: A Review Of The 2006 Measures Of Improvement To The Immigration Courts And Board Of Immigration Appeals, Christina M. Workman

Christina M Workman

I have attaches for your review a copy of “How Far Have We Come: A Review of the 2006 Measures of Improvement to the Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals”. In this article I first explore the causes of large disparities in asylum denial rates both between and within Immigration Courts across the United States. In one Court alone, one judge grants asylum 9% of the time, while another judge on that same Court grants asylum 91% percent of the time. Critics of the Immigration Courts, including Federal Appellate Courts, have citied reasons including but not limited to poor …

“Otherness” As The Underlying Principle In Israel’S Asylum Regime, Tally Kritzman-Amir

Tally Kritzman-Amir

This paper aims to be one of the first thorough descriptions of the developing asylum system in the State of Israel. The argument presented in this paper is that, despite the inherent moral and doctrinal differences between asylum and immigration regimes, the Israeli asylum system is essentially an extension of Israel’s immigration and citizenship regime, as it excludes the non-Jewish refugees and frames the refugee as the “other.”

I begin this paper with a description of the Israeli immigration and citizenship regime. I show how the Israeli regime favors and includes Jews, and discriminates and excludes non-Jews, with the exclusion …

Defining A Core Zone Of Protection In Asylum Law: Refocusing The Analysis Of Membership In A Particular Social Group To Utilize Both The Social Visibility And Group Immutability Component Approaches., Stanley Dale Radtke

Stanley Dale Radtke, Esq.

The current analytical approach employed in assessing the merits of a new and novel claim for asylum, based upon “membership in a particular social group,” looks to define an outer boundary, or attempts to draw a bright-line rule where relief is granted or denied. This line drawing approach has proven to be exceedingly difficult in practice, as there currently is no agreed upon definition of what constitutes membership in a particular social group, let alone an agreed upon test for evaluating such a claim. By establishing such a core zone of protection, decision makers can feel secure in deciding the …

A Call For Refuge: The Case Of Forced Marriages, Emily A. Harrell

Emily A Harrell

This case note examines the ramifications of the Second Circuit Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Gao v. Gonzalez, 440 F.3d 62 (2d Cir. 2006), holding that women who were forced into marrying within a Chinese community where forced marriage was condoned and enforceable qualified as a “particular social group” eligible for asylum within the meaning of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Gao brings into question the position of the United States and the duties owed to refugees in such circumstances. This issue is particularly significant given the demonstrated concern for human rights as manifested by the United States accession …

Retuning The Harmonization Of Eu Asylum Law: Exploring The Need For An Eu Asylum Appellate Court, Ariel Meyerstein

Ariel Meyerstein, JD, PhD

This Comment takes as its starting point the adoption of the first five pieces of harmonized legislation created as part of the EU’s asylum regime overhaul of the early 2000s and proposes constructive solutions to compensate for the inadequate results of the May 2004 negotiations in Brussels. Specifically, it is proposed that an EU-wide asylum appellate court could assist the Member States in completing the work they started by creating a comprehensive harmonization consistent with international law.