Law Commons^™

Toward A Race-Conscious Critique Of Mental Health-Related Exclusionary Immigration Laws, Monika Batra Kashyap

Faculty Articles

This Article employs the emergent analytical framework of Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to offer a race-conscious critique of a set of immigration laws that have been left out of the story of race-based immigrant exclusion in the United States—namely, the laws that exclude immigrants based on mental health-related grounds. By centering the influence of the white supremacist, racist, and ableist ideologies of the eugenics movement in shaping mental health-related exclusionary immigration laws, this Article locates the roots of these restrictive laws in the desire to protect the purity and homogeneity of the white AngloSaxon race against the threat of …

U.S. Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, And The Racially Disparate Impacts Of Covid-19, Monika Batra Kashyap

Faculty Articles

This Essay contextualizes the racially disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 in the United States within a framework of settler colonialism in order to broaden the understanding of how structural inequality is produced, imposed, and maintained. A settler colonialism framework recognizes that the United States is a present-day settler colonial society whose laws, institutions and systems of governance continue to reenact the three processes upon which the United States was built—Indigenous elimination, anti-Black racism, and immigrant exploitation. This Essay connects these foundational processes—and their underlying White supremacist logics—to the disparate health impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous, Black, and immigrant of color communities …

Unsung Heroes In Sa And Beyond Help Immigrants Find Hope, Erica B. Schommer

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

After Years Of Working With ‘Ritmo’ Detainees, I Know The Inhumane Facility Doesn’T Deserve A Second Chance, Erica B. Schommer

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

A "Chinese Wall" At The Nation's Borders: Justice Stephen Field And The Chinese Exclusion Case, Polly J. Price

Faculty Articles

First, the sweeping implications of The Chinese Exclusion Case had as much to do with the Supreme Court's concerns about its relationship with both Congress and the President as it did with the Chinese as a disparaged racial group. There are other dimensions beyond race, and one of these was the Supreme Court's view of its role with respect to the other branches of government. Importantly, the Court did not decide the balance of authority between the President and Congress on matters of immigration, an omission that surely lessens its precedential value today.

Second, the Court's pronouncement in the Chinese …

Convergence: A Meeting Responds To Cries Of Desperation, David Bristol, Lee J. Teran, Gretchen Haynes

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Stateless In The United States: Current Reality And A Future Prediction, Polly J. Price

Faculty Articles

Statelessness exists in the United States-a fact that should be of concern to advocates of strict immigration control as well as those who favor a more welcoming policy. The predominant reasons for statelessness include the presence of individuals who are unable to prove their nationality and the failure of their countries of origin to recognize them as citizens. Migrants with unclear nationality, already a problem for the United States, obstruct efforts to control immigration by the deportation of unauthorized aliens. These existing problems of national identity will increase exponentially if birthright citizenship in the United States is amended to exclude …

The Inquisitorial Advantage In Removal Proceedings, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

This article takes a radically different and unique approach to improving due process in removal/deportation proceedings. It argues that the existing adversarial system of adjudication, which is incontrovertibly inefficient, expensive and unfair, is a product of cultural imaginary. It demonstrates that if the current adversarial model is measured by contemporary utilitarian standards, it is utterly counterproductive. The article then recommends the adoption of the inquisitorial model of the civilian system by converting the majority of the 951 government lawyers, who now serve as the non-citizens’ adversaries, into administrative law judges. Through a comparative analysis of the common law and civil …

Centering The Immigrant In The Inter/National Imagination (Part Iii): Aoki, Rawls, And Immigration, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

Fifteen years ago, Keith Aoki and Professor Robert Chang published "Centering the Immigrant in the Inter/National Imagination" in an early LatCrit symposium. Fifteen years later Professor Chang uses the occasion of the current Symposium to revisit conversations with Keith about centering the immigrant in political theory, as he addresses the issue of immigration, the rights of immigrants, and what is to be our national self-conception. What follows is a sketch that shows how centering the immigrant exposes the inattention paid to the immigrant and the issue of immigration in social contract theory. It focuses on how the immigrant might be …

Compassionate Immigration Reform, Steven W. Bender

Faculty Articles

Ideals of comprehensive immigration reform have been co-opted by advocates of border and internal security and enforcement, leaving behind our aspirations as a compassionate nation of immigrants. Mindful of the tension between blind adherence to the rule of law and the goal of empathetic immigration policy, I suggest a reframing of comprehensive immigration reform as compassionate reform and sketch the details of this transformative policymaking approach.

Focusing on the life-threatening journey of undocumented immigrants and the perils they and their families face once inside the United States, I argue for a time-out on deaths at the border and on workplace …

Faces Of Immigration Reform, Steven W. Bender

Faculty Articles

Recognizing the need for a sympathetic construction of immigrants as a precursor to comprehensive immigration reform that goes beyond enforcement prerogatives, this article surveys the various “faces” of immigration reform - both of advocates for progressive reform and the potentially sympathetic group images they wield. The article concludes that no image - whether of undocumented workers generally, farm laborers, immigrant children and Dreamers, or undocumented veterans - is poised to garner sympathy from voters and policymakers, particularly against the backdrop of the current economic crisis. Reform may hinge, then, on interest convergence so powerful that it transcends the prevailing negative …

The Terrorism Bar To Asylum In Australia, Canada, The United Kingdom, And The United States: Transporting Best Practices, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

The contemporary threat of terrorism that the Western world faces is primarily from so-called “aliens.” As such, the laws that are meant to combat terrorism necessarily involve the regulation of the admission and exclusion of aliens. This type of regulation is traditionally the purview of immigration law. Although the link between national security and immigration is by no means contemporary, the existing level of intersection between antiterrorism laws and immigration is essentially a post- 9/11 phenomenon.

The reason for this phenomenon is that the 9/11 attacks were planned and executed by aliens. Although there has not been a terrorist attack …

The Alienage Spectrum Disorder: The Bill Of Rights From Chinese Exclusion In Guantanamo, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

The fundamental notion that increased ties to the polity of the United States would entitle an alien to better rights is deeply-rooted in the jurisprudence. Ordinarily, these rights tend to strengthen as one moves forward from the beginning of the spectrum, which might involve the most attenuated contact, as in the case of enemy aliens detained by United States military in a foreign land or an overseas visa applicant, to the end of the spectrum, which might involve a United States citizen. While this seems to make perfect sense, this article argues that a closer examination of the century-old jurisprudence …

The Challenges Of Representing Detained Non-Citizens In Expedited Removal Proceedings From The Perspective Of The Dickinson School Of Law Immigration Clinic, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

Persons deprived of their liberties as a result of administrative detention for immigration reasons face a multitude of serious challenges. There is currently no recognized right to the government-appointed representation in immigration proceedings. As a result, on a very small percentage of immigrants obtain pro bono or any other kind of legal representation. This problem is compounded by the fact that most immigration detainees are detained in remote rural areas where the private bar is virtually unavailable. Those who are fortunate to obtain pro bono or other types of legal representation also face some serious challenges at the different stages …

Immigration Reform From The Outside In, Bill Piatt

Faculty Articles

Immigration reform is made up of two differing extreme positions, but by seeking common ground, a more fair and balanced approach may be adopted in the best interests of all.Rather than trying to analyze positions as conservative or liberal, it makes more sense to view the extremes as a “closed border” versus “open border” approach. The extreme positions will not work, so a more middle-ground position would require a thoughtful examination of a number of issues. Those issues are what are the costs and benefits of removing those already illegally here; what role should the federal, state, and local governments …

The Terrorism Exception To Asylum: Managing The Uncertainty In Status Determination, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

The Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA "), as it must, excludes a terrorist from receiving asylum. The substantive criteria, and the adjudicative procedures set forth under the INA for the identification of the undeserving terrorist inevitably exclude those who are neither terrorists nor otherwise undeserving. Such unintended consequences are perhaps unavoidable in any well-conceived statutory scheme. What is disconcerting is, however the margin of the possible error in the application of this statutory scheme. Those who may be excluded by the application of these provisions are often not those who are supposed to be excluded as terrorists. Moreover, the existing …

Revisiting The Rules Of Evidence And Procedure In Adversarial Immigration Proceedings, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

This article addresses the concern over the state of deportation proceedings in the United States. Professor Kidane argues that a lack of formal rules of procedure and evidence is the main factor contributing to the unpredictability, and inconsistency inherent in our system of immigration law. The argument is placed in context by reviewing the growth of the administrative agencies up through the adoption of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Kidane notes that the APA embodies one approach as a compromise between those advocating strict formal rules of procedure and evidence and those supporting a more relaxed system for administrative proceedings. …

Committing A Crime While A Refugee: Rethinking The Issue Of Deportation In Light Of The Principle Against Double Jeopardy, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution provides: No person shall...be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . If a refugee who has committed a deportable offense and served his sentence is subsequently deported from a place where he calls home to a place where he would face persecution, he could literally be said to have been twice put in jeopardy of life and limb. That seems to be a prima facie violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. This constitutional guarantee is, however, …

The Effect Of 8 U. S. C. 1324(D) In Transporting Prosecutions: Does The Confrontation Clause Still Apply To Alien Defendants, Donna F. Coltharp

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Centering The Immigrant In The Inter/National Imagination, Robert S. Chang, Keith Aoki

Faculty Articles

In this Article, Professors Chang and Aoki examine the relationship between the immigrant and the nation in the complicated racial terrain known as the United States. Special attention is paid to the border which contains and configures the local, the national and the international. They criticize the contradictory impulse that has led to borders becoming increasingly porous to the flows of information, goods and capital while simultaneously constricting when it comes to the movement of certain persons, particularly those of Asian and Latinalo ancestry. The authors examine Monterey Park, California, as one site where there has been a large influx …

Migration, Identity & The Colonial Encounter, Tayyab Mahmud

Faculty Articles

The immigrant puts at issue assumptions of inviolability of borders, territoriality of sovereignty, and exclusivity of citizenship - fundamental characteristics of the modern state. The immigrant calls into question cultural homogeneity, linguistic commonality, shared history, and security of identity - the key ideologies of the nation. This article explores these issues by locating them in spatial and temporal sites removed from the common foci of current immigration debates. Using three stories of migration from colonial and postcolonial South Asia, the first part of the article demonstrates that within the general context of empire and imperialism, the determinants and processes of …

Foreword: Citizenship And Its Discontents - Centering The Immigrant In The Inter/National Imagination (Part Ii), Robert S. Chang, Keith Aoki, Ibrahim Gassama

Faculty Articles

A couple of years ago, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) swept through several southern states to round up and deport undocumented workers. The sweep was called Operation SouthPAW, PAW standing for "Protecting America's Workers." The roundup occurred in two phases, which curiously took place mostly before and after the harvest. The operation was celebrated by the INS and mainstream media as hugely successful in protecting America's workers (and thus America) from encroachment by "unauthorized" workers. But who gains ideologically and materially from such policing actions? Who loses? These questions of material profit and ideological benefit lie at the heart …

Obtaining Remedies For Ins Misconduct, Lee J. Teran

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Immigration Law: The Immigration Consequences Of Criminal Activity, Genevieve Hebert Fajardo, Lorelei Ritchie

Faculty Articles

Immigration laws in the United States may affect prisoners, possibly resulting in deportation. Some convicted prisoners who are aliens may be subject to deportation dependent upon the government’s ability to prove by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence that they fall into a deportable category. Providing prisoners with sufficient knowledge and answers to potential deportation questions stemming from criminal convictions may delay and thwart these proceedings.

By beginning with a categorization of the different types of immigrants in this country, a convicted prisoner will be better able to determine for themselves whether they are subject to deportation. If they are, this …

Introduction, Bernard D. Reams Jr.

Faculty Articles

Volume Two of Immigration and Nationality Law Review continues to represent a centralized annual forum for the paramount articles concerning American immigration laws. In addition to the law review articles selected by the editor for inclusion in this second volume, two original essays by practitioners in immigration law are featured. Mark Mancini examines excludability for lack of a valid labor certification as a species of fraud, and Dan P. Danilov reviews and discusses recent changes regarding nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for workers, businessmen, managers and investors. The Review’s goal remains that of providing the practicing lawyer and legal researcher with …

Introduction, Bernard D. Reams Jr.

Faculty Articles

The law of immigration and nationality is becoming an increasingly important topic in legal literature. This introductory volume of Immigration and Nationality Law Review represents an attempt to provide a centralized annual forum for the leading articles in this area of American law. Normally, leading legal periodical articles on the subjects of immigration, nationality, and alienage, are spread throughout various law journals. At best, materials germane to this subject have occasionally appeared in special law review issues or symposium volumes published by various American law schools. However, considering the growing relevance and concerns of immigration and nationality in the United …