Law Commons^™

Reaping The Harvest: The Long, Complicated, Crucial Rhetorical Struggle Over Deportation, Daniel Kanstroom

Daniel Kanstroom

No abstract provided.

Arizona’S Support Our Law Enforcement And Safe Neighborhoods Act: Its Likely Consequences On Latino Communities And What To Do About Them, Elena Llamas

elena llamas

The U.S. has seen a recent wave of legislative efforts to empower state and local law enforcement officers with anti-illegal immigration responsibilities. The purpose of this article is to suggest community policing changes that police departments could enact to best enforce these types of laws and mantain good relations with Latinos.

Who Are Refugees?, Matthew Lister

Matthew J. Lister

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are unable to meet their needs on their own, and do not receive adequate protection or support from their home states. These people, if they are to be provided for, need assistance from the international community. If we are to meet our duties to these people, we must have ways of knowing who should be eligible for different forms of relief. One prominent proposal from scholars and activists has been to classify all who are unable to meet their basic needs on their own as "refugees," and to extend to them the …

Beyond Saints And Sinners: Discretion And The Need For New Narratives In The U.S. Immigration System, Elizabeth Keyes

Elizabeth Keyes

This article examines the forces affecting the exercise of discretion in American immigration courts, and argues that in this present age of immigration anxiety, the same facts that place an individual in deportation proceedings may constitute the reasons a judge will, relying on discretion, deny them relief for which they are otherwise eligible. The article explores the polarized narratives told about “good” and ”bad” immigrants, the exceptionally difficult task of adjudicating in overburdened immigration courts, and the ways in which these polarized narratives interact with psychological short-cuts, or heuristics, that affect judicial exercises of discretion. After engaging in this analysis, …

Immigration And Social Solidarity In A Time Of Crisis: The Welfare State And Integration, David Abraham

David Abraham

Very suddenly a cloud has settled over the immigration regimes of the European welfare states as well as the United States. Confidence in the ability to integrate and the value of integrating newcomers into a system of legal and social solidarity has waned. The weakening of both liberal civic nationalism and secular constitutional patriotism has unsettled national identities and undermined legal reforms intended to facilitate the inclusion of immigrants, especially Muslims. The road ahead will be very difficult for both the welfare state and immigrants. More forceful integration policies might be better for sustaining the welfare state, but individual liberties …

Immigration Laws As Instruments Of Discrimination: Legislation Designed To Limit Chinese Immigration Into The United Kingdom, Richard Klein

Richard Daniel Klein

No abstract provided.

Illegal Immigration And The Dilemma Of American Unions, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] Over its long and often turbulent evolution, the American labor movement has confronted few issues as persistently and as difficult has those related to subject of immigration. By definition, immigration affects the size of the labor force at any given time as well as its geographical distribution and skill composition. These vital influences, in turn, affect national, regional and local labor market conditions. Most immigrants directly join the labor force upon entering the country, as do eventually most of their family members. Hence, organized labor never has ignored immigration trends. As Samuel Gompers, one of the founders of the …

A Season Of Change: Reforming The H2b Guest Worker Program, Jayesh Rathod

Jayesh Rathod

The Abuse Of H-2 Visas And Their Use For Labor Trafficking Purposes, Maryam Tabatabai

Maryam Tabatabai

This article will discuss recent cases of guest worker exploitation, ineffective enforcement of H-2 regulations, inadequate protection of guest workers, causes of action currently available to victims, and possible solutions to mitigate abuse. Every year, about 121,000 guest workers arrive in the United States with hopes of achieving a better life for themselves and their families. Our system needs to ensure that we have legislative frameworks and the enforcement mechanisms in place to protect these workers, so that they may work hard to obtain a better living.

Critical Race Theory – The Last Voyage, Dan Subotnik

Dan Subotnik

No abstract provided.

After The Flood: The Legacy Of The "Surge" Of Federal Immigration Appeals, Stacy Caplow

Stacy Caplow

For many years, the big news in United States Courts of Appeal was the skyrocketing immigration caseload. For Courts that traditionally had busy immigration dockets, the effect was tsunamic. One of those Circuits, the Second, instituted a nonargument calendar that, over the past five years, has enabled the Court to regain some control over its swollen docket. While this administrative strategy has rescued the Court from drowning, the flow of cases continues, somewhat abated, but with enduring force. The so-called surge had unanticipated consequences extending far beyond court management changes. As a result of their increased exposure to immigration cases …

Beyond Decisional Independence: Uncovering Contributors To The Immigration Adjudication Crisis, Jill Family

Jill E. Family

Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

Dale Thompson

The controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070 enacted by the Arizona legislature utilizes local police to enforce Arizona's interpretations of immigration rules. Meanwhile, the "Utah Compact" suggests that all aspects of immigration policy should be handled by the federal government, not by states or localities. In the midst of this contentious debate, this article uses an "optimal federalism" framework to examine the appropriate locus for immigration policy. It compares economies and diseconomies of scale across enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions, in order to determine the appropriate level of government for addressing these institutional aspects of immigration policy. It concludes that due …

Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

Dale Thompson

No abstract provided.

Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

Dale Thompson

The controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070 enacted by the Arizona legislature utilizes local police to enforce Arizona's interpretations of immigration rules. Meanwhile, the "Utah Compact" suggests that all aspects of immigration policy should be handled by the federal government, not by states or localities. In the midst of this contentious debate, this article uses an "optimal federalism" framework to examine the appropriate locus for immigration policy. It compares economies and diseconomies of scale across enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions, in order to determine the appropriate level of government for addressing these institutional aspects of immigration policy. It concludes that due …

Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

Dale Thompson

The controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070 enacted by the Arizona legislature utilizes local police to enforce Arizona's interpretations of immigration rules. Meanwhile, the "Utah Compact" suggests that all aspects of immigration policy should be handled by the federal government, not by states or localities. In the midst of this contentious debate, this article uses an "optimal federalism" framework to examine the appropriate locus for immigration policy. It compares economies and diseconomies of scale across enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions, in order to determine the appropriate level of government for addressing these institutional aspects of immigration policy. It concludes that due …

Immigration Policy Through The Lens Of Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

Dale Thompson

The controversial immigration bill S.B. 1070 enacted by the Arizona legislature utilizes local police to enforce Arizona's interpretations of immigration rules. Meanwhile, the "Utah Compact" suggests that all aspects of immigration policy should be handled by the federal government, not by states or localities. In the midst of this contentious debate, this article uses an "optimal federalism" framework to examine the appropriate locus for immigration policy. It compares economies and diseconomies of scale across enactment, implementation, and enforcement institutions, in order to determine the appropriate level of government for addressing these institutional aspects of immigration policy. It concludes that due …

Moral And Legal Dilemma: A Legal Analysis Of The Criticisms Leveled Against Arizona Sb 1070, Michael K. Marriott

Michael K Marriott

The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, more commonly known as Arizona SB 1070, is a recently passed bill targeting unlawful immigration. Touted to be the strongest piece of immigration legislation passed in America's recent history, the bill has come under fire on state, national, and international levels.

This paper begins by setting the stage for why SB 1070 was passed, and what legislators sought to accomplish. It then provides a basic overview of the bill, with an emphasis towards its more controversial aspects. From there it groups together certain classes of criticisms that have been publicly leveled …

Advocating Duress And Infancy Exceptions To The Persecutor Bar To Asylum For Former Child-Soldiers, Joshua Dankoff

Joshua Dankoff

After briefly discussing asylum law, the persecutor bar to asylum, and the 2009 Supreme Court decision Negusie v. Holder, this paper argues that former child soldiers are a unique population of asylum seekers. The article considers the wide use of duress in domestic and international law, and briefly discusses the infancy defense. The article then argues that a lack of duress exception to the persecutor bar for former child soldiers negatively impacts child asylum seekers, and proposes that the Board of Immigration Appeals read in both a duress and infancy exception to the persecutor bar to asylum.

A Modest Proposal: To Deport The Children Of Gay Citizens, & Etc: Immigration Law, The Defense Of Marriage Act And The Children Of Same-Sex Couples, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines the terms “marriage” and “spouse” for federal purposes, clearly prevents the recognition of same-sex spouses under U.S. immigration law. Unless judges and immigration officials are careful to limit it as Congress intended, DOMA might also have a tragic unintended effect on some parent-child relationships. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) employs terms like “born in wedlock” and “stepparent” to define parent-child relationships for various immigration and citizenship purposes. One could argue, therefore, that DOMA prevents INA recognition of parent-child relationships stemming from a same-sex marriage. These relationships determine whether a person can …

"As Dumb As We Wanna Be: U.S. H-1b Visa Policy And The 'Brain Blocking' Of Asian Technology Professionals, Jeffrey L. Gower

Jeffrey L Gower

American technology firms must employ foreign specialty professionals through the H1-B system administered by the U.S. Immigration Service. Most applications for H1-B visas are from firms in the high technology sector, and the visas are granted through a lottery system. Chinese technology professionals are the second-highest recipients of these visas. The current total national H1-B visa allowance for 2008 and 2009 was capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 visas reserved for holders of Master's degrees or higher, down from 195,000 visas in the early 1990s. Computer software design firms and high technology application firms argue for an abolishment of …

Murky Immigration Law And The Challenges Facing Immigration Removal And Benefits Adjudication, Jill Family

Jill E. Family

An Environmental Justice Critique Of Comparative Advantage: Indigenous Peoples, Trade Policy, And The Mexican Neoliberal Economic Reforms, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

The free market reforms adopted by Mexico in the wake of the debt crisis of the 1980s and in connection with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have jeopardized the physical and cultural survival of Mexico’s indigenous peoples, increased migration to the United States, threatened biological diversity in Mexico, and imposed additional stress on the environment in the United States. Despite these negative impacts, NAFTA continues to serve as a template for trade agreements in the Americas. Unless this template is fundamentally restructured, future trade agreements may replicate throughout the Western hemisphere many of the economic, ecological and social …