Law Commons^™

Family Unity Revisited: Divorce, Separation, And Death In Immigration Law, Albertina Antognini

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Families are integral to immigration law and policy, and family-based immigration accounts for the majority of legal entry into the United States. Legislative, judicial, and scholarly discussions that address immigration law's family-based categories rely nearly exclusively on the principle of family unification, which has long been a cornerstone policy of immigration law. Yet the family-based provisions of immigration law do more than unify intact families; understanding families as dynamic entities that experience change reveals an immigration system that acknowledges a flexible family structure in determining status.

The principal aim of this Article is to present a more complete description of …

The Case Against Separating The Care From The Caregiver: Reuniting Caregivers' Rights And Children's Rights, Pamela Laufer-Ukeles

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

History Repeats Itself: Parallels Between Current-Day Threats To Immigrant Parental Rights And Native American Parental Rights In The Twentieth Century, Vinita B. Andrapalliyal

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Immigrant parents are currently burdened with unique risks to their parental rights, risks that bear little relation to their ability to care for their children. Recent developments in family and immigration law, historical cultural prejudices against non-Western parenting traditions, and poor immigrants’ limited access to the U.S. legal system are largely to blame. This Note explores the inadequacies in our legal system contributing to the struggles of immigrant parents to maintain family unity and connects the current situation to the disproportionate number of terminations of parental rights within the Native American community in the mid-twentieth century. It suggests that a …

Transgender Inpportunity And Inequality: Evaluating The Crossroads Between Immigration And Transgender Individuals, Alexandra Caggiano

Seattle University Law Review

Despite being married to a U.S. citizen, non-citizen transgender individuals and non-citizen spouses married to transgender U.S. citizens still face deportation today due to current immigration policies. When forced to return to their home countries, transgender individuals are likely to encounter violence from those who perpetuate hate towards transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Instead of protecting these individuals, the United States continues to send people back to their native countries solely because those individuals do not fall within the narrowly constructed definition of marriage some states use that is legally recognized by federal courts. Transgender individuals receive disparate treatment as …

“Are We There Yet?” Immigration Reform For The Best Interest Of Children Left Behind, Lynne Marie Kohm, Keila Molina

Lynne Marie Kohm

This article illustrates several important concerns that are at work for immigrating families and their children, while presenting options for federal and state government action to implement public policies for the protection of the best interests of children whose families are involved in immigration proceedings, particularly when children are left behind by deported parents. Part I considers the intersection of family law with federal immigration law and policy and its impact on the lives of children. Part II details the dilemma of a lack of federal planning for children left behind after parents are detained or deported; these are incredibly …

An 'I Do' I Choose: How The Fight For Marriage Access Supports A Per Se Finding Of Persecution For Asylum Cases Based On Forced Marriage, Natalie Nanasi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

There is something special about marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court, in striking down anti-miscegenation laws, restrictions on the right to marry for disadvantaged groups, and most recently, the Defense of Marriage Act, has long recognized the marital union to be "sacred" and "fundamental to…existence." Yet this analysis is dramatically different when courts consider asylum law, where a woman who is seeking refuge in the United States to protect her from a forced marriage abroad will likely be denied protection because the harm she fears is not considered to be a "persecutory" act. She may therefore be forced to spend a …