Law Commons^™

Save Your Rights: How Florida And Other States Have Targeted Voting Access Following The 2020 Election, Francisco Varona

FIU Law Review

Following the 2020 general election, Florida’s Republican led legislature introduced Senate Bill 90 (“S.B. 90”), which seeks to put many restrictions on various aspects of the voting process. S.B. 90 limits ballot drop-off boxes, restricts mail-in voting, proscribes “line-warming,” increases registration difficulty, and expands identification requirements. Despite lauding Florida’s election as a gold standard for the rest of the country, Governor Ron DeSantis approved this bill in May of 2021, explaining that Florida should not become complacent despite its success. The Republican Governor approved this law against the backdrop of record voter turnout for Black and Latino voters and record …

Disposable Immigrants: The Reality Of Sexual Assault In Immigration Detention Centers, Valerie Gisel Zarate

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

The Mother Of Exiles Is Abandoning Her Children: The Systemic Failure To Protect Unaccompanied Minors Arriving At Our Borders, Rosa M. Peterson

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Unaccompanied minors arrive at the United States border every day. Many brought by the hope of finding a life lived without fear, a luxury many United States citizens take for granted. Their truths become the barriers and shackles which keep them in detention centers and unaccompanied minor facilities throughout the United States; children find their very words wielded as weapons against them in immigration court. Words often spoken to therapists in perceived confidence, during counseling sessions. This practice is a systemic failure to protect unaccompanied minors arriving at our borders who are seeking protection and help. The United States …

Punishment And Prejudice: Reproductive Coercion In Immigration And Customs Enforcement Detention Centers, Inka Skłodowska Boehm

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

Pauline Binam arrived in the United States from Cameroon as a toddler, with no notion of the dangers her new home had in store. At twenty-eight years old, Pauline found herself separated from her daughter and awaiting deportation in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. Pauline consented to what she believed was a minor procedure after suffering from irregular menstrual bleeding, an ailment likely triggered by her two-year confinement. Unbeknownst to Pauline, the doctor removed one of her fallopian tubes, barring her ability to give birth to more children. A year later, Pauline came forward following a …

We’Ll Protect You! Oh, Wait, But Not You. Or You, You, Or You: The Consequences Of The Court’S Major Undertaking In Department Of Homeland Security V. Thuraissigiam, Jae Lynn Huckaba

University of Miami Law Review

For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has been used to test the legality of restraints on a person’s freedom. The Founders, recognizing the significance of the protection, incorporated the writ into the Suspension Clause of our Constitution. In the last century, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that noncitizens may invoke the Suspension Clause. Courts, especially in the immigration context, also expanded the definition of “in custody” for the purpose of habeas corpus to included non-detained persons in removal proceedings. The Supreme Court has departed from such precedent and gave new meaning to habeas corpus in the immigration context—a …

Judicial Deference Of The Board Of Immigration Appeals’ Regulatory Interpretations In Light Of Kisor V. Wilkie, Melissa Fullmer

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

A Human Rights Crisis Under Our Roof, Aglae Eufracio

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Immigration And Racial Justice: Enforcing The Borders Of Blackness, Karla Mckanders

Georgia State University Law Review

Black immigrants are invisible at the intersection of their race and immigration status. Until recently, conversations on border security, unlawful immigration, and national security obscured racially motivated laws seeking to halt the blackening and browning of America. This Article engages with the impact of immigration enforcement at the intersection of anti-Black racism and interrogates how foundational immigration laws that exist outside constitutional norms have rendered Black immigrants invisible. At this intersection, Black immigrants experience a double bind where enforcement of immigration laws and the criminal legal system have a disparate impact resulting in disproportionate incarceration and deportation.

First, the Article …

Does It Really Matter?: Making The Case For A Materiality Requirement In False Claims To U.S. Citizenship Under The Immigration And Nationality Act, Elizabeth Montano, Edward F. Ramos

University of Miami Law Review

Materiality plays an important role in limiting the reach of laws that penalize misrepresentations. Laws that include no materiality element punish any covered misrepresentation regardless of its relevance—like lying about hair color on a loan application. By contrast, laws that include a materiality element withhold punishment for immaterial misrepresentations of that kind—in other words, misrepresentations that have no tendency to affect the ultimate decision.
Our immigration laws make it a deportable offense for a noncitizen to “falsely represent” herself as a U.S. citizen for a purpose or benefit under the law. Although this law has been on the books for …

Undocumented Domestic Workers: A Penumbra In The Workforce, Abigail A. Roman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

It Is Time To Get Back To Basics On The Border, Donna Coltharp

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Temporary Protection Status: A Yugoslavian Precedent, Medina Dzubur

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Analyzing the past use of temporary protection status to shield those facing "ethnic cleansing, massacres, mass rapes, and cultural vandalism" is fundamental in understanding how this tool can be utilized to protect modern refugees, and why EU members have refused to implement this status further. In other words, should temporary protection status, considering the legal framework and the socioeconomic effects, be granted to Syrian refugees? This note argues in favor of granting temporary protection status to Syrian refugees because the status (1) offers a recourse for displaced persons that would not be covered by traditional legal protections, (2) produces quicker …

What Recourse Do Vulnerable Immigrants Have?: Violations Of The Vawa Confidentiality Provisions And The Pursuit Of An Even Playing Field, Trevor S. Gallaway

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Divided States Of America: Why The Right To Counsel Is Imperative For Migrant Children In Removal Proceedings, Catrina L. Guerrero

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Not Your Average Summer Camp: Children In Immigration Detention, Cindy Izquierdo

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

America’S Second-Class Children: An Examination Of President Trump’S Immigration Policies On Migrant Children And Inquiry On Justice Through The Catholic Perspective, Gabriel Sáenz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Fugitive Slaves And Undocumented Immigrants: Testing The Boundaries Of Our Federalism, Sandra L. Rierson

University of Miami Law Review

Federalism—the dual system of sovereignty that invests both the nation as a whole and each individual state with the authority to govern the people of the United States of America—is a foundational pillar of American democracy. Throughout the nation’s history, political crises have tested the resilience of this dual system of government established by the United States Constitution. The fundamental contradiction of slavery in a nation founded on the principle that “all men are created equal” triggered the nation’s most prominent existential crisis, resulting in the Civil War. In the years leading up to that war, the federal government’s protection …

Environmental Justice In Little Village: A Case For Reforming Chicago’S Zoning Law, Charles Isaacs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Chicago’s Little Village community bears the heavy burden of environmental injustice and racism. The residents are mostly immigrants and people of color who live with low levels of income, limited access to healthcare, and disproportionate levels of dangerous air pollution. Before its retirement, Little Village’s Crawford coal-burning power plant was the lead source of air pollution, contributing to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2,800 asthma attacks per year. After the plant’s retirement, community members wanted a say on the future use of the lot, only to be closed out when a corporation, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, bought the lot …

Cowboys And Indians: Settler Colonialism And The Dog Whistle In U.S. Immigration Policy, Hannah Gordon

University of Miami Law Review

The nineteenth-century Indian problem has become the twenty-first century border crisis. While the United States fancies itself a nation of immigrants, this rhetoric is impossible to square with the reality of the systematic exclusion of migrants of color. In particular, the Trump administration has taken the exclusion of migrants descended from the Indigenous inhabitants of Mexico and Central America to a reductio ad absurdum. This Note joins a body of scholarship that centers the history of genocide in the United States to examine what our settler colonial history means for today’s immigration law and policy. It concludes that the contemporary …

Movement Lawyering, Scott L. Cummings

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article examines the relation between movement lawyering and American legal theory, explores the meaning and content of movement lawyering in the contemporary American context, and reflects on the implications of movement lawyering for the theory and practice of access to justice around the globe. It suggests that the rise of movement lawyering signals frustration with process-oriented solutions to fundamental problems of inequality and discrimination in the legal system, and challenges access to justice proponents to frame their work in connection with a political strategy that builds on movements for progressive legal change. In this sense, the article suggests that …

Racial Purges, Robert L. Tsai

Michigan Law Review

Review of Beth Lew-Williams' The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America.

Legislating Morality: Moral Theory And Turpitudinous Crimes In Immigration Jurisprudence, Abel Rodríguez, Jennifer A. Bulcock

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Congress could have framed the country’s immigration policies in any number of ways. In significant part, it opted to frame them in moral terms. The crime involving moral turpitude is among the most pervasive and pernicious classifications in immigration law. In the Immigration and Nationality Act, it is virtually ubiquitous, appearing everywhere from the deportability and mandatory detention grounds to the inadmissibility and naturalization grounds. In effect, it acts as a gatekeeper for those who wish to enter and remain in the country, obtain lawful permanent residence, travel abroad after admission, or become United States citizens. With limited exceptions, noncitizens …

Immigration Politics: Shifting Norms, Policies And Practices, Felicia Escobar, Annie Lai, Hiroshi Motomura, Karen Tumlin, Kathleen Kim

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remarks On Prosecutorial Discretion And Immigration, Shoba S. Wadhia

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

A Life Absolutely Bare? A Reflection On Resistance By Irregular Refugees Against Fingerprinting As State Biopolitical Control In The European Union, Ziang Zhou

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

In a legally transitory category, irregular refugees- experience a double precariousness. They risk their lives to travel across treacherous seas to Europe for a better life. However, upon the long-awaited embarkation on the European land, they are exposed once again to the precariousness of the asylum application. They are “powerless”, “with no rights” and “to be sacrificed” as Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt suggested in their respective understanding of a “bare life”, la nuda vita. In light of the administrative difficulties in managing asylum application, the European Union introduced the “Dublin Agreement”, which stipulates mandatory biometric data collection for …

Sanctuary Cities And The Trump Administration: The Practical Limits Of Federal Power, Joshua W. Dansby

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

On January 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order with the supposed purpose of enhancing public safety of the interior of the United States. Part of the Administration’s plan includes threatening “sanctuary jurisdictions,” also known as “sanctuary cities,” with the loss of federal funds for failing to comply with federal law, specifically 8 U.S.C. § 1373.

There are several problems with this plan: (1) there is no solid definition for what makes a city a “sanctuary;” (2) if we accept the Administration’s allusion that a sanctuary jurisdiction is one that “willfully” refuses to comply with 8 U.S.C. …

Effects Of Senate Bill 4 On Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are At Risk In Low-Income Occupations, Daniella Salas-Chacon

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Limiting The National Right To Exclude, Katrina M. Wyman

University of Miami Law Review

This essay argues that the robust right to exclude that nation states currently enjoy will be harder to justify in an era of climate change. Similar to landowners, nation states have virtual monopolies over portions of the earth. However, the right of landowners to control who enters their land is considerably more constrained than the right of nation states to control who enters their territory. Climate change will alter the areas of the earth suitable for human habitation and the broad right of nation states to exclude will be more difficult to justify in this new environment.

Undocumented Citizens Of The United States: The Repercussions Of Denying Birth Certificates, Anna L. Lichtenberger

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Finality Of A Conviction: A Noncitizen's Right To Procedural Due Process, Daniela Mondragon

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming