Law Commons^™

Interest And Action: Findings From A Survey Of Asian American Attitudes On Immigrants, Immigration, And Activism, Michael Liu, Shauna Lo, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report presents results from a survey of 412 Chinese and Vietnamese in the Boston area about attention paid to immigration issues, views on the impact of immigrants and on immigration policies, and likeliness to engage in political activities around immigration rights.

Removal Of Central American Gang Members: How Immigration Laws Fail To Reflect Global Reality, Freddy Funes

Freddy R Funes

Central American gangs have created numerous difficulties for Central American nations. Some of the violence and tactics learned by these gangs came from the United States, via it's new immigration policies. This article explains the faults of the current removal policy and offers solutions to mitigate the growing violence in Central America. Part II discusses the United States’ removal policy. Part III explains the myriad problems that this removal policy produces in Central America and within the United States. Part IV discusses how the United States’ current law fails to further the United States’ interests and how courts refuse to …

John Mccain's Citizenship: A Tentative Defense, Stephen E. Sachs

Stephen E. Sachs

Sen. John McCain was born a U.S. citizen and is eligible to be president. The most serious challenge to his status, recently posed by Prof. Gabriel Chin, contends that the statute granting citizenship to Americans born abroad did not include the Panama Canal Zone, where McCain was born in 1936. When Congress amended the law in 1937, he concludes, it was too late for McCain to be "natural born." Even assuming, however, that McCain's citizenship depended on this statute - and ignoring his claim to citizenship at common law - Chin's argument may be based on a misreading. When the …

Nafta: The Great Wall Of Mexico, Simon P. Serrano

Simon P Serrano

NAFTA: The Great Wall of Mexico. This article focused on the concept that NAFTA was claimed by the US and Canada to be a manner by which Mexico would be assisted. Although claim, was the premise and guise under which these countries found support from Mexico, the premise clearly did not occur. Ultimately, the implementation has proven to be a method by which Mexico’s self sustenance has been taken. Mexico once exported millions of dollars in Maize (corn), but now imports much more as the US growers have greater subsidies and can produce and ship Mexico’s staple product at a …

Borders Erected Around Unlimited Right To Detain, Susan Harris Rimmer

Susan Harris Rimmer

Fourteen years after the federal ALP introduced the current legal basis of detention, Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans has outlined the new approach to detention agreed by the Rudd Labor Government. In essence it has committed itself to seven ''values'', the first being that mandatory detention remains an ''essential component of strong border control''. But the second value sets out the categories of those to whom mandatory detention will apply. They are: all arrivals for health, identity and security checks, and to them only for a short time; people who present an unacceptable risk to the community; and people who …

Immigration Law: Nowhere To Turn—Illegal Aliens Cannot Use The Freedom Of Information Act As A Discovery Tool To Fight Unfair Removal Hearings, Larry R. Fleurantin

Larry R. Fleurantin

This Article challenges the authority of the Attorney General and the DHS Secretary to withhold information from an alien after a FOIA request under Exemption (b)(5), to use that same withheld information to impeach the alien’s testimony during an individual hearing on the merits, and to use that as grounds for the Immigration Court to deny an applicant’s request for asylum. This Article takes the position that the USCIS needs to change its unfair practice to avoid the harsh and pervasive injustice that aliens facein removal proceedings.

Exploitation Nation: The Thin And Grey Legal Lines Between Trafficked Persons And Abused Migrant Laborers, Dina Haynes

Dina Haynes

People around the world are on the move, pushed by external events such as civil war, political upheaval, and increasingly environmental disasters and pulled by the lure of a better life, a better job, a better way to provide for their families. The United States has created an inconsistent legal framework for responding to the exploitation of immigrants, dependent on the degree of victimhood, with the label of victim only frugally bestowed upon those who are also viewed as essential to sustaining the US economy. Trafficked persons are not useful to legitimate US businesspersons, and are accordingly protected. Agricultural and …

Campaign 2008: The Critical Issues, Kevin F. Sims

History and Government Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Perspective On Immigration Law For Same-Sex Couples: How The United States Compares To Other Industrialized Democracies, James D. Wilets

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Out Of The Wilderness: After A Seven-Year Wait, U Visa Applicants Finally Receive Guidance, Mark J. Calaguas

Mark J Calaguas

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Dimension Of Immigration Federalism, Clare Huntington

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Farmers Branch, Texas, the city council enacted a measure to fine landlords who rent their premises to unauthorized migrants,' and in Arizona, the state legislature passed a law imposing stiff penalties on employers who intentionally or knowingly hire unauthorized migrants. In San Francisco, the board of supervisors passed a measure that bars law enforcement officers from inquiring into the immigration status of an individual in the course of a criminal investigation. In Alabama and Florida, state officials have entered into agreements with the federal government permitting state law enforcement officers to arrest and detain non-citizens on immigration charges. Other …

Essay: In Opposition To The Suffolk County Legislature's Introductory Resolution 2025, Andrea Callan

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Birthright Citizenship, The Fourteenth Amendment, And State Authority, James C. Ho

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Close To Crucial: The H-2b Visa Program Must Evolve, But Must Endure, Lindsay M. Pickral

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Save America: Stop Illegal Immigration, Hon. Virgil H. Goode Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

Security is an overriding issue confronting the United States, and if we want enhanced security, illegal immigration must be stopped. In fact, illegal immigration is an addiction that the United States must break, or it will break the United States.

Rights And Obligations Of Americans In Mexico Under Immigration Law And Other Areas Of Mexican Law, Jorge A. Vargas

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Alien Invasion?, Ediberto Roman

Ediberto Roman

The Alien Invasion? explores the increasingly prevalent undercurrent of xenophobia and nativism appearing both in political circles and major media outlets throughout the nation. Of prime significance to the invasion rhetoric are the arguments that the current wave of immigration is of a volume unprecedented in American history, that it negatively impacts the nation’s economy, and that it puts America’s national security at risk by allowing potential terrorists to permeate our borders. By juxtaposing the substance of such claims with empirical data demonstrating the actual effects of the Latino and Latina immigrant population, The Alien Invasion? seeks to demonstrate that …

The Significance Of The Local In Immigration Regulation, Cristina M. Rodríguez

Michigan Law Review

The proliferation of state and local regulation designed to control immigrant movement generated considerable media attention and high-profile lawsuits in 2006 and 2007. Proponents and opponents of these measures share one basic assumption, with deep roots in constitutional doctrine and political rhetoric: immigration control is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government. Because of the persistence of this assumption, assessments of this important trend have failed to explain why state and local measures are arising in large numbers, and why the regulatory uniformity both sides claim to seek is neither achievable nor desirable. I argue that the time has come …

Immigration Policy And Low Wage Workers: The Influence Of American Unionism, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

Public testimony by Prof. Briggs given at the Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, October 30, 2003.

Immigration Posses: U.S. Immigration Law And Local Enforcement Practices, Kevin J. Fandl

Kevin J Fandl

The failure of the United States Congress to pass comprehensive immigration legislation at a time when the issue of immigration has reached a boiling point has created an overwhelming demand by citizens for local reform. States have responded by enacting hundreds of laws that regulate immigration at the state-level. This creates significant tension both between states with conflicting laws, which creates havens in some states and rampant enforcement in others, and between states and the federal government, which is ultimately responsible for regulating immigration law. This article examines the history of immigration legislation since the founding of the United States …

Alienating The Unalienable: Equal Protection And Valley Park, Missouri’S Illegal Immigration Ordinance, Sarah E. Mullen-Dominguez

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Disruption Of Marital Eharmony: Distinguishing Mail-Order Brides From Online Dating In Evaluating "Good Faith Marriage", Brandon N. Robinson

Brandon N. Robinson

ABSTRACT In today’s society, more and more people are turning to the information superhighway to find love. No longer confined to the girl or boy “next door,” many of today’s single men and women can connect with potential soul mates across the globe with the simple click of a button, symbolizing yet another consequence of a world community that is quickly becoming smaller and more interconnected. Once an international “match” has been made, the U.S. citizen can begin the complicated process of bringing his newfound loved one to the States. The IMO industry has a much more sinister underbelly, however, …

Introduction: Immigration Law In Pennsylvania: Policy And Practice, Jill E. Family

Jill E. Family

The first panel fulfilled goal one: to host a thoughtful, Pennsylvania-focused analysis of state and local efforts to legislate in the area of immigration law. The second panel fulfilled goal two: to provide a forum for Pennsylvania immigration attorneys to share their experiences amongst themselves and with the public. The panels together fulfilled goals three and four: to help bridge the gap between policy and practice and to increase the involvement of the Institute in this important debate.

Collateral Consequences Of Criminal Convictions To Noncitizens, Fernando A. Nuñez

Faculty Scholarship

The criminal defense attorney's intuitive pursuit of freedom for a client is almost always the best approach in the representation of individuals charged with a crime. When representing noncitizens, however, the prudent practice is to deemphasize immediate freedom and instead to focus on the collateral consequences the conviction will have on the noncitizen's immigration status.

U.S. Immigration Policy: Contract Or Human Rights Law?, Victor C. Romero

Journal Articles

The current immigration debate often reflects a tension between affirming the individual rights of migrants against the power of a nation to control its borders. An examination of U.S. Supreme Court precedent reveals that, from our earliest immigration history to the present time, our immigration policy has functioned more like contract law than human rights law, with the Court deferring to the power of Congress to define the terms of that contract at the expense of the immigrant's freedom.

Rights And The Hijâb: Rationality And Discourse In The Public Sphere, Howard Adelman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents, and Citizens by Seyla Benhabib. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 251 pp.

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Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space by John R. Bowen. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 290 pp.

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Muslim Girls and the Other France: Race, Identity Politics & Social Exclusion by Trica Danielle Keaton. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. 223 pp.

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Human Rights and Religion: The Islamic Headscarf Debate in Europe by Dominic McGoldrick. Portland, Oregon: Hart Publishing, 2006. 320 pp.

A New Look At Neo-Liberal Economic Policies And The Criminalization Of Undocumented Migration, Teresa A. Miller

Journal Articles

This paper situates the current “crisis” surrounding the arrival and continued presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States within penological trends that have taken root in American law over the past thirty years. It positions the shift from more benevolent to the increasingly harsh legal treatment of undocumented immigrants as the continuation of a succession of legal reforms criminalizing immigrants, and governing immigration through crime. By charting the increasing salience of crime in public perceptions of undocumented immigrants, and comparing the immediately preceding criminal stigmatization of so-called “criminal aliens”, this paper exposes current severity toward undocumented immigrants as consistent …

Brief Of Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Juan Rivera V. State Of Maryland, No. 08-80, Maureen A. Sweeney

Court Briefs

The petitioner requested the Maryland Court of Appeals to reverse a decision that his criminal plea of guilty was voluntary. The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland had ruled it voluntary. Law professors at the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore filed this amicus brief in support of the petitioner.

The brief presents the issue of whether a guilty plea is voluntary and knowingly given when it is based on affirmative misinformation about the direct immigration consequences of such a plea. The amici argue that the petitioner’s plea was unconstitutionally involuntary and unknowing because his attorney, the prosecutor, …

The Glass Half-Full: A Rational/Radical Approach To Immigration Reform, Bill Piatt

Faculty Articles

The problems the United States faces in redirecting immigration policies cannot be successfully addressed by a quick fix immigration “reform.” The legal, economic, sociological, political, racial, and moral issues are too complex and have been largely unresolved. As a result, it is unrealistic to expect political leaders to develop an easy solution that will satisfy the myriad competing and conflicting concerns.

Most of the calls for reform are not issued by individuals completely aware of the extent of immigration regulation and of its impact on American society. Rather, calls come from those with relatively narrow interests from all ranges of …

The Alien Invasion, Ediberto Román

Faculty Publications

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, repeatedly complains about strict immigration policies' impact on the ability for businesses to hire skilled workers. In terms of other sectors of the economy, an American Farm Bureau Federation study notes that "if agriculture's access to migrant labor were cut off, as much as $5- 9 billion in annual production of... commodities.., would be lost in the short term. Over the longer term, this annual loss would increase to $6.5-12 billion as the shock worked its way through the sector." Preeminent economist John Kenneth Galbraith effectively responded to those who have advocated for closed borders …