Immigration Law Commons^™

Fifty States, But No Room For The Stateless, In Atlas Of The Stateless: Facts And Figures About Exclusion And Displacement (Ulrike Lauerhass Et Al. Eds, 2020), David C. Baluarte

Books and Chapters

“Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...” says a plaque on the Statue of Liberty in New York. Since its founding, the United States has welcomed immigrants and has granted them citizenship. Their children born on American soil automatically become US nationals. The current US administration is trying to overturn this proud tradition.

Protecting Stateless Refugees In The United States, David Baluarte

Scholarly Articles

This article proposes a more complete and nuanced consideration of statelessness in asylum adjudication procedures in the United States and the possibility of reopening previously denied asylum claims for this purpose. The article proceeds in four parts, beginning with a discussion of statelessness in the United States. Next, the article describes the international protection frameworks for both refugees and stateless persons and identifies important points of intersection between these frameworks. Then the article argues that discriminatory denationalization that renders a person stateless triggers refugee protection, thereby making victims of such deprivation eligible for asylum in the United States. The article …

Justice-Free Zones: U.S. Immigration Detention Under The Trump Administration, Eunice Hyunhye Cho, Tara Tidwell Cullen, Clara Long

United States Department of Homeland Security

In the last three years, the Trump administration has grown the immigration detention system in the United States to an unprecedented size, at times holding more than 56,000 people per day. Since 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has anchored this growth in places where immigrants are most likely to be isolated from legal counsel, remain in detention without real opportunity for release, and are more likely to lose their cases. These new detention centers also exhibit patterns of mistreatment and abuse, including medical and mental health care neglect, that have been present since the inception of ICE’s detention system …

From Cancellation To Removal: The Protection Of Migrants Of 'Bad Character' In Australia, Lillian Robb

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ni Refugiados Ni Migrantes: La Protección Complementaria En Casos De Migrantes En Situación De Pobreza, A La Luz Del Derecho Internacional De Los Derechos Humanos, Tomás Pascual Ricke

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vicarious Trauma And Ethical Obligations For Attorneys Representing Immigrant Clients: A Call To Build Resilience Among The Immigration Bar, Hannah C. Cartwright, Lindsay M. Harris, Liana M. Montecinos, Anam Rahman

Journal Articles

This article analyzes the ethical obligations for attorneys representing immigrant clients and the consequences of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout for the immigration bar and immigrant clients. The authors identify barriers for immigration attorneys in preventing, recognizing, and responding to vicarious trauma in themselves and colleagues and suggest practical ways that the immigration bar can and should seek to build resilience.

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Migration As Reparation: Climate Change And The Disruption Of Borders, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article examines the legal and moral basis for migration as a form of reparation for the harms inflicted on the states and peoples of the Global South through climate change and through centuries of predatory economic policies. Using Central American migration to the United States as a case study, the article explains that susceptibility to climate change is a function of two variables: exposure and social and economic vulnerability. High-emitting affluent states are disproportionately responsible for Central America’s exposure to climate change due to their historic and current greenhouse gas emissions, their unwillingness to curb these emissions, and their …

Hernández V. Mesa And Police Liability For Youth Homicides Before And After The Death Of Michael Brown, Delores Jones-Brown, Joshua Ruffin, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Akiv Dawson, Cicely J. Cottrell

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In a five-to-four decision announced in February of 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the parents of an unarmed fifteen-year-old Mexican national killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a cross-border shooting, cannot sue for damages in U.S. civil court. Here, we critique the majority and dissenting opinions and attempt to reconcile the strikingly different approach each used to resolve the case. Using a publicly available data set, we examine the homicide in Hernández v. Mesa, against the circumstances and context in which underage youth were killed by police within the United States over a five year …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Coming To Terms With Wartime Collaboration: Post-Conflict Processes & Legal Challenges, Shane Darcy

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The phenomenon of collaboration during wartime is as old as war itself. During situations of armed conflict, civilians or combatants belonging to one party to the conflict frequently provide assistance to the opposing side in various ways, such as by disclosing valuable information, defecting and fighting for the enemy, engaging in propaganda, or providing administrative support to an occupying power. Such acts of collaboration have been punished harshly, with violent retribution often directed at alleged collaborators during armed conflict, while states and at times non-state actors have prosecuted and punished collaboration as treason or related offenses in times of war. …

Building A Lifeline: A Proposed Global Platform And Responsibility Sharing Model For The Global Compact On Refugees, Sarnata Reynolds, Juan Pablo Vacatello

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

In 2016, the leaders of 193 governments committed to more equitable and predictable sharing of responsibility for refugees as part of the New York Declaration, to be realized in the Global Compact on Refugees. To encourage debate, this paper presents the first global model to measure the capacity of governments to physically protect and financially support refugees and host communities. The model is based on a new database of indicators covering 193 countries, which assigns a fair share to each country and measures current government contributions to the protection of refugees. The model also proposes a new government-led global platform …

Refugee Resettlement In The U.S.: The Hidden Realities Of The U.S. Refugee Integration Process, Bienvenue Konsimbo

Master of Science in Conflict Management Final Projects

From the 1946 to the 1980 Act, more than two million refugees have resettled in the U.S. (Eby, Iverson, Smyers, & Kekic, 2011p.). This has made the U.S. the largest of the 10 resettlement countries (Xu, 2007, p. 38). The U.S. department of state (DOS)’ hope is to give “the refugee a leg up on their journey to self-sufficiency” (Darrow, 2015, p. 92). For these millions of refugees, their expectations are to find “employment, education, to provide a better environment for their children, and to integrate into the community” (Xu, 2007p.38).

However, this pre-package deal is not without repercussions or …

Enter At Your Own Risk: Criminalizing Asylum-Seekers, Thomas M. Mcdonnell, Vanessa H. Merton

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In nearly three years in office, President Donald J. Trump’s war against immigrants and the foreign-born seems only to have intensified. Through a series of Executive Branch actions and policies rather than legislation, the Trump Administration has targeted immigrants and visitors from Muslim-majority countries, imposed quotas on and drastically reduced the independence of Immigration Court Judges, cut the number of refugees admitted by more than 80%, cancelled DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and stationed Immigration Customs and Enforcement (“ICE”) agents at state courtrooms to arrest unauthorized immigrants, intimidating them from participating as witnesses and litigants. Although initially saying that …

The Promise And Challenge Of Humanitarian Protection In The United States: Making Temporary Protected Status Work As A Safe Haven, Andrew I. Schoenholtz

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The humanitarian program Congress created in 1990 to allow war refugees and those affected by significant natural disasters to live and work legally in the United States has only partially achieved its goals. More than 400,000 individuals have received temporary protected status (TPS). In many cases, the crisis ended, along with temporary protection. However, in about half of the designated nationalities—including the largest groups—conflict and instability continued, making this humanitarian protection program anything but temporary. Unfortunately, Congress did not provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the tools it needed to address such long-term crises. That was purposeful—Congress worried …

Not-So-Decriminalized: Consequences Of Intersectional Identity For Migrant Sex Workers In Switzerland, Teagan Langseth-Depaolis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex work in Switzerland, which was decriminalized long ago, has been regarded as one of the most liberal systems of sex work in the world. However, this reputation is contested when factoring in the interaction between immigration and sex work policies. Migrant sex workers in Switzerland are put at a precarious intersection of decriminalized sex industry and restrictive migration policy and attitudes, and are not addressed or protected from violations of the law or violations of their human rights. Using databases containing Swiss legislation, I will critically examine the intersectional effects of migration policy and the treatment of migrants on …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Safeguarding Democracy In Europe: A Bulwark Against Hungary’S Subversion Of Civil Society, Hannah J. Sarokin

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Spurred in large part by a mounting humanitarian crisis in Syria, the 2015 migrant crisis exposed deeply rooted fractures within the European Union regarding refugee resettlement. While the European Union worked to develop a synchronized response to the influx of refugees and asylees, Hungary defiantly sought to close its borders. In doing so, the Hungarian government targeted not only those seeking refuge, but its own civil society. In a series of opaque and overtly punitive legislative acts passed in the summer of 2018, Hungary criminalized any civil society activities that facilitate or assist with immigration. This Note will analyze the …

The Past As Present, Unlearned Lessons And The (Non-) Utility Of International Law, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

The contemporary moment provides an acute illustration of the dangers of historical amnesia—as if the Trump Administration’s policies of exclusion, extremist nationalism, and presidential imperialism were singular to ‘now,’ and entirely reversible in the next election. This Article argues to the contrary; that we have been down this road before, and the current crisis in immigration and refugee policies is the inevitable development of trends of racism, including anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racism and xenophobia, that have only become normalized by the populist resurgence of Trumpism. If this premise is correct—that we are experiencing a culmination of a historical trajectory—what lessons from …

Zhu And Chen Revisited: An Update On The Ecj’S Jurisprudence On The Derivative Rights Of Third-Party Nationals, David H. King

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Concerns About Ice Detainee Treatment And Care At Four Detention Facilities, John V. Kelly

United States Department of Homeland Security

In response to concerns raised by immigrant rights groups and complaints to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline about conditions for detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, we conducted unannounced inspections of four detention facilities to evaluate their compliance with ICE detention standards.

Overall, our inspections of four detention facilities revealed violations of ICE’s 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which set requirements for facilities housing detainees. This report summarizes findings on our latest round of unannounced inspections at four detention facilities housing ICE detainees. Although the conditions varied among the facilities and not every problem …

'Race, Racism, And American Law': A Seminar From The Indigenous, Black, And Immigrant Legal Perspectives, Eduardo R.C. Capulong, Andrew King-Ries, Monte Mills

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

Flagrant racism has characterized the Trump era from the onset. Beginning with the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has inflamed long-festering racial wounds and unleashed White supremacist reaction to the nation’s first Black President, in the process destabilizing our sense of the nation’s racial progress and upending core principles of legality, equality, and justice. As law professors, we sought to rise to these challenges and prepare the next generation of lawyers to succeed in a different and more polarized future. Our shared commitment resulted in a new course, “Race, Racism, and American Law,” in which we sought to explore the roots …

Management Alert -- Dhs Needs To Address Dangerous Overcrowding Among Single Adults At El Paso Del Norte Processing Center (Redacted), John V. Kelly

United States Department of Homeland Security

During the week of May 6, 2019, we visited five Border Patrol stations and two ports of entry in the El Paso area, including greater El Paso and eastern New Mexico, as part of our unannounced spot inspections of CBP holding facilities. We reviewed compliance with CBP’s Transport, Escort, Detention and Search (TEDS) standards, which govern CBP’s interaction with detained individuals, and observed dangerous holding conditions at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center (PDT) Border Patrol processing facility, located at the Paso Del Norte Bridge, that require immediate attention. Specifically, PDT does not have the capacity to hold the …

North Korean Defectors In South Korea And Asylum Seekers In The United States: A Comparison, Emma Poorman

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

North Korean defectors are considered citizens of South Korea under the South Korean Constitution, while others that flee violence gain the legal status of “refugee.” North Korean defectors, who attempt to escape one of the worst human rights crises in the world, find themselves in a unique situation. What benefits does this status have? How are refugees typically treated abroad, such as in the United States? This Comment will explore this unique status, how it differs from refugee status in the United States, and the challenges North Korean defectors face in South Korea.

A Credible Fear: The Politics Of Gang Violence In The Northern Triangle, Jane E. Dowd

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis will create an argument for how the victims of gang violence from the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras qualify for asylum in the United States based on a well-founded fear of persecution. An analysis of the legal framework of the asylum system in the United States, profiles of the two largest gangs in the Northern Triangle the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, a profile of the asylum seekers arriving at the United States border, the criminal activity that the gangs engage in, and the way that this activity is political in nature will form …

Becoming Unconventional: Constricting The 'Particular Social Group' Ground For Asylum, Fatma Marouf

Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this Article provides a brief background about the evolution of the PSG ground in the United States and how it has become increasingly complicated and constricted over time. Part II discusses several ways that recent administrative decisions have imposed uniquely strict requirements for PSG-based asylum claims, both procedurally and substantively. Namely, the recent decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") in Matter of W-Y-C- & H-O-B- creates two new procedural restrictions. First, it imposes an exceedingly strict pleading standard in PSG cases by requiring "exact delineation" of the PSG. Second, Matter of W-Y-Cprohibits asylum seekers from …

Assigning Protection: Can Refugee Rights And State Preferences Be Reconciled?, James C. Hathaway

Articles

The theoretically global responsibility to protect refugees is today heavily skewed, with just ten countries – predominantly very poor – hosting more than half of the world’s refugee population. Refugee protection has moreover become tantamount to warehousing for most refugees, with roughly half of the world’s refugees stuck in “protracted refugee situations” for decades with their lives on hold. Both concerns – the unprincipled allocation of responsibility based on accidents of geography and the desperate need for greater attention to resettlement as a core protection response – cry out for a global, managed system to protect refugees.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Arrival Of "Statelessness Studies"?, David C. Baluarte

Scholarly Articles

In this symposium contribution, the author provides a view that the study of statelessness has emerged as a multi-disciplinary field and urge that we institutionalize it as such. Statelessness is fundamentally a legal concept. The definition of ‘stateless person’ specifically refers to the operation of law, and the protections envisioned by both the 1954 and 1961 Conventions afforded to stateless persons are legal in nature. At the same time, formal legal reasoning has proven inadequate to fully understand statelessness and protect stateless persons. Moreover, factual statelessness enjoys few legal protections, but is essential to a more robust understanding of nationality …

A Step Too Far: Matter Of A-B-, "Particular Social Group," And Chevron, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, Hillary Rich

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

Every day, thousands of Central American asylum seekers, many fleeing persecution from domestic abusers and gangs, attempt to seek refuge in the United States. To receive asylum, those escaping such violence typically must show membership in a "particulars social group." In Matter of A-B-, issued in June 2018, then-Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions III attempted to destroy the viability of domestic-violence-related particular social groups altogether. As we demonstrate in this Article, this far-reaching decision should not receive Chevron deference from reviewing courts.

A-B- is concerning both for its potentially calamitous effect on individuals fleeing domestic and gang violence and for …