Immigration Law Commons^™

Cazun V. Sessions: Brief Of International And Immigration Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, James C. Hathaway

Appellate Briefs

In accordance with Supreme Court Rule 37, Amici respectfully submit this brief in support of the Petitioner. The eight amici curiae are distinguished scholars of international law, refugee rights, and the immigration laws of the United States. The names and biographical information of the amici, all of whom are participating in their individual capacities and not as representatives of the institutions with which they are affiliated, are appended to this brief as Appendix A.

Amici have a strong interest in the questions presented by the petition. Amici, some of the world's leading scholars on these topics, are interested in the …

Complicated-But Not Too Complicated: The Sunset Of E.U. Law In The U.K. After Brexit, Maimon Schwarzschild

Cardozo Law Review

The article examines the complexities of Brexit, focusing on the integration of EU law into UK law and the challenges of disentangling the two legal systems post-Brexit. It explores key areas such as free movement, environmental law, and the forms of EU law, highlighting the interconnectedness of EU and UK legal frameworks. The author suggests a "sunset clause" approach to manage the transition, allowing EU laws to expire unless explicitly retained, to align with the UK's newfound independence and regulatory autonomy.

Fulfilling U.S. Commitment To Refugee Resettlement: Protecting Refugees, Preserving National Security, & Building The U.S. Economy Through Refugee Admissions, Harvard Immigration And Refugee Clinical Program

Texas A&M Law Review

At a time when the U.S. refugee admissions program is under serious threat and the world’s displaced population is at its highest, this Report sets forth extensive recommendations regarding the United States’ role in protecting vulnerable refugees and compliance with its commitments under domestic and international law that together safeguard people fleeing persecution and fearing return to torture. The Report also identifies key national security reasons for supporting and enhancing the refugee program in keeping with U.S. foreign policy priorities. Additionally, the Report provides an in-depth discussion of the robust, multistep security-assessment mechanisms already in place for screening refugees; offers …

Can International Law Trump Trump's Immigration Agenda: Protecting Individual Rights Through Procedural Jus Cogens, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Donald Trump's approach to immigration has been revolutionary, to say the least. In his short tenure in office, his policies banning travel of individuals from certain Muslim countries have been taken to the United States Supreme Court on two separate occasions, and his most recent technique of separating children from their parents at the border has already spawned litigation. His boldest proposal yet, however, involves the widespread denial of procedural rights to immigrants.In his words, "[w]hen somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came [sic]."

This Essay considers the …

Criminalization And The Politics Of Migration In Brazil, Jayesh Rathod

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In May 2017, the government of Brazil enacted a new immigration law, replacing a statute introduced in 1980 during the country’s military dictatorship with progressive legislation that advances human rights principles and adopts innovative approaches to migration management. One of the most notable features of the new law is its explicit rejection of the criminalization of migration, and its promotion of efforts to regularize undocumented migrants. Although the law itself is new, the values embedded in the law reflect recent trends in Brazilian immigration policy, which has embraced legalization, and has generally resisted the use of criminal law to punish …

Special Feature: Eighth Colloquium On Challenges In International Refugee Law, James C. Hathaway

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is our hope that, as in the case of earlier Michigan Guidelines on the International Protection of Refugees, these unanimously agreed standards will inspire a thoughtful and principled debate among scholars, officials, and judicial and other refugee law decision-makers committed to the legally accurate and contextually sound application of international refugee law norms.

The Michigan Guidelines On Refugee Freedom Of Movement

Michigan Journal of International Law

Despite the clear legal foundation of refugee freedom of movement at international law, states are also committed to the deterrence of human smuggling and trafficking, to the maintenance of effective general border controls, to safeguarding the critical interests of receiving communities, and to effectuating safe and dignified repatriation when refugee status comes to an end. Legal obligations to respect refugee freedom of movement therefore co-exist with, and must be reconciled to, other important commitments.

Refugees And The Right To Freedom Of Movement: From Flight To Return, Marjoleine Zieck

Michigan Journal of International Law

This background study focuses on the right to freedom of movement of refugees. It reviews the law pertaining to this freedom from the perspective of the spatial journey of refugees. This focus on the law means that extralegal considerations will not be taken into consideration. The analysis will not proceed from any perceived need for limits that should be accepted as “a product of realism about the strains that migration, especially high-volume migration or sudden influxes, can bring to a society.”

Corporate Liability For Human Rights Violations: The Future Of The Alien Tort Claims Act, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This paper addresses complex legal issues in light of and in the context of Jesner v. Arab Bank, a case involving the scope of corporate liability for human rights abuses under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). Part I provides a brief overview of the Jesner case. Part II outlines the case Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and its holding. Part III discusses Kiobel's shortcomings, including the vagueness of its "touch and concern" test and its failure to specify which law—international or domestic—applies to the issue of corporate liability under the ATCA. Part IV then proposes other …

The Future Legal Management Of Mass Migration, Jack I. Garvey

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Model International Mobility Convention, Michael W. Doyle

Faculty Scholarship

People are as mobile as they ever were in our globalized world. Yet the movement of people across borders lacks global regulation, leaving many people unprotected in irregular and dire situations and some States concerned that their borders have become irrelevant. And international mobility – the movement of individuals across borders for any length of time as visitors, students, tourists, labor migrants, entrepreneurs, long-term residents, family members, asylum seekers, or refugees – has no common definition or legal framework.

The End Of Special Treatment For Cubans In The U.S. Immigration System: Consequences And Solutions For Cubans With Final Orders Of Removal, Lindsay Daniels

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In January 2016, former President Obama announced the end of the “Wet-Foot, Dry-Foot” Policy, which granted special immigration benefits to Cuban migrants. As part of the agreement to end this policy, the Cuban government agreed to take back its citizens with final orders of removal for criminal convictions, an action that it had refused to take for decades. This Comment will begin by exploring past and present immigration policies between the United States and Cuba, including recent developments like the normalization of relations and the impact of President Trump’s immigration policies.

This Comment will then explore possible avenues of relief …

Plata O Plomo: Effect Of Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations On The American Criminal Justice System, Mark M. Mcpherson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Biased Damages Awards: Gender And Race Discrimination In Tort Trials, Goran Dominioni

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

Current U.S. tort law incentivizes potential tortfeasors to target members of underprivileged social groups by using gender and race-based statistical tables life expectancy; work-life expectancy and average wage) to award damages. Legal scholars have long criticized this practice from the point of view of distributive justice but supported it on welfarist grounds. Recent research in law and economics has however cast doubts on the efficiency of this practice. On this basis, some propose abandoning it in favor of gender and race neutral tables. In this article, I contribute to this debate by analyzing from a behavioral law and economics perspective …

Law, Religion, And Immigration: Building Bridges With Express Lanes, Mark Goldfeder, Gideon Sapir

Scholarly Works

This Article asks whether it can ever be moral or legal to use certain criteria, including nationality and/or religion, in formulating preferential immigration policies. In order to answer the question, it presents an in-depth look at the controversial "right of return, " focusing in particular on the example of the Israeli Law of Return. It contains a detailed history of the law and its development; a defense of the right of return in general; the principle and contextual arguments in favor of an amendment to or abrogation of Israel’s law; and a theoretical and practical defense of the law, with …

Asylum Seekers In A Non-Immigrant State And The Absence Of Regional Asylum Seekers Mechanism: A Case Study Of Rohingya Asylum Seekers In Aceh-Indonesia And Asean Response, Bilal Dewansyah, Wicaksana Dramanda, Imam Mulyana

Indonesia Law Review

The problem of asylum seekers has become a global humanitarian issue. Demands regarding the handling mechanisms based on the values of human rights is getting stronger voiced by the international community. In the Southeast Asian region, the number of ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers has increased and has started to demand settlement in non-immigrant countries like Indonesia. Although Indonesia does not have international obligations in handling asylum seekers, constitutionally, Indonesia has an obligation to guarantee the right of everyone to obtain asylum which has been included in the Constitution. In a global perspective, humanitarian issues in the handling of asylum seekers …

Invisible Women: Syrian Victims Of Gender-Based Violence As A Particular Social Group In U.S. Asylum Law, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, in Syria, we have seen extreme suffering by millions who have been summarily executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, starved, and bombed with chemical weapons. Specifically, we have seen that women have been the target of gender-based violence in the conflict by and with the acquiescence of the Assad regime forces and by opposition groups.

Women have been human shields; hostages for the bargaining of prisoner release; and victims of sexual violence and exploitation, forced marriage, and other forms of violence such as honor killings.

This gender-based violence has rendered women …

Mass Displacement Of Destitute People: A Trigger For Non-Refoulement Protection?, Bernardo De Souza Dantas Fico, Leticia Machado Haertel

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper focuses on two problems around the mass displacement of people in extreme poverty: the characterization of such people as refugees and the application of the non-refoulement principle to mass displacements.

Extreme poverty is causal to grave human rights violations such as deprivation of water, of food, and of an adequate standard of living. These circumstances may reach a degree in which life in a country is unbearable — forcing people to move in order to enhance their likelihood of survival.

The classic understanding of the non-refoulement obligation, as enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, forbids states from returning …

Refugees And Internally Displaced: A Challenge To Nation-Building, Rebecca M.M. Wallace, Diego Quiroz

Maine Law Review

Recent statistics published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate that there are at least 32.9 million people who are “persons of concern to UNHCR.” This growing population includes “refugees, returnees, [and] stateless and internally displaced persons (IDPs).” Furthermore, it is estimated that there are some “[thirty] states in the world . . . that are at some stage or another along the road to possible failure.” These are weak states beset by invasion, civil war, ethnic rivalry and tribal warfare, or struggling in the wake of any of these catastrophes. Given that 2006 saw a fifty-six …

Perez-Guzman V. Sessions: Brief Of Scholars Of Immigration And International Law As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, James C. Hathaway

Appellate Briefs

The seven amici curiae are distinguished scholars of international law, refugee rights, and the immigration laws of the United States. The names and biographical information of the amici, who are participating in their individual capacities and not as representatives of the institutions with which they are affiliated, are appended to this brief.

Over two centuries ago, this Court laid down the fundamental principle of statutory interpretation that "an act of Congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other possible construction remains." Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, & U.S. (2 Cranch) 64, 118 …

Femmes, Migration, Et Prostitution En Europe: Il N’Est Pas Question De “Travail De Sexe”, Anna Zobnina

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Migrant Workers In The United States: Connecting Domestic Law With International Labor Standards, Lance Compa

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Industry and trade associations say that the United States needs more immigrant workers to meet labor shortages and keep the economy growing. Labor advocates counter that the alleged labor shortage is a myth, and that employers’ real goal is to replace American workers and put downward pressure on wages of U.S. workers. The United States needs a new immigration policy that balances the needs of companies and the overall economy with needs for high labor standards and protection of workers’ rights. International labor and human rights instruments address several migrant labor issues, but U.S. law and practice fall short of …

Looking To Australia To Overhaul U.S. Foreign Investment In Real Estate, Stephanie L. Kahn

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This Note examines the controversy of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa, which was created under the 1990 U.S. Immigration Act. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa was meant to encourage foreign investment in U.S. real estate. Under the EB-5 immigrant visa program, an investor can obtain U.S. permanent residency through the EB-5 category, if the investor fulfills either of the two requirements. After an applicant proves they have met the requirements, the holder of the visa and their immediate family members can begin their paths to citizenship, first through the Greencard program. While created with good intent, the EB-5 visa program …

Judge Posner's Road Map For Convention Against Torture Claims When Central American Governments Cannot Protect Citizens Against Gang Violence, Steven H. Schulman

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

Abstract forthcoming.

Consular Assistance For Nationals Detained By A Foreign Government: States’ Policies And Practises, Dewi Avilia

Indonesia Law Review

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 outlines the rights of a state to exercise its obligation to protect the interests of its nationals abroad. The protection given by states to their nationals is commonly referred to as consular assistance. The main objective of consular assistance is to help nationals facing difficulties abroad. In the event of an arrest, the aim of the provision of consular assistance is to protect the inalienable rights of a foreign detainee. The inalienable rights inherent to all detainees are the right to retain counsel, and to receive due process of law. Although the …

The Normalization Of Immigration Law, Mac Lebuhn

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

In “The Normalization of Foreign Relations Law,” Professors Ganesh Sitaraman and Ingrid Wuerth argue that the Supreme Court increasingly treats foreign relations law like other bodies of law—it has “normalized” this body of once-exceptional law. However, a subset of foreign relations law, immigration law, receives little attention in their account, which obscures the fact that immigration law, unlike the rest of foreign relations law, has not normalized in nearly the same fashion.

To understand the normalization of immigration law, this paper proposes a theory of rights normalization: the Court has been reluctant to normalize immigration law except where immigrants’ rights …

Willful Blindness Or Deliberate Indifference: The United States' Abdication Of Legal Responsibility To Refugees, Abed A. Ayoub, Yolanda C. Rondon

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Truth Or Dare: A Framework For Analyzing Credibility In Children Seeking Asylum, Karen Elizabeth Smeda

Cornell International Law Journal

U.S. border agents detained at least 52,000 unaccompanied minors from only four Central American countries-Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras-in 2014, while 95,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Europe in 2015.Given the ongoing turmoil in various parts of the world, these numbers will likely rise. Children are narrowly escaping their native countries. With little help available from legal counsel and little time to gather supporting evidence, more children are relying on the gamble of a positive credibility assessment in an asylum application. The stakes are high-either a new life in the United States, or probable fatality at home if deported.The …

Paese Di Accoglienza: Il Successo Di Un Modello Innovativo Di Accoglienza Dei Richiedenti Asilo In Italia, Isabela Arena Secanechia

Senior Capstone Theses

This work discusses Italy's migrant reception system including its flaws and their effects. Furthermore, this work explores an alternative, sustainable model of migrant reception created in Riace, Calabria, that has been successful in varying towns across Italy. Ultimately, this work argues that this system, which is beneficial to both Italians and incoming migrants — specifically asylum seekers — can and should be implemented nationally to counter the current flawed system.

A Modest Memo, Yxta Maya Murray

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

A Modest Memo is a satire in the form of a legal memo written for President-Elect Donald Trump circa November 2016. It counsels Mr. Trump to obtain Mexican funding for a United States-Mexico “Wall” via United Nations Security Council sanctions. These sanctions would freeze remittances (that is, “hold them hostage”) until Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto wired the United States sufficient monies for construction. The memo, which is entirely the product of my imagination and legal study, contemplates one of the many possible worst case scenarios threatened by the Trump presidency. Through the arts of law and literature, I aim …