Immigration Law Commons^™

Looking Past Manufactured Crisis Narratives: Grounded Solutions For The Border And Beyond, Monika Y. Langarica

San Diego Law Review

This Article presents a solutions-oriented approach to engaging with the complex landscape of political, legal, and humanitarian issues at the United States-Mexico border. It proceeds in three parts. Part II illustrates the counterproductive effects of the border crisis narrative in localities across the interior of the country and in recent negotiations in Washington, D.C. Part III discusses effective border interventions grounded in local expertise, including examples which demonstrate that while federal preemption forbids states from interfering with immigration enforcement, states are within their rights to enact policies and stand up efforts to improve the reception and treatment of immigrants in …

Afghan Allies In Limbo: Discrimination In The U.S. Immigration Response, Lindsay M. Harris, Yalda Royan

San Diego Law Review

After the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the U.S. government airlifted an estimated 120,000 people to safety from Afghanistan. An airlift of this scale was unprecedented, but also woefully inadequate as a solution to the Afghan humanitarian crisis. This Article, a contribution to participatory law scholarship, is written by a U.S. law professor and immigration expert and an Afghan woman evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021 and analyzes the United States’s immigration response to the Afghan humanitarian crisis following the Taliban takeover. While the United States granted humanitarian parole for two years to approximately 76,000 individuals, permitting them to enter …

V. 61-4, 2024 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deadly Deterrence: Border Patrol Authority, Pursuits, And Deported Witnesses, Shaw Drake

San Diego Law Review

Since 1994, the United States has perpetrated a border policy based on the idea that tougher enforcement will mean fewer people will cross the border—termed “prevention through deterrence.” But this idea has never fulfilled its stated aim and has turned into something resembling a border ideology rather than a border policy based in fact and reality. The results have been deadly.

This Article examines a small slice of the results of this deadly border policy as it looks at Border Patrol vehicle pursuits and the deportation of those who witness Border Patrol misconduct. It also provides an overview of the …

Fentanyl, Narco-Terrorism, And National Security Politics, J. Richard Broughton

San Diego Law Review

This Article examines the use of a counterterrorism model to attack the fentanyl crisis. Rather than advocate for or against such a model, this Article envisions what employing a counterterrorism model against international drug traffickers would look like. Noting the dimensions of national security politics that intersect with counter-fentanyl policy, this Article will evaluate three distinct counterterrorism approaches: (1) using criminal counterterrorism statutes in federal indictments and prosecutions; (2) designating drug trafficking organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs); and (3) authorizing the use of military force against Mexican cartels. While the current state of bellicose national security politics can inform …

Catholic Social Teaching, The Right To Immigrate, And The Right To Regulate Borders: A Proposed Solution For Comprehensive Immigration Reform Based Upon Catholic Social Principles, Chad G. Marzen, William Woodyard Ii

San Diego Law Review

A number of scholars have commented on the significance of religious traditions to the debate concerning immigration policy in the United States.[1] In this Article, we contend that the Catholic legal tradition is relevant to the contemporary debate among policymakers, as it balances policy considerationsof the right to immigrate as well as the right of a nation to regulate its borders advocated on both ends of the policy debate. Section I of this Article discusses the current policy debate concerning comprehensive immigration reform and recent major legislative proposals for comprehensive immigration reform, including the plan of the “Gang of Eight” …

Deliberate Destitution As Deterrent: Withholding The Right To Work And Undermining Asylum Protection, Lori A. Nessel

San Diego Law Review

This Article critiques the United States’ bar on employment for asylum seekers on a number of fronts. Beginning with a historical perspective, I explore the more humane regime that existed in the United States until 1995. Under this prior system, asylum seekers with bona fide claims were permitted to work while their claims proceeded. This Article examine the underlying fears and policy goals that led Congress to dramatically curtail protection and the right to work for asylum seekers. By situating the prohibition on work for asylum seekers within the larger context of overall punitive immigration reforms and the increasing criminalization …

Achieving The Dream: Extending Immigration Reform To Administrative Case Closure, Tory E. Smith

San Diego Law Review

This Comment compares DACA to administrative case closure and argues that Congress or the President should grant employment authorization to individuals whose cases have been administratively closed. Part I describes the current interpretation of the employment authorization regulation and provides the background of administrative case closure. Part I highlights the disparate treatment that the regulation affords to undocumented immigrants facing deferred action and administrative closure—offering employment authorization to only deferred action recipients. Part II examines the history of deferred action in immigration cases and uses DACA as a framework to show how the scope of the employment authorization regulation should …

The Deferred Action Program Of The Bureau Of Citizenship And Immigration Services: A Possible Remedy For Impossible Immigration Cases

San Diego Law Review

This beneficent operations instruction permitted two alternative interpretations, each of which was taken up by the federal courts. In the case of Nicholas v. INS, the petitioner asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule the district director’s decision to deny his nonpriority status application. The court determined that the operations instruction confers a “substantive benefit upon the alien, rather than setting up an administrative convenience,”and thus is essentially a legislative rule requiring a strict standard of application, and not one allowing the INS a significant amount of discretion. The Fifth Circuit held in Soon Bok Yoon v. INS …

Richardson V. Reno: What Is The Proper Application Of The Illegal Immigration Reform And Immigrant Responsibility Act To Criminal Aliens?

San Diego Law Review

This Casenote questions the Richardson court's holding. Specifically, this Casenote argues that precluding all judicial review, including habeas corpus review, for criminal aliens held removable by the INS violates the Suspension Clause of the United States Constitution. Further, to interpret IIRIRA as eliminating the availability of habeas corpus relief in these circumstances calls into question the constitutionality of the statute due to constitutional limits on Congress's power to control the jurisdiction of Article III courts.

Expatriation In The United States: Precept And Practice Today And Yesterday, Alan G. James

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, Mr. James traces the historical roots of expatriation to its current application in present-day law, regulations and procedures. Using as a reference point both the expatriation of the American novelist Henry James and the United States Supreme Court's 1990 decision in Vance v. Terrazas, the author highlights the major facets of expatriation. Specifically, the author focuses on processing and documentation of loss of nationality cases, development of the role of the Department of State in expatriation, the constituent elements of a determination of loss of nationality, and administrative and judicial review of holdings of loss of citizenship …

A New Look At Actual Minimum Job Requirements And Experience In Similar Occupations And With The Same Employer: Balca's 20 C.F.R. Section 656.21 (B)(6), Lorna Rogers Burgess

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, Ms. Burgess discusses the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) which was created by an amendment to 20 C.F.R. § 656.26 and § 656.27. Ms. Burgess asserts that the creation of BALCA has significantly improved the system of adjudication of Applications for Alien Employment Certification. Though BALCA has exerted viable standards, these standards are far from providing analytically sound and practical guidance to practitioners and Certifying Officers. The author suggests that good lawyering in the future may improve BALCA's jurisprudence.

Towards The Cathedral: Ancient Sanctuary Represented In The American Context, Michael Scott Feeley

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, Mr. Feeley, discusses the historical roots of the power of the Church to provide sanctuary to those in fear of life and limb. Tracing its historical roots, the author identifies three elements of sanctuary - person, place, governmental check. He then demonstrates that the American Sanctuary Movement contains these defining elements of historical sanctuary. An analysis of the Sanctuary Movement concludes that, despite its different features and cultural locus, the Movement embodies the ancient elements of person, place and governmental check transformed, rather than transubstantiated by the American context.

United States Immigration Planning For Cross-Border Mergers And Acquisitions, Charles M. Miller

San Diego Law Review

In the Article, Mr. Miller demonstrates how cross-border direct investment in the U.S. through a foreign company's acquisition of a domestic business necessitates careful immigration planning. He speaks directly to the investor and shows that a main priority is the quick and efficient transfer foreign personnel and the employment of foreign graduates. Recognizing the complexity of federal statutes and regulations governing foreign investment, the author concludes that a foreign investor will need to quickly learn that an effective immigration strategy is necessary to successfully do business in the U.S.

Dual Nationality For Mexicans, Jorge A. Vargas

San Diego Law Review

In 1995, the government of Mexico began seriously to consider amending its Constitution to allow for dual nationality, whereby a Mexican could be recognized as holding two nationalities at the same time. Legally, the concept prohibits Mexican nationals from voluntarily abandoning their nationality, even if they opt to become naturalized citizens of another country. Two questions arise as one considers dual nationality in Mexico. First, what has really influenced the philosophical change in Mexico regarding dual nationality? Second, why has Mexico started considering dual nationality now?

Entry: What Mama Never Told You About Being There, Kathrin S. Mautino

San Diego Law Review

This Article analyzes the development of entry as an immigration concept, with special attention to those factors that affect entry analysis. These elements that the author finds must be considered in every potential entry into the United States are: (1) the legal status of the alien, (2) the purpose for finding an entry, and (3) the congressional intent behind the statutes involved. This Article explores the legal history of the term "entry," and illustrates the interaction of the three factors above. The author concludes that entry analysis demonstrates the political nature of immigration and the frequency that historical events rather …

Population, Immigration And Growth In California, Richard Sybert

San Diego Law Review

This Article presents objective data and analysis regarding the components of California's population growth. It also reviews fiscal impacts from immigration. The author finds that these fiscal impacts are substantially negative for state and local governments. The Article also examines United States workforce needs as they may be affected by an expanding population and as they may implicate immigration. The author recommends changing immigration policy to focus more on workforce needs and skills in California. He recommends federal action on two levels: (1) to compensate California for the hugely disproportionate financial burden it bears from the nation's immigration and refugee …

By Hook Or By Cook: Exploring The Legality Of An Ins Sting Operation, Lenni B. Benson

San Diego Law Review

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is an agency with responsibility both for enforcing the immigration laws and conferring legal status and other benefits. This author finds that at times these dual roles create conflict, mistrust in the community, and violations of the rights of aliens. This Article critically examines an undercover operation conducted in 1993 by the San Diego District Office, which lured aliens to deportation through INS offers of legal status. The Article discusses the regulatory and statutory provisions governing INS undercover operations and the rights of aliens subject to final orders of deportation. It continues with an …

Judicial Review Of Discretionary Immigration Decisionmaking, Michael G. Heyman

San Diego Law Review

The Immigration and Nationality Act vests enormous discretion in the Attorney General and subordinates, such discretion exercised frequently at all levels of the immigration system. Despite this, though, judicial review of these decisions has followed a very uneven, troubled course. This Article explores the reasons for this, focusing first on the Administrative Procedure Act and the elusive meaning of discretion itself. The author demonstrates the "disintegration" of administrative law and what he sees as the failure of its general precepts to accommodate immigration issues. The Article traces the development of faulty doctrine through case law, resulting in a stunted judicial …

An Immigration Policy For A Just Society?, Louis Henkin

San Diego Law Review

If it is a human right for every human being to choose where he or she would live, do not considerations of justice require a society to hold out its hand to such a contract? This Article explores the concept of justice, as it applies to immigration law in the United States. It examines the notion that the United States may have an obligation to accept people into the country based on considerations of justice. The author suggests that justice ought to imbue the immigration policy of the United States, and that policy would be different if justice was recognized …

The Consequences Of Nonappearance: Interpreting New Section 242b Of The Immigration And Nationality Act, Iris Gomez

San Diego Law Review

This Article explores Section 242B of the Immigration and Nationality Act, added by the Immigration Act of 1990. This provision stripped immigration judges of the discretion they had to determine whether a constitutionally required deportation hearing may take place in the alien's absence. The author examines three major issues of statutory interpretation that determine the extent of the hardships that this law may thrust upon aliens. These issues are: (1) the scope of the limits on the ability to rescind a deportation order made in the alien's absence, (2) the scope of the five-year disqualification provision which is triggered by …

Taming The Asylum Adjudication Process: An Agenda For The Twenty-First Century, Katherine L. Vaughns

San Diego Law Review

This Article addresses the process for providing asylum to immigrants in the United States. The Article argues that the statutory scheme, enacted as part of the Refugee Act of 1980, is not designed to handle the many thousands of asylum applications filed by foreign nationals who are physically present in the United States without the benefit of lawful immigration status. As a discretionary form of relief, asylum operates as a "backdoor" to regular permanent immigration status in this country. The author attempts to show that the judicial process is not well suited to resolve the remaining issues that fuel asylum …

Fixing The Wheel: A Critical Analysis Of The Immigrant Investor Visa, Ronald R. Rose

San Diego Law Review

In 1990, Congress attempted to fill a long-standing void in the United States immigration laws by providing an updated immigrant investor visa codified as section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The old, obsolete immigrant investor visa had only required a $40,000 investment. The new visa generally requires a $1,000,000 investment. The demand for this new higher priced version has, however, been exceedingly low. Although this immigrant investor visa category allows for 10,000 visa issuances per year, only 78 were issued in fiscal 1992 and no more than 500 are expected to be issued in fiscal 1993. This Article …

An Agenda For The Commission On Immigration Reform, Carlos Ortiz Miranda

San Diego Law Review

This Article offers agenda topics for the members of the Commission on Immigration Reform (Commission) to consider in their deliberations in the early 1990s. The topics discussed in the Article cover those that Congress specifically requested the Commission to evaluate, as well as other topics that the Commission may have found within its authority to evaluate. Final recommendations made by the Commission to the Congress in its final report due in 1997 had the potential to shape legislative policy choices in the area of immigration reform during the first part of the twenty-first century.

Resistance To Military Conscription Or Forced Recruitment By Insurgents As A Basis For Refugee Protection: A Comparative Perspective, Arthur C. Helton

San Diego Law Review

This Article discusses certain instances in which claims for refugee protection could be recognized, even though they are asserted in the context of armed conflict and based on objection to participation in the conflict. While other nations rely on international principles to interpret treaty-derived terms in statutes governing refugee matters, the United States Supreme Court has ignored this convention in taking a restrictive approach to refugee protection. By narrowly construing the term "political opinion" and unduly focusing on the persecutor's state of mind, the Court has limited the scope of protection for thousands of legitimate asylum seekers. The decisions of …

Political Asylum In The Ninth Circuit And The Case Of Elias-Zacarias, Bruce J. Einhorn

San Diego Law Review

During the height of the Central American civil wars of the 1980s, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals established liberal precedent for granting asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act to deportable aliens who had been threatened for resisting government or guerrilla service in their native countries because of their political opinions (including neutrality), whether expressed, implied, or imputed to them by those who meant them harm. However, in INS v. Elias-Zacarias, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and stated that an asylum applicant's political opinion may not be imputed to him by the actions of his alleged persecutors. …

Safe Haven For Salvadorans In The Context Of Contemporary International Law--A Case Study In Equivocation, Todd Howland, Amy Beer, Tim Everett, Evangeline Nichols Ordaz

San Diego Law Review

This Article analyzes the basis for safe-haven programs for refugees fleeing war and civil strife under contemporary principles of international law. The authors trace the development of safe-haven programs in the United States and offer an analysis and critique of the Temporary Protected Status program created by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990. Focusing on the struggle to gain safe haven for refugees from El Salvador, the authors review the United States government's historical use of safe haven programs as a political tool. Finally, the Article looks at how other countries have responded to refugee crises and suggests a …

Raven V. Deukmejian: A Modern Guide To The Voter Initiative Process And State Constitutional Independence, Joseph Goldberg

San Diego Law Review

This Casenote examines the decision of Raven v. Deukmejian, decided in 1990 by the California Supreme Court. This decision held that a voters' initiative measure, which purported to vest all judicial interpretive power as to fundamental criminal defense rights, amounted to a revision of the state Constitution. The author discusses the impact and implications of this decision. Namely, the author finds that the decision will have an impact on the way future courts review constitutional challenges to the initiative process. The Casenote also discusses the reaffirmation of the court's position on state constitutional independence. The author concludes that the California …

The Fourth Amendment And The Ins: An Update On Locating The Undocumented And A Discussion On Judicial Avoidance Of Race-Based Investigative Targeting In Constitutional Analysis, Henry G. Watkins

San Diego Law Review

This Article identifies and discusses various legal theories being used to avoid consideration of the fourth amendment in the use of arbitrary law enforcement methods, most notably the targeting of racial minorities as suspects. The Article discusses the concept of consensual encounters: the presumption that most law enforcement contacts are voluntary encounters with the targets of the inquiry freely answering questions or consenting to a search. This approach renders it legally unnecessary to determine whether race played an undue part in the encounter. The Article also examines the point at which a "seizure" occurs, which is often crucial in determining …

Spouse-Based Immigration Laws: The Legacies Of Coverture, Janet M. Calvo

San Diego Law Review

The notion of coverture is that a wife is subordinate to her husband and under his control. This Article describes the common law doctrine of coverture, and the history and impact of coverture in current immigration law. The Article examines the incorporation of the assumptions of coverture into early immigration laws and the failure of Congress to remove coverture premises from more recent immigration legislation. The impact of the law's perpetuation of coverture, or spouse domination, is described. The Article shows that the immigrants harmed by the spouse domination perpetuated by the law are overwhelmingly women. The author proposes legislative …