Immigration Law Commons^™

As’Lem: An Ethical Diagnosis Of The Contemporary, Miriam Ticktin

Publications and Research

In recent scholarly literature, refugees have proliferated: they are the “political figures par excellence” and “border concepts”; they are understood through their infrastructures, both camps and laws; and they are approached as suffering subjects. But Fassin, Wilhelm-Solomon, and Segatti have a different approach: they understand asylum—or as’lem, the term used by asylum seekers in South Africa—as a form of life.

Newsroom: Huffpost: Mancheno '13 Battles Muslim Ban 3-16-2017, Christopher Mathias, Omar Kasrawi, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Ny Times: Refugee, Immigrant, And Citizen 02-27-2017, Alexandra S. Levine, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

A-R-C-G- Is Not The Solution For Domestic Violence Victims, Lizbeth Chow

Catholic University Law Review

For over fifteen years, U.S. immigration authorities and courts have grappled with the idea of domestic violence as a basis for asylum. But in 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a decision indicating that victims of domestic violence may qualify for asylum. This Comment assesses the BIA’s decision and concludes that it is ultimately ineffective. This Comment further suggests that the only practical solution is for Congress to intervene. This Comment first provides a brief historical overview of asylum law to help elucidate the purpose of asylum law. It also provides an in-depth review of the elements needed …

Can We Act Globally While Thinking Locally: Responding To Stella Burch Elias, The Perils And Possibilities Of Refugee Federalism, Kit Johnson

Faculty Articles

In The Perils and Possibilities of Refugee Federalism, Professor Stella Burch Elias skillfully exposes both the dangers and the opportunities presented by state responses to the resettlement of refugees within their borders. She concludes that states are prohibited from excluding refugees from their territory, but she argues that states have a previously untapped opportunity to legislate at the local level in an effort to promote the integration of refugees into their communities. This Response does not challenge those conclusions. Rather, this Response seeks to provide context to the idea of refugee federalism by further discussing the problem, acknowledged by Professor …

The Enduring Legacies Of The Haitian Refugee Litigation, Harold Hongju Koh

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Reflection On Hcc V. Sale: A Conversation Between The Honorable Sterling Johnson, Jr. And Professor Brandt Goldstein, The Honorable Sterling Johnson Jr.

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hcc’S Lasting Impact; Remarks From Senator Chris Coons, Chris Coons

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Through A Glass, Clearly; Reflections On Team Lawyering, Clinically Taught, Raymond H. Brescia

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The United States Is Unwilling To Protect Gang-Based Asylum Applicants, Timothy Greenberg

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence Asylum And The Perpetuation Of The Victimization Narrative, Natalie Nanasi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Pitiful. Helpless. Powerless. The words often used to describe survivors of domestic violence conjure a vivid and specific image of a woman lacking both strength and agency. These (mis)conceptions stem from the theories of “Battered Woman Syndrome” and “learned helplessness,” developed in 1979 by psychologist Lenore Walker, who hypothesized that intimate partner abuse ultimately causes a woman to resign herself to her fate and cease efforts to free herself from violence or dangerous situations.

Although widely criticized, learned helplessness has permeated the legal establishment, for example, serving as the foundation for mandatory arrest and “no drop” policies in the criminal …

Ms-13 As A Terrorist Organization: Risks For Central American Asylum Seekers, Jillian Blake

Michigan Law Review Online

In its first year, the Trump Administration has used aggressive rhetoric in a crusade against the transnational gang MS‑13. In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called MS‑13 “one of the most violent gangs in the history of our country” and said that the gang “could qualify” as a terrorist organization. Since then, the administration has put its fight against MS‑13 at the front and center of its agenda. In a speech this summer, President Donald Trump called MS‑13 gang members “animals” and vowed to “dismantle, decimate and eradicate” their operations. The president has also used the threat posed by MS‑13 …

Reconciling Expectations With Reality: The Real Id Act's Corroboration Exception For Otherwise Credible Asylum Applicants, Alexandra Lane Reed

Michigan Law Review

The international community finds itself today in the throes of the largest refugee crisis since World War II. As millions of refugees continue to flee violence and persecution at home, the immediate concern is humanitarian, but in the long-term, the important question becomes: What are our obligations to those who cannot return home? U.S. asylum law is designed not only to offer shelter to legitimate refugees, but also to protect the country from those who seek asylum under false pretenses. Lawmakers and policymakers have struggled to calibrate corroboration requirements for asylum claims with the reality that many legitimate asylum seekers …

Who Controls Immigration Judges?: Towards A Multi-Institutional Model Of Administration Judge Behavior, Mark Richard Beougher

Dissertations

Numerous studies have shown dramatic variations in the rates that immigration judges grant asylum. What these studies have failed to adequately explain as of yet is why? In attempting to understand the behavior of immigration judges in asylum cases, scholars have generally taken one of two approaches, either examining immigration judge behavior through top-down bureaucratic models or with models developed through the study of the judiciary. From these studies we have learned that similarly situated asylum applicants have different chances of success based merely on the ideological leanings of the judge who decides their case. We also have learned that …

The One-Year Bar To Asylum In The Age Of The Immigration Court Backlog, Lindsay M. Harris

Journal Articles

Imagine being forced to flee your home, separated from your children, and undergoing the perilous journey to seek safety and protection in the United States. Upon arrival, you are immediately detained and questioned about your intentions. You explain that you fear for your life and seek asylum protection. You may even undergo a detailed interview with an asylum officer, who finds that you have a significant possibility of establishing asylum eligibility. You are released from detention to pursue your asylum claim in immigration court. You diligently attend check-ins with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer for the next two years …

Morena, Morena, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Morena has two children and a husband, and she is currently pregnant. Her life in Afghanistan felt normal, and she was able to study there until she had to flee. Her father in law was a truck driver for an American company and he had to surrender several vehicles to the Taliban. They robbed his vehicle and threatened violence. Because of this danger, Morena and her family fled. Their eight-month journey included rejection in Turkey and Iran multiple times and many struggles with smugglers and police. They eventually made it to a camp in Greece.

Because Morena is pregnant, they …

Walid & Rahima, Walid, Rahima, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Walid worked as a police officer inBaghlan County,Afghanistan, where hedid many operations with NATO and US forces. Walid was responsible for recordingoperations and distributing copies to the media. Being part of the operations was dangerous, and Walid lost many of his friendsto the Taliban.Theyevenskinned afriend for cooperating with the government. The violenceled him to say, “The terrorists have no religion.” The Taliban began entering homes and killing government officials,and paid assassinations happened in public. Walidknew he was in danger.After losing a dear friend, Walid knew then that he had lost all he was willing to lose.He fled to Pakistan where …

Madina, Madina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Madina is from Afghanistan where she had a good life as a hairdresser. She loved her business and was very well off. She faced a great deal of opposition and persecution since she was a woman who owned a business. She faced violence and threats often. Eventually they were forced to sell their possessions and flee with the help of traffickers and had a dangerous and painful journey. Multiple times they were turned away at borders in Greece, Turkey, and Iran. Madina now lives in Oinofyta refugee camp with her husband and 6 children. Her husband has a disability due …

Hamed, Hamed, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Hamed and his family are from Afghanistan where he worked as a diplomat and interpreter for the U.S. Army after having studied international relations and diplomacy. As the situation with the Taliban worsened it became too dangerous for Hamed and his family to stay in Afghanistan. They began the difficult journey with the help of smugglers, first to Iran, then Turkey, and then to Greece in a dangerous, overfilled boat.

Hamed explains the despair and frustration faced by many refugees. They feel as though very little is actually done for refugees once they’re admitted, and explains they need more assistance. …

The Shibboleth Of Discretion: The Discretion, Identity, And Persecution Paradigm In American And Australian Lgbt Asylum Claims, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

Part II of this paper will examine and compare how the LGBT asylum process has evolved—specifically vis-à-vis identity and discretion—in the United States and Australia, which can help highlight some of the issues driven by improper application of Western essentialist LGBT definitions on asylum claims. Part II will also analyze the concepts of refugee and asylum law internationally, as well as the concerns of the gay international community with respect to asylum law globally. Parts III and IV will review the asylum process for LGBT asylum applicants in the United States and Australia, respectively—with a focus on identity, discretion, and …

Matter Of A-R-C-G- And Domestic Violence Asylum: A Glimmer Of Hope Amidst A Continuing Need For Reform, Caroline Mcgee

University of Miami Law Review

In August 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) issued its first published decision recognizing domestic violence as a basis for asylum. In Matter of A-R-C-G-, the BIA held that a woman who had suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her husband in her native Guatemala qualified for asylum as a member of a particular social group. The landmark decision came after years of uncertainty regarding the viability of domestic violence asylum claims and fourteen years after the BIA had rejected domestic violence as a basis for asylum in Matter of R-A-. Parts I and II of this Comment …

A Global Solution To A Global Refugee Crisis, James C. Hathaway

Articles

The author argues that the time is right to change the way that refugee law is implemented. Specifically, Hathaway advocates a shift towards a managed and collectivized approach to the implementation of refugee protection obligations. He contends that while the obligations under the Convention remain sound, the mechanisms for implementing those obligations are flawed in ways that too often lead States to act against their own values and interests, and which produce needless suffering amongst refugees. The author concludes with a five-point plan to revitalize the Refugee Convention.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Deborah Gonzalez's Post: Bringing Good Fortune (And New Champions) Into The New Year!: 01-22-2016, Deborah Gonzalez

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Bilal, Bilal, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Bilal was 23 years old when he drowned in Greece. He was cheerful, intelligent, and full of energy.

He was a journalist in Afghanistan who received a death threat from the Taliban. His family decided that he should flee the country alone for survival since they couldn’t afford for the whole family to go.

He escaped from the camp in Moria by finding a hole in the fence. He outran the police, found a ship in port, and jumped on it as it was leaving. He later had 10 unsuccessful attempts to leave Greece for Germany. He was caught by …

Aarash, Aarash, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

As an anti-corruption journalist in Afghanistan, Aarash’s family’s life was threatened by warlords. His car was shot at, their guesthouse was bombed, and later when they were threatened at gunpoint, they tried to make a new life in India. But in India, they discovered difficulties in obtaining permanent visas so they had return to Kabul where they hid at a friend’s house for 20 days while obtaining documentation to flee to Turkey. Once in Turkey, they learned that Afghan registries had been closed since 2010. They determined that they needed to either apply for asylum in Turkey or leave for …

Applying The U.S. Constitution To Foreign Asylum Seekers: Exposing A Curious, Inconsistent Practice In The Federal Courts, Shalini Bhargava Ray

Marquette Law Review

Asylum law is based on an international treaty, but federal courts routinely invoke U.S. constitutional norms in adjudicating asylum claims. Specifically, they rely on constitutional norms when gauging whether an asylum applicant has suffered harm amounting to “persecution” and whether the harm was inflicted “on account of” a protected characteristic, such as political opinion or religion. In a close analysis of this unusual practice, this Article argues that federal courts have come to inconsistent, and often incompatible, conclusions regarding the use of constitutional norms in the analysis of asylum claims: principally, on whether constitutional norms establish sufficient, insufficient, necessary, or …

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

Michigan Journal of International Law

Refugee status at international law requires more than demonstration of a risk of being persecuted. Unless the risk faced by an applicant is causally connected to one of five specified attributes – his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion – the claim to be a refugee must fail. Because the drafters of the Refugee Convention believed that the world’s asylum capacity was insufficient to accommodate all those at risk of being persecuted, they opted to confine the class of refugees to persons whose predicament stems from who they are, or what they …

Limiting Deterrence: Judicial Resistance To Detention Of Asylum-Seekers In Israel And The United States, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Governments have advanced the argument that asylum-seekers may be detained in order to deter other would-­be asylum­-seekers from coming. But in recent litigation in the United States and Israel, this justification for mass detention met with significant resistance from courts. This Essay looks at the way the American and Israeli courts dealt with the proposed deterrence rationale for asylum-seeker detention. It suggests that general deterrence raises three sequential questions:

1. Is deterrence ever legitimate as a stand alone justification for depriving people of liberty?

2. If deterrence is sometimes legitimate, is it valid as a general matter in migration control, …

The Michigan Guidelines On Risk For Reasons Of Political Opinion

Michigan Journal of International Law

The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“Convention”) recognizes as refugees those who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on the basis of inter alia “political opinion,” are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of their home country

Finality And Judicial Review Under The Immigration And Nationality Act: A Jurisprudential Review And Proposal For Reform, Jesi J. Carlson, Patrick J. Glen, Kohsei Ugumori

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), aliens may petition for judicial review of an adverse decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) as long as that decision constitutes a “final order of removal.” Usually it is not difficult to ascertain when an alien should file her petition: the thirty-day statutory filing deadline begins to run when the Board issues a decision that affirms the immigration judge’s removal order in its entirety. In some cases, however, an alien seeks multiple forms of relief from removal in a single proceeding. When that occurs, some forms of relief might be granted, …