Immigration Law Commons^™

[2025 Winner] Fear Is Knocking: No Abras La Puerta, Destiny Jimenez

Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

This paper explores the impact of deportations and unauthorized immigration on the Mexican community. By focusing on the social, emotional, and economic challenges faced by Mexican immigrants due to their legal status, this paper examines how deportation policies disproportionately affect their lives. Drawing from my own family's experience, I reflect on my mother's journey as an immigrant and how her experiences shed light on the broader struggles of many in the community.

The Banality Of Crimmigration—Can Immigration Law Recover Itself?, Catherine Dauvergne

All Faculty Publications

This article argues that criminal law has overtaken immigration law to such an extent that the notion of “crimmigration” is no longer shocking. In Canada, where the population has long been supportive of immigration and where national politics have been remarkably consensual in matters of immigration, crimmigration now forms the basis of a new form of bipartisan consensus. By looking back on the Justin Trudeau Liberal government, we see that most of the Harper-era crimmigration measures were left in place, and the advance of crimmigration continued unabated. If we are to make any progress in recovering space for values other …

Asegurar La Frontera: Expansion Of Governor Greg Abbott’S Powers Over Border Security, Marshall B. Lloyd

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In Congress, A Welcome, But Flawed, Step To Stop Trump’S Transfers To Torture, Scott Roehm, Rebecca Ingber

Online Publications

Senate Democrats are demanding the Trump administration provide information on its transfers to torture in El Salvador, including actions it has taken in response to court orders. On May 1, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Alex Padilla (D-CA), introduced legislation outlining the questions they want answers to. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is leading companion legislation in the House.

Incalculable Harm: Analyzing The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Immigration Detention In Canada, Efrat Arbel, Molly Joeck

All Faculty Publications

This paper reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigration detention in Canada. Drawing on research spanning 2020 to 2022, we analyze how the pandemic impacted rates of detention, conditions of detention, and other related issues. Data released by the Canada Border Services Agency shows that despite an initial decrease in absolute numbers, Canada detained people at a higher rate after the onset of the pandemic than it did prior. Canada also held people for longer periods of time and relied more heavily on jails than dedicated Immigration Holding Centres. Conditions of confinement deteriorated significantly across all detention …

After Chevron’S Demise, Should Courts Be Giving Deference To The Trump Administration’S Foreign Policy Considerations When Deporting A Noncitizen?, Cyrus D. Mehta, Kaitlyn Box

Immigration Law Blog

No abstract provided.

Rights Violations Faced By Women And Girls Migrating Through The Darién Gap, Jessica Alejandra Arroyave Buitrago

Immigration Law Blog

This article aims to highlight how the rights of women and girls migrating through the Darién Gap are specifically violated due to their gender, making them disproportionately vulnerable to certain forms of rights violations.

Changemakers : Jeremey Love And Samantha Armstrong : Juris Doctorate : Defending Dreams In Challenging Times, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Tienen Alas, Pero No Las Pueden Usar: Stories Of Immigrants In Search Of Work Credentials, Jonathan Vega-Martinez, Maria M. Pache De Athayde, Fabián Torres-Ardila, Phillip Granberry

Gastón Institute Publications

This report presents the results of a qualitative research study, funded by the Latino Equity Fund of the Boston Foundation, aimed at understanding the challenges that highly skilled immigrants1 face when reentering their careers in Massachusetts.

Five Circuit Courts Against Five Circuit Courts: The Inconsistent Methods Of Review For Fifth Amendment Violations In The Immigration Courts, Elisa Perry

Akron Law Review

The note examines critical due process violations in U.S. immigration courts, focusing on the circuit court split regarding non-citizens' Fifth Amendment right to obtain counsel at their own expense during removal proceedings. Currently, five circuit courts require non-citizens to prove "substantial prejudice" when denied counsel, while five courts reject this standard. The research argues that this inconsistency undermines fundamental due process protections, suggesting solutions including a Supreme Court decision, new legislation, and an executive order to establish a uniform standard that prioritizes non-citizens' rights to legal representation and ensures fair hearings, particularly given the complex and high-stakes nature of immigration …

At The Hart Of Immigration Reform: How Dhs’S New Biometric Database Will Infringe On The Privacy Rights Of U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents, And Foreign Nationals, Calypso Moschochoritis

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Immigration is a regular feature of American life; President Obama once described the U.S. as “a nation of immigrants.” Even as the host of more immigrants than any other nation, the American public has historically found immigration contentious. Since Congress has failed to agree on comprehensive immigration reform, this responsibility has moved to the executive and judicial branches of government. In 2016, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began working on the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) Program, a new biometric information management system, to replace IDENT (Automated Biometric Identification System), DHS’s current biometrics database. HART will join other initiatives …

Big Words, Questionable Legality: Constitutional Impediments To Restricting Birthright Citizenship, Kristin Hommel

Immigration Law Blog

This article analyzes the nuances of Trump's Day One executive order restricting the grant of birthright citizenship only to children whose parents possess either a green card or U.S. citizenship. The article discusses the constitutional impediments to this executive order, as well as prior caselaw and academic articles, positing that the executive order stands on rather shaky ground constitutionally.

Immigration, Due Process, And Executive Power, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Peter Margulies

Faculty Scholarship

The current Administration's approach to immigration law enforcement has augmented executive power and reduced procedural safeguards. That approach has raised questions under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Constitution. Courts have often pushed back, although the Supreme Court has stayed judicial curbs on one area we'll discuss: Removal to a country other than the home country of the noncitizen (sometimes called third-country removal (TCR)). In other areas, such as the First Amendment rights of foreign students and the reach of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), adjudication is moving through the courts, although the Supreme Court has imposed limits …

The Migration Of Abolition Theory, Matthew Boaz

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article considers whether and how theories of abolition developed by criminal law scholars are transferrable to the realm of immigration enforcement. A key question is how abolitionist principles might be employed in support of critiques of the United States’ immigration regulatory regime in the same way that these principles have been deployed in denouncing racialized policing and an injurious, industrialized prison system.

This Article makes two contributions: First, it identifies and illuminates a methodology adopted by critical and decarceral criminal law scholars: (i) denouncing the harms of a structural system, (ii) identifying the normative justification(s) for this system, and …

Capital Punishment, Crimmigration, And The Necropolitical Agenda Against Noncitizens, Erin R. Collins

Law Faculty Publications

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14164, Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety. This Order, one of twenty-six signed on Inauguration Day, directs the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for any “capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country,” and specifies the mandate applies “regardless of other factors.” In other words, the Order requires federal prosecutors to set aside their duty to determine what punishment comports with justice in an individual case, and instead seek the authority to kill anyone who is within the country without lawful status upon …

Derailing Deportation Through State Legislation, Stacy Caplow

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Towards The Abolition Of The Immigration Detention Of Children In The United States, Lauren Bartlett

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Daca Beyond Boundaries: Employment-Based Strategies, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fact-Finding Is An Immigration Lawyer's Job: The Importance Of Working One-On-One With Clients In Asylum Cases, Jacqueline Marie Brown

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Immigration Subpoena Power, Lindsay Nash

Articles

For over a century, the federal government has wielded the immigration subpoena power in darkness, forcing private individuals, subfederal governments, and others to help it detain and deport. This vast administrative power has remained opaque even to those who receive these subpoenas and invisible to those it affects most. Indeed, the very people targeted by these subpoenas often don’t know they exist, much less how they facilitate arrest and deportation. For these reasons—and more—this power has escaped the legal battles raging over other immigration enforcement tactics and the scrutiny of journalists, scholars, and courts. Thus, as state- and locality-held information …

We Can't Apply From The Grave: Why The Asylum Standard Of Proof Fails Those Who Need It Most, Hilana Said

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

A woman in Florida sits in front of her TV, unsure if the sound of static is coming from shock or the screen. Her eyes reflect the fires that blaze from within her church in Alexandria, Egypt. Numbly, the pads of her fingers attempt to call family members, praying that, for once, they skipped service. She lets go of a breath she did not know she was holding. The time between now and another attack exists on a clock that she cannot see. But she knows it is ticking.

Rights As Remedies: Using Latin American Legal Channels To Halt U.S. Border Externalization, Natalie Lerner

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The first Trump Administration saw intense border crackdowns and a ramping up of restrictions on asylum. While some of these policies shifted under President Biden, many were recreated under new names. The second Trump Administration has functionally closed the border and deported asylum seekers to third countries such as Costa Rica and Panama, leaning heavily on Latin American countries to accept expelled migrants. As U.S. courts fail to preserve asylum law domestically, international law, as integrated into the constitutions of Latin American countries, can provide a valuable litigation tool to block those countries from participating in the U.S. border externalization …

Interesting Intersections Of Immigration And First Amendment Law, David Hudson, Maximiliano Gluzman

FIU Law Review

This essay identifies four areas of immigration law in which pressing First Amendment claims play a prominent and dominant role. The first area involves denial of admission or deportation based on pure or symbolic speech. At various times, Congress has enacted grounds of inadmissibility and deportability that squarely fall within the purview of the First Amendment. The second area involves so-called retaliatory deportations, when the government initiates or accelerates removal proceedings against a noncitizen who is in violation of immigration laws allegedly for the non-citizen’s activism, protest activity, or other First Amendment speech or expressive conduct. The third area involves …

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 …

Cancellation Of Removal For Inadmissible Non-Citizens, Anna Vanbuskirk

Law Student Works

Cancellation of removal is a defensive application for non-citizens in immigration removal proceedings. It is often colloquially referred to as “42B cancellation of removal” based on the form number of the associated application. This Pathfinder research guide provides an overview of cancellation of removal for inadmissible non-citizens. Those who satisfy the criteria in INA § 240A(b)(1) and successfully petition an immigration judge for 42B cancellation of removal are eligible for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence.

This guide navigates the researcher through an overview of the cancellation of removal criteria and how to find the relevant federal statutes, applicable …

Parole Under Ina 212(D)(5)(A): Balancing Humanitarian Needs And Legal Boundaries, Jorge Miguel Magdaniel Manzur

Immigration Law Blog

This article examines how various uses and interpretations of parole under INA § 212(d)(5) have shaped immigrants' access to benefits, highlighting the balance between executive discretion and statutory limits within recent political and humanitarian contexts.

No Conozco A Ninguna Miranda Y Quiero Mi Abogado: The Constitutional Inadequacies Of Translated “Miranda Cards” In Police Interrogations, Sean Werkheiser

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This article explores the challenges and complexities surrounding the application of the Miranda warning in the United States and specifically addresses its impact on non– English–speaking immigrants. While many Americans are familiar with these rights, recent immigrants may not fully understand them, particularly if they come from countries that do not offer equivalent legal protections. This article performs a comparative analysis of the right to silence and counsel in Cuba, Haiti, and Colombia—three countries with the largest immigrant populations in Miami, FL. Furthermore, this article examines how Miami-Dade Police address the linguistic barriers inherent in translated “Miranda Cards,” and argues …

The Troubling Case(S) Of Noncitizens: Immigration Enforcement Through The Criminal Justice System And The Effect On Families, Juan C. Quevedo

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Precedent, Fairness, And Common Sense Dictate That Padilla V. Kentucky Should Apply Retroactively, William N. Conlow

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

In 2010, the Supreme Court decided the landmark case of Padilla v. Kentucky. The Padilla Court's holding was that failure of counsel to advise a non-citizen criminal defendant about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. This article addresses whether Padilla applies to convictions that occurred before Padilla was decided, in March 2010.

First, this article provides background on relevant immigration law, Padilla v. Kentucky, and the Supreme Court's retroactivity case law. Then, this article considers how lower courts have addressed the issue of retroactivity in the approximately twenty-seven months after the Padilla decision. This …

Humanitarian Parole To The United States: The Case Of A Gay Man Fleeing Afghanistan, Melanie Shapiro

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article will discuss my experience as an immigration attorney representing a gay man from Afghanistan fleeing the Taliban. First, it will give an overview of the Taliban’s role in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover in August 2021. It will then discuss the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in Afghanistan. Next, the article will discuss how I became involved in representing individuals fleeing Afghanistan and the humanitarian parole process.