Immigration Law Commons^™

U.S. Immigration Policy: Contract Or Human Rights Law?, Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

The current immigration debate often reflects a tension between affirming the individual rights of migrants against the power of a nation to control its borders. An examination of U.S. Supreme Court precedent reveals that, from our earliest immigration history to the present time, our immigration policy has functioned more like contract law than human rights law, with the Court deferring to the power of Congress to define the terms of that contract at the expense of the immigrant's freedom.

Collateral Consequences Of Criminal Convictions To Noncitizens, Fernando A. Nuñez

Faculty Scholarship

The criminal defense attorney's intuitive pursuit of freedom for a client is almost always the best approach in the representation of individuals charged with a crime. When representing noncitizens, however, the prudent practice is to deemphasize immediate freedom and instead to focus on the collateral consequences the conviction will have on the noncitizen's immigration status.

Sharing The American Dream: Towards Formalizing The Status Of Long-Term Resident Undocumented Children In The United States, Ragini Shah

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The legal status of the estimated 1.8 million undocumented young persons currently in the United States is a pressing issue that must be addressed by lawyers and policymakers in the near future. These young people arrived in the United States at a very young age yet do not have, and cannot obtain, lawful immigration status. This article examines their complex position and advocates statutory reforms that better account for their unique developmental and cultural attachments to the United States. This article surveys the history of U.S. immigration policies in relation to undocumented youth as well as current reform proposals to …

A New Look At Neo-Liberal Economic Policies And The Criminalization Of Undocumented Migration, Teresa A. Miller

Journal Articles

This paper situates the current “crisis” surrounding the arrival and continued presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States within penological trends that have taken root in American law over the past thirty years. It positions the shift from more benevolent to the increasingly harsh legal treatment of undocumented immigrants as the continuation of a succession of legal reforms criminalizing immigrants, and governing immigration through crime. By charting the increasing salience of crime in public perceptions of undocumented immigrants, and comparing the immediately preceding criminal stigmatization of so-called “criminal aliens”, this paper exposes current severity toward undocumented immigrants as consistent …

Immigrant Dom. Partners Lose, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

"They Say I Am Not An American…": The Noncitizen National And The Law Of American Empire, Christina Duffy Ponsa-Kraus

Faculty Scholarship

The American papers sometimes contain tales about persons who have forgotten who they are, what are their names, and where they live. The Porto [sic] Ricans find themselves in the same predicament as those absent-minded people. To what nationality do they belong? What is the character of their citizenship? ... [l]f since they ceased to be Spanish citizens they have not been Americans [sic] citizens, what in the name ·of heaven have they been?

The Constitutional Dimension Of Immigration Federalism, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Although the federal government is traditionally understood to enjoy exclusive authority over immigration, states and localities are increasingly asserting a role in this field. This development has sparked vigorous debate on the propriety of such involvement, but the debate is predicated on a misunderstanding of the nature of federal exclusivity. Challenging the conventional wisdom that the Constitution precludes a meaningful role for state and local involvement in immigration.

This Article argues that the Constitution allows immigration authority to be shared among levels of government. After establishing the correctness of this view of immigration authority, this Article argues that the constitutionality …

Ask, Don’T Tell: Ethical Issues Surrounding Undocumented Workers’ Status In Employment Litigation, Christine N. Cimini

Articles

The presence of an estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, of which an estimated 7.2 million are working, has become a flashpoint in the emerging national debate about immigration. Given these statistics, it is not surprising that many undocumented workers suffer injuries in the workplace that are typically legally cognizable. Even though undocumented workers are entitled to a number of legal remedies related to their employment, seeking legal relief often raises heightened concerns about the disclosure of their status. This article explores lawyers' increasingly complex ethical obligations with regard to a client's immigration status in the context …

Special Project: Current Issues In Immigration, Anna Byrne

Vanderbilt Law Review

These words, so famously engraved upon a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty, have become an anachronism in modern American politics. In recent years our society has witnessed a maelstrom arise concerning immigration law and enforcement, with vocal factions spouting angry vitriol about the need to tighten borders and crack down on illegal immigration. Intense debate was sparked 2006 after the House of Representatives passed a restrictive bill that called for a wall to be built along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border, criminalized the aiding or encouraging of illegal immigrants to remain in the country, and imposed new penalties …

Barring Too Much: An Argument In Favor Of Interpreting The Immigration And Nationality Act Section 101(A)(42) To Include A Duress Exception, Nicole Lerescu

Vanderbilt Law Review

The asylum system is in disarray. The United States is unable to guarantee that every asylum seeker will receive a fair and impartial hearing. Although media attention recently has focused on the asylum system's procedural flaws, unjust statutory interpretations also work against those seeking refuge in the United States. This Note focuses on one particular example within this commonly criticized area of the law: the prevailing interpretation of section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to bar those who have persecuted others under duress from attaining refugee status.

It is intuitively appealing that a system of laws should hold …

Immigrants And Their International Money Flows, Susan Pozo Editor

Upjohn Press

This book consists of a series of studies on the topic of international migration with an emphasis on workers' remittances. Chapters cover the impact of remittances on economic development and the interplay of immigration policies with human capital acquisition and labor markets in out-migration areas.

The Immigrant Rights Marches (Las Marchas): Did The "Gigante" (Giant) Wake Up Or Does It Still Sleep Tonight?, Sylvia R. Lazos

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Temporary Protected Status: An Immigration Statute That Redefines Traditional Notions Of Status And Temporariness, Eva Segerblom

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Open Or Closed: Balancing Border Policy With Human Rights, Elizabeth M. Bruch

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Immigration Relief For Human Trafficking Victims: Focusing The Lens On The Human Rights Of Victims, Carole Angel

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Immigration Relief For Human Trafficking Victims: Focusing The Lens On The Human Rights Of Victims, Carole Angel

Women, Leadership & Equality

No abstract provided.

The U Visa Unveiled: Immigrant Crime Victims Freed From Limbo, Jessica Farb

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Selecting By Origin: Ethnic Migration In The Liberal State By Christian Joppke (Book Review), David Abraham

Articles

No abstract provided.

Recovering The Face-To-Face In American Immigration Law, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Failinger’s article begins with stories of the Chinese Exclusion period and modern Arizona border immigration. Tracing Emmanuel Levinas’ argument about violence and totalization of the vulnerable Other as it is manifested in discriminatory legislation in these periods, she argues for a return to the Face-to-Face in deciding immigration requests for admission to the U.S. through a rubric of equitable guided discretion.

Emerging Latina/O Nation And Anti- Immigrant Backlash, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

This foreword is an introduction to the LatCrit XI, Working and Living in the Global Playground: Frontstage and Backstage symposium, convened at William S. Boyd School of Law, in Las Vegas Nevada, during October 2006 and called upon over 150 academics to focus on the impacts of globalization and immigration. At no time has LatCrit's critical approach of interconnecting the structures of inequality, the market forces of globalization, and the cultural hostility towards outsider groups been more relevant.

Backlash against immigrants, particularly Latina/o “illegals,” is on the rise. This Introduction seeks to outline the challenges that the current immigration quandary …

Driving Down The Wrong Road: The Fifth Circuit's Definition Of Unauthorized Use Of A Motor Vehicle As A Crime Of Violence In The Immigration Context., Heather Harrison Volik

St. Mary's Law Journal

Individuals who are not United States citizens and participate in violent or severe criminal activity are likely to be deported and become inadmissible for life. But noncitizens can also be deported for minor criminal activity which does not cause harm or serious damage. In such cases, deportation is an extreme punishment out of proportion to the offense. Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (UUMV) is an example of a crime which can be committed without serious harm or damage. The Fifth Circuit regularly sustains decisions of lifetime reentry ban for noncitizens convicted of UUMV. Under immigration law, “aliens” who are …

Immigration And The Meaning Of United States Citizenship: Whiteness And Assimilation, George A. Martinez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

At the outset of the twenty-first century, United States immigration policy has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. In recent years, we have witnessed, among other things, calls for dramatically restricting immigration in light of an alleged threat to American national identity, increased border enforcement associated with thousands of deaths on the United States/Mexico border, vigilante activity, special immigration procedures enacted for the "War on Terror," and mass marches protesting draconian immigration reform in cities across the United States. Against this background, this essay seeks to explore what immigration and the various issues it raises have …

Falling Through The Cracks: The Impact Of Vawa 2005’S Unfinished Business On Immigrant Victims Of Domestic Violence, Mary B. Clark

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Crossing Borders: Loving V. Virginia As A Story Of Migration, Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

The struggle of binational same-gender partners today parallels the struggles of Mildred and Richard Loving during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement - not only in the obvious parallels between race and sexual orientation as barriers to freedom, but also in the way the law uses these immutable characteristics to limit the freedom of movement. It is this freedom of movement - this migration or immigration - that I want to focus on in this essay. Lest we forget, the Lovings' story is, importantly, a story of migration: It's a story of the great lengths to which an interracial …

Refugee Solution, Or Solutions To Refugeehood?, James C. Hathaway

Articles

This is the text of a lecture delivered by James C. Hathaway in London in October 2006 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Jesuit Refugee Service. The lecture was sponsored jointly by the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of Economics; the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics, and Public Life; and Jesuit Refugee Service (UK).

Welcome To Hazelton - Illegal Immigrants Beware, Karla M. Mckanders

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

On July 13, 2006, the city of Hazleton made national news as the first municipality in the country to pass ordinances against illegal immigrants. The majority of municipal legislation that passed regulated the employment of undocumented workers. The ordinances resulted from municipal perceptions that the federal government has failed to enact and enforce comprehensive immigration legislation. Thereafter, several states and municipalities across the country passed ordinances against illegal immigration. Since then, the federal courts have been inundated with lawsuits challenging the validity of municipal ordinances.

This article delves into the profound impact that municipal ordinances that sanction businesses for employing …

The Land Of The Free: Human Rights Violations At Immigration Detention Facilities In America, Caitlin J. Mitchel

LLM Theses and Essays

In America today, aliens who commit even minor visa violations can be detained in one of many immigration detention facilities throughout the U.S. These detainees may be transferred to a facility far away from their homes, families, and attorneys. While imprisoned in these detention facilities, some detainees are treated as and housed with criminals. Their substantive and procedural rights are limited and their human rights are violated. The U.S. laws that should protect them are the very laws that strip them of their rights to court proceedings, challenges of decisions regarding detention, and judicial review. By issuing substantial reservations, declarations, …

J. Eric Dibbern On Forbidden Families: Family Unification And Child Registration In East Jerusalem By Yael Stein. Hamoked: Center For The Defense Of The Individual, 2004. 41pp., J. Eric Dibbern

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Forbidden Families: Family Unification and Child Registration in East Jerusalem by Yael Stein. HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, 2004. 41pp.

National Security And Immigration Policy: Reclaiming Terms, Measuring Success, And Setting Priorities, Margaret D. Stock

ExpressO

This paper offers a three-pronged framework for evaluating immigration-related security measures and tactics. First, does the measure or strategy relate to a legitimate security goal? Second, what does the measure propose to accomplish, will it be successful in achieving that end, and how can its success (or failure) be assessed? Third, is the measure worth the cost both in resources and opportunities foregone? The paper goes on to evaluate the US Government's recent implementation of the US-VISIT program against this framework.

Delegating Democracy - The Siphoning Of Immigration Power From Congress To The States And Administrative Agencies, And The Need For A New Approach.", Oleg S. Kobelev

ExpressO

The paper's central thesis is that a doctrine of non-delegation in conjunction with the plenary power of Congress in the area of immigration law makes it possible for Congress to escape its democratic responsibilities to the voters by allowing it to shove difficult or unpopular decisions to the administrative agencies with little oversight or accountability to the public. This paper proposes a new constitutional approach to the delegation theory in the context of immigration - a theory of explicit delegation.