Immigration Law Commons^™

What Is Extreme Cruelty? Judicial Review Of Deportation Cancellation Decisions For Victims Of Domestic Abuse, Anna Byrne

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 1990s, Congress began to devote increased attention to the problem of domestic violence, a rampant national problem with social and economic costs. At the same time, concerns about immigrants draining the social welfare service system and taking jobs away from U.S. citizens gave rise to an interest in more stringently monitoring and eradicating the illegal alien population in the United States. As part of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA"), Congress passed the battered spouse provision, attempting to reconcile its desires to address domestic violence and tighten immigration laws. Illegal immigrants are subject to removal procedures. However, …

Expedited Injustice: The Problems Regarding The Current Law Of Expedited Removal Of Aggravated Felons, Andrew D. Kennedy

Vanderbilt Law Review

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, he and his family, like many Americans of the Islamic faith, felt persecuted by their neighbors, despite having had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.' Mr. Rashid felt intimidated by people following him and calling his home to accuse him of complicity in the September 11 attacks. After weeks of harassment, Mr. Rashid's family contacted the police. Unfortunately for Mr. Rashid, however, he shared a name with a suspected terrorist. Thus, instead of addressing Rashid's concerns, the U.S. government began to suspect him as …

Immigration Policy And Immigration Flows: A Comparative Analysis Of Immigration Law In The U.S. And Argentina , Adela De La Torre, Julia Mendoza

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

You Can’T Get There From Here: Managing Judicial Review Of Immigration Cases, Lenni B. Benson

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Refugee Roulette: Disparities In Asylum Adjudication, Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Philip G. Schrag

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study analyzes databases of merits decisions from all four levels of the asylum adjudication process: 133,000 decisions by 884 asylum officers over a seven year period; 140,000 decisions of 225 immigration judges over a four-and-a-half year period; 126,000 decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals over six years; and 4215 decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeal during 2004 and 2005. The analysis reveals significant disparities in grant rates, even when different adjudicators in the same office each considered large numbers of applications from nationals of the same country. In many cases, the most important moment in an asylum …

Introduction (Symposium: Seeking Review: Immigration Law And Federal Court Jurisdiction), Lenni B. Benson

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Difference A Day Makes: How Courts Circumvent Federal Immigration Law At Sentencing, David S. Keenan

Seattle University Law Review

Efforts in criminal courts to avoid deportation as a result of convictions are prevalent throughout the United States. Although defendants in Washington have a statutory right to be advised of the potential immigration consequences of a guilty plea, there is no statutory or constitutional requirement that a judge take immigration consequences into consideration in imposing sentence. Nonetheless, as was the case in the assault on Micah Painter, judges can and do make what are effectively policy judgments when sentencing defendants, with an eye toward helping them avoid deportation.

Days Without Immigrants: Analysis And Implications Of The Treatment Of Immigration Rallies Under The National Labor Relations Act, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

The massive immigration rallies of early 2006 were prompted by anticipated congressional action classifying all unauthorized workers as felons subject to immediate deportation. While a product of federal immigration policy, the rallies implicate federal labor law because they could be characterized as concerted employee action resulting in a series of work stoppages.

Some employees were discharged for missing work to attend the rallies, so an initial question is whether participation in the rallies is protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. But even assuming the rallies were attended by unauthorized workers, those workers are undeniably employees within the meaning …

U.S. Asylum Law Out Of Sync With International Obligations: Real Id Act, Victor P. White

San Diego International Law Journal

Focusing on defensive asylum applications, this Comment examines whether certain provisions of REAL ID violate due process and international obligations to asylum seekers. Part I situates REAL ID within the historical context of nearly a decade of restrictive U.S. immigration law and over two decades of Executive Orders aimed at deterring a mass exodus of asylum seekers from reaching U.S. shores. Part II provides an overview of the U.S. asylum system and argues that the system produces inconsistent and sometimes arbitrary results, indicating that segments of the system do not satisfy international obligations. Part III outlines three provisions of REAL …

Civil Rights, Latinos, And Immigration : Cybercascades And Other Distortions In The Immigration Reform Debate, Enid Trucios-Haynes

Brandeis School of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Making Paper Dolls: How Restrictions On Judicial Review And The Administrative Process Increase Immigration Cases In Federal Court, Lenni B. Benson

Articles & Chapters

Today, jurisdiction over immigration law is by no means well defined by clear limits. Limitations on jurisdiction have bred a multitude of litigation. The number of federal court cases reviewing removal orders has increased 970% in the past ten years. As of September 2005, the immigration cases represented 18% of the appellate civil docket.

Congress and the courts are not alone in augmenting the number of immigration cases in the federal courts. Congress has also urged the agencies enforcing the immigration laws to increase enforcement, to reduce backlogs and to make removal more swift and certain. At the same time …

The Constitutional Right Not To Cooperate? Local Sovereignty And The Federal Immigration Power, Huyen Pham

ExpressO

May the federal government require local governments to cooperate with the enforcement of immigration law or other federal scheme? Or may local governments constitutionally refuse to provide that cooperation?

I use immigration law enforcement as a case study to argue that the current legal framework, which allows the federal government to mandate local cooperation, ignores the significant federalism harms that federal cooperation laws impose. And these federalism harms are not simply limited to the immigration field. In other areas where federal and local governments disagree (e.g., medical marijuana, stem cell research, and physician-assisted suicide), there is similar potential for conflict …

Preserving The Exceptional Republic: Political Economy, Race, And The Federalization Of American Immigration Law, Matthew Lindsay

All Faculty Scholarship

Between 1882 and 1891, the U.S. Congress enacted a spate of immigration laws though which the federal government assumed virtually exclusive control over a regulatory sphere that historically had been the province of the states. This Article argues that this federalization of immigration regulation represented an attempt to reconcile the nation’s most cherished ideological commitment - the notion that the U.S. would forever remain an exceptional, “free labor” republic - with the unprecedented social and economic convulsions of the 1870s and 1880s.

The meaning of both immigrants and immigration was fundamentally transformed during the Gilded Age due to two successive …

Aliens In Our Midst Post-9/11: Legislating Outsider-Ness Within The Borders, Sylvia R. Lazos, Raquel E. Aldana

Scholarly Works

Three recent books written by Professors Bill Ong Hing, Kevin R. Johnson, and Victor C. Romero provide skillfully crafted roadmaps with which to understand the key emerging issues that will shape immigration law well into the next decade: the relationship of immigration control to national security. This Review captures the insights provided by these three authors to examine the restrictive laws and policies aimed at noncitizens in the name of national security as highlighted by the current efforts to federalize driver’s licenses. As this Review explains, these three books map the current antagonistic attitudes towards noncitizens post 9/11, and serve …

The Needle And The Damage Done: How Hoffman Plastics Promotes Sweatshops And Illegal Immigration And What To Do About It , Jennifer S. Berman

ExpressO

This paper examines the intersection of immigration and labor law as developed in federal law, culminating in the recent Supreme Court case, Hoffman Plastics. Arguing that Hoffman was wrongly decided, the paper further demonstrates that stronger penalties are necessary under the NLRA to deter employer wrongdoing, protect workers’ rights, and slow the proliferation of sweatshops.

Devolution And Discrimination, Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the issue of whether discrimination against two historically disadvantaged groups - racial minorities, on the one hand, and gays and lesbians, on the other - might increase or decrease should the federal immigration power devolve to the individual states. I conclude that while the lack of uniformity that accompanies immigration law devolution might lead to undesirable results in welfare reform and criminal law enforcement, and would likely not stem the tide of racism, it might lead to the opening of opportunities for gay Americans to petition their binational partners for immigration benefits. Such a development would turn …

Thoughts On Proposed Immigration Reforms, John Scanlan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Temporary Workers And Future Immigration Policy Conflicts: Protecting U.S. Workers And Satisfying The Demand For Global Human Capital, Enid Trucios-Haynes

Brandeis School of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Selective Deportation Of Same-Gender Partners: In Search Of The "Rara Avis", Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

This article seeks to explore the possibility that a selective deportation of a same-gender partner who has overstayed her visa constitutes an outrageous case under the AADC test. Its modest goal is to discourage the INS from ever pursuing such a strategy, knowing that there are probably many who believe that same-gender overstays, even if civilly united in Vermont, are not the ideal candidates for "suspect class" status under U.S. constitutional law. That notwithstanding, common sense and sound doctrine suggest that, despite the many anti-gay and anti-immigrant decisions handed down over the last twenty years, the Court will not hesitate …

Postsecondary School Education Benefits For Undocumented Immigrants: Promises And Pitfalls, Victor C. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

Should longtime undocumented immigrants have the same opportunity as lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens to attend state colleges and universities? There are two typical justifications for denying them such opportunities. First, treating undocumented immigrants as in-state residents discriminates against U.S. citizen nonresidents of the state. Second, and more broadly, undocumented immigration should be discouraged as a policy matter, and therefore allowing undocumented immigrant children equal opportunities as legal residents condones and perhaps encourages "illegal" immigration. This essay responds to these two concerns by surveying state and federal solutions to this issue.

Problems And Solutions Regarding Indigenous Peoples Split By International Borders, Richard Osburn

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Immigrant Visa Distribution: The Case Of Mexico, Bernard Trujillo

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Preventing Internal Exile: The Need For Restrictions On Collateral Sentencing Consequences, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Opening The Doors Of Immigration: Sexual Orientation And Asylum In The United States, Tracy J. Davis

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Aggravating The Immigration Paradox: The Nicaraguan Adjustment And Central American Relief Act's Effect On U.S. Immigration Policy, Annette C. Escobar

St. Thomas Law Review

Part I of this Comment analyzes United States immigration policy in 1996 as differentiated from the change marked by NACARA. Part II briefly explains the Supreme Court's previous holdings on immigration issues and its interpretation of immigration law. The author concludes that the Court should hold that immigration law must comport with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, both due process and equal protection. Part III demonstrates Congress' motivation in passing NACARA as well as the Act's general provisions. Part IV analyzes the effects and implications of NACARA. Specifically, it explains the Act's innate discriminatory tendencies, …

A Lawyer's Guide: How To Avoid Pitfalls When Dealing With Alien Clients, Kelly Kaiser

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Removing The Venom From The Snakehead: Japan's Newest Attempt To Control Chinese Human Smuggling, Ian Peck

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note examines Japan's 1997 Amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act as a response to illegal Chinese immigration. Part II of the Note identifies and explains the international human smuggling crisis. Part III examines Sino-Japanese human smuggling. Finally, Part IV analyzes the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in detail and suggests some of the Act's shortcomings.

Changing The Rules: Arguing Against Retroactive Application Of Deportation Statutes, Anjali Parekh Prakash

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

By failing to prescribe its temporal reach, section 440(d) of the Anti-Terrorism Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) has created confusion for the courts. Does the provision apply to individuals who committed a crime, making them subject to deportation before AEDPA was passed? To individuals who were convicted prior to AEDPA? To those in deportation proceedings when AEDPA was passed? To those who had already applied for section 212(c) waivers when AEDPA was passed?

Using section 440(d) as a case study to analyze these retroactivity issues, this Note opposes the Attorney General’s interpretation and instead proposes an antiretroactivity presumption applicable not …

A Practical Guide To Employment-Based Immigration The State Of Employment-Based Immigration In The Wake Of The Illegal Immigration Reform And Immigrant Responsibility Act Of 1996, Helen L. Konrad, Mark B. Rhoads, Eliot Norman

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

California’S Proposition 187--Does It Mean What It Says? Does It Say What It Means? A Textual And Constitutional Analysis, Lolita K. Buckner Inniss

Publications

No abstract provided.