Immigration Law Commons^™

Between Borders - The Realities Of Immigration Limbo, Jennifer C. Valenzuela

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this research, I looked into different immigration pathways in the United States and determined different characteristics from those pathways that might be leading the Latino population into a limbo status. With the Latino population being the largest minority group in the United States, and the continuously growing number of Latino immigrants, I decided to do this research to spread awareness of possible barriers and struggles that Latinos might face when applying for an immigration pathway. I researched the different immigration pathways, focusing on Asylum, TPS, and Family Reunification, to understand the requirements that each requires to apply and the …

The Price Of Labor: The Kafala System And Human Rights Violations, Susana El Souki El Assal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The present research analyzes the Kafala sponsorship system and how it impacts the rights and lives of migrant workers in Middle Eastern and Arab Gulf countries. The Kafala system connects a worker's legal status to their employer, providing companies with significant power over their employees' occupations, movements, and ability to leave the nation. Although some governments as well as businesses maintain that the system promotes economic growth and provides important labor, many studies reveal that it can result in exploitation, such as passport seizure, postponed wages, unsafe working conditions, and reduced freedom. The objective of this study is to understand …

The Limits Of Daca: Affordability- And Access-Related Barriers To Health Professions Education, Nicole Perez, Laura Hirshfield

Journal of College Access

The U.S. is currently facing a shortage of health professionals from underrepresented backgrounds. One potential pathway to decrease this shortage is through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a policy that provides temporary relief from deportation for individuals who migrated to the U.S. before age 16. This study, using 15 life-history narrative interviews, investigates the experiences of Latinx young adults who were pursuing health professions education or working as health professionals. Nine of the participants were DACA recipients, while the remaining six were second-generation (i.e., children of immigrants). An iterative, inductive approach to data analysis was used to …

Data Sanctuaries: Rethinking Technological Progress To Preserve Federalism, Nathan S. Lee

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Why are sanctuary states and cities in the present moment largely failing to protect immigrants and other vulnerable people from federal enforcement of an agenda based on mass deportation and fear? While federalism was painted during the Civil Rights Era as a weapon of states to protect policies of discrimination and segregation, federalism was also a powerful tool used by Northern States before the Civil War to resist Southern and federal laws enabling the dehumanizing capture and transport offugitive slaves (or suspected fugitive slaves). What has changed in the passing years to make federalism seem like such a thin concept, …

Extending Appellate Immigration Jurisdiction: Providing Additional Pathways Of Review For Discretionary Determinations Regarding Extraordinary Circumstances For Victims Of Spousal Abuse, Ayashah Anwar

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

INTRODUCTION: Lucila Magana-Magana lived a life marked by tragedy. At the age of fifteen, Lucila was sexually assaulted and became pregnant. As a young pregnant woman with no ability to leave, Lucila was forced to live with her assailant and had more children with him until his death. After several years on her own, she entered another relationship with her work supervisor, Rafael Camacho, but that relationship soon turned abusive. Camacho became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and eventually Lucila was forced to escape the relationship. Out of fear, Lucila fled Mexico to the United States. Once again, Lucila found …

Catching The Forgotten: Repairing The Safety Net For Cofa Migrants In The United States, Brian Aguilar

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Citizens of the Freely Associated States—the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Belau—are permitted to live and work in the United States without a visa under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA). Yet, for nearly three decades, COFA migrants were excluded from the federal public benefits safety net. This exclusion, a product of legislative oversight in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, devastated communities like the Marshallese in Springdale, Arkansas, who endured dangerous working conditions, poverty, and severe health vulnerabilities without access to critical federal benefits programs. While …

Silenced By Fear: Undocumented Immigrant Victims Of Sexual Assault, Adriana Isabel Herrera

FIU Law Review

Imagine being sexually assaulted and then having to choose between justice or deportation. In today’s climate of heightened immigration enforcement, many undocumented immigrant victims of sexual assault understandably remain silent. After all, who would risk everything just to report a crime that might get them deported? The fear of being separated from their families, ripped from the lives they have built, and sent back to dangerous conditions in their home countries prevents these victims from coming forward and seeking justice. Additionally, the current protections available to them are flawed and insufficient—primarily due to the U visa cap and prolonged processing …

“Fleeing The Climate: The Need For Protection Of Climate Refugees In The Light Of International Law”, Carina Dietmayer

Pace International Law Review

Climate change, which is already making itself felt, poses challenges for international law and the international community. Climate change and its consequences will lead to (involuntary) human mobility and affect many people. This forced migration is not yet specifically addressed by international law. This article addresses climate-induced migration and the protection of climate refugees through international refugee and migration law, international human rights law, international environmental law, climate change law and international disaster law. It analyzes how and, above all, why climate refugees are protected. The core thesis of the article is the justification of a need for protection of …

Mobility And Power In Temp Work, Andrew Elmore

BYU Law Review

Labor mobility is an underdiscussed determinant of temp worker power. Drawing on original interviews with professional and blue-collar workers who work as and alongside temps, this Article shows how businesses use staffing agencies to restrict the labor mobility of contingent workers. Staffing agencies limit worker mobility by imposing user- and worker-side contractual restraints while misrepresenting themselves to temp workers as their sole employer. They also exploit state-imposed mobility limitations by recruiting foreign nationals and people leaving incarceration and channeling them into their most precarious work. This enables clients to dismantle internal labor markets and to fill staffing shortages without raising …

The Due Process And Policy Implications Of The Laken Riley Act, Abigail Adu

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recortes Federales Amenazan La Ayuda A Sobrevivientes De Violencia Doméstica En Nueva York, Ilvea Lezama Melendez

Capstones

Este reportaje examina el impacto de los recientes recortes federales en el financiamiento de organizaciones sin fines de lucro en Nueva York. Esas que brindan servicios a sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica y dependen en gran medida de subvenciones federales y fondos públicos para operar refugios, líneas de ayuda en crisis, servicios legales, consejería y apoyos culturalmente específicos. La reducción de recursos ha provocado interrupciones en los servicios y una disminución en la capacidad de atención, justo cuando la demanda de apoyo por parte de las sobrevivientes dentro de comunidades inmigrantes. A través de entrevistas con proveedores de servicios y expertos …

An Unclear Connection: The Asylum System's "One Central Reason" Test, Christopher R. Porter

William & Mary Law Review Online

Part I of this Note will provide relevant background information on the asylum system in the United States and the significant changes made in the REAL ID Act.

Part II will analyze the current requirements that asylum applicants must meet to succeed in their asylum petitions, including a brief explanation of each element and the legislative history of the REAL ID Act. Part II will assert that based on the legislative history, the “one central reason” standard is best understood as only slightly elevating an applicant’s burden of proof to further protect against threats to the U.S. without becoming overly …

Betrayal Of Trust, Restoration Of Hope: How To Enforce The Law And Transform The Lives Of Immigrants Ripped Off And Damaged By Bad Lawyers And Scammer Notarios, Vanessa Merton

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Immigrants seeking lawful status, or otherwise facing denial of entry or deportation, have no right to counsel at government expense. Not even the most sophisticated immigrant can effectively navigate the morass of U.S. immigration law, frequently described by federal judges as “labyrinthine,” “baffling,” “arcane,” and “almost as impenetrable as the Internal Revenue Code.” Competent, ethical representation is essential and, in theory, available from lawyers or accredited representatives. Yet, for most, such representation is shockingly hard to locate and prohibitively expensive. While over 200 nonprofit organizations provide low-cost or free representation to noncitizens, they can assist only a small fraction …

Solicitantes De Asilo Enfrentan Audiencias Sin Abogados Ante Fallas En La Ayuda Legal De Nyc, Nicol V. Leon Arge

Capstones

Este reportaje examina cómo las fallas en el sistema de asistencia legal de la ciudad de Nueva York están dejando a personas solicitantes de asilo enfrentar la corte de inmigración sin representación legal, lo que incrementa su riesgo de detención y deportación. A través de los casos de tres mujeres de Ecuador y Venezuela, el texto documenta cómo las barreras idiomáticas, la sobrecarga de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro y las limitaciones de los programas financiados por la ciudad hacen que el acceso a abogados pro bono sea inestable o inalcanzable. Pese a las iniciativas anunciadas por la administración …

Filling In The Gaps: How The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Can Enhance Protections For H-1b Visa Holders, Mahi Patel

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

H-1B Specialty Occupations Visas allow numerous foreign nationals to obtain a pathway for entry into the United States through their hard-earned efforts and specialized skills. After meeting stringent requirements and completing complex processes, holders of H-1B visas may begin working in America. Unfortunately, when these individuals come to the land of opportunity, they encounter a harsh reality of employment: the incessant discriminatory abuse of H-1B visa holders by their employers. H-1B employees endure severe working conditions, long hours, unattainable deadlines, wage disparities, and racial biases as they navigate an unknown nation. Employers tend to exploit H-1B workers because these visa …

Workers’ Rights: Legal Protections Against Discrimination For Undocumented Employees, Nathan C. Zipperian, Mark Xiao, Kari Siegenthaler

Immigration Law Blog

Although undocumented workers are protected from workplace discrimination through federal and state laws, increasingly common immigration raids on workplaces coupled with widespread racist sentiment has caused some employers to preemptively terminate employees they suspect are undocumented. Even if undocumented workers succeed in keeping their employment, employers often weaponize the threat of immigration enforcement to create an environment of exploitation in which undocumented workers feel they cannot report abusive employer conduct.

This article will outline the legal protections afforded to undocumented people in the workplace, as well as detailing empirical studies that outline the types of discrimination undocumented workers often experience. …

Representing The Incommunicado Client: Regulating The Attorney-Client Relationship In A Civil Rights Emergency, Michael Kagan

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

When the government obstructs a detainee’s ability to communicate with attorneys, normal rules governing the formation of attorney-client relationships break down. While some work-arounds exist to allow lawyers to bring such cases to court, they have significant limitations and can create problems of their own. The legal profession and the courts should adopt new rules modeled on emergency medicine to facilitate the filing of urgent civil rights claims for clients who are not in a position to consent. In emergency medicine, physicians can presume client consent for certain narrow and urgent purposes. Certain lawyers, in extreme cases, should be able …

Not So Firmly Settled: How The Inconsistent Jurisprudence Of The Firm Resettlement Bar Serves As A Tool For Asylum Seeker Exclusion, Caroline V. Garrido

Fordham Law Review

The firm resettlement bar to asylum, designed to limit protections to those without refuge elsewhere, has become a source of inconsistency, confusion, and exclusion in U.S. asylum law. Circuit courts have adopted two different approaches for determining whether an asylum seeker has firmly resettled in a third country. Despite the Board of Immigration Appeals’ attempt to unify these approaches through the introduction of a burden-shifting framework, courts remain divided, and there is no clear guidance on what constitutes firm resettlement. This Note argues that this lack of guidance has led to inconsistent court holdings and interpretations that conflict with the …

Disability Restriction In U.S. Immigration Policy: From 1882 To The “Final Rule”, Jess Whatcott Dr.

Journal of Law and Policy

Disability justice in the United States and globally demands the dismantling of exclusionary immigration policies. This article surveys the development of disability restrictions in U.S. immigration policy and draws on historical scholarship to describe the specific impact of these policies on racialized groups in the U.S. Since 1882, federal immigration policies have excluded people from entering the U.S. legally based on perceived bodily difference, impairment, pathology, mental defect, or proneness to contagious disease. This continued into the twenty-first century through restrictions on people with HIV/AIDS and against people with a “likelihood of becoming a public charge,” reinforced by the Trump …

Incomplete Protection: How Sijs Perpetuates Family Separation And Restricts Rights Of Immigrant Youth, Lillian Schmoker

Journal of Law and Policy

In 1990, Congress enacted the Immigration Act, amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide qualifying young immigrants with a pathway to residency and citizenship. Through the new Act, Congress created Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) to protect immigrant children in a similar way as the domestic foster care system protected U.S. citizen children. An immigrant child may qualify for SIJS if they are under the age of twenty-one, unmarried, and cannot be reunified with one or both of their parents due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Many SIJS cases involve a claim of harm against only one parent, with …

Immigration And The U.S. Economy Under Obama And Trump, Eliz Gevorgian

Political Science Student Research

This paper examines the economic effects of the United States' immigration policy under President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. Between 2009 and 2017, the Obama administration introduced programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and expanded access to student and work visas. These actions coincided with steady GDP growth averaging about 2 percent per year and a decline in unemployment from 9.9 percent in 2009 to 4.7 percent in 2016. The Trump administration, in office from 2017 to 2021, implemented more restrictive immigration measures, including the 2017 travel ban, reduced refugee admissions, increased H1B visa scrutiny, and …

Access To Healthcare For Irregular Migrants, Jessica Dykes

Journal of Law and Health

Access to Healthcare for Irregular Migrants is an assessment of the right to life, security of the person, and non-discrimination as viewed through the lens of Nell Toussaint's legal battle. It tells the compelling story of an irregular migrant's battle for access to health care. Highlighting a gap in the Canadian healthcare system, this piece raises valuable questions about why that gap exists. Toussaint's experiences with multiple levels of the legal system, both in Canada and internationally, are included. It tells the story from when Ms. Toussaint entered Canada to the present; wherein the matter remains before the court.

This …

What's My Age Again? The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace And The Constitutional Void In Re-Aging Law, Lauren Gay

Et Cetera

When a child’s legal age can be judicially reclassified without rigorous procedural safeguards, the foundations of American due process erode. This article explores the alarming constitutional vacuum exposed by the case of Natalia Grace, an adopted Ukrainian child whose age was legally reclassified from eight to twenty-two without procedural safeguards such as a hearing, legal counsel, or evidentiary testing. Unlike competency or parental rights proceedings, re-aging decisions lack uniform standards, judicial transparency, or appellate recourse. This article argues that re-aging implicates fundamental liberty interests and must be governed by heightened due process protections. Drawing on comparative models from guardianship and …

Punitive Legal Immigration, Pedro Gerson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dean Melanie Leslie’S Office Hours With Professor Peter Markowitz, Melanie Leslie, Peter L. Markowitz

2025 Event Invitations

Join Dean Leslie and Professor Peter Markowitz for the Dean's Office Hours on November 12. They will discuss the shifting immigration landscape in the United States. The scale and nature of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agency's enforcement practices have been evolving rapidly in recent months. The shifts have had profound impacts on immigrants, their families, and the communities in which they live. The changes have also impacted the work of immigration lawyers, who are rapidly evolving their practices to meet the moment and best protect the immigrants they represent. The two will also answer questions raised by …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Immutable Suffering: How The Bia’S Decision In Matter Of K-E-S-G- Complicates Asylum For Victims Of Gender-Based Persecution, Phoebe Appel

Immigration Law Blog

This article addresses the recent BIA decision in Matter of K-E-S-G-, which held that a social group defined by sex and nationality fails to meet the definition of a particular social group eligible for relief under U.S. asylum law. The article argues that while the issue of gender-based persecution is widespread, victims of such harm are united by a unique form of suffering and immutable characteristics. To offer an example of the distinct effects of gender-based persecution, the article highlights women in Eurasia who have been subject to forced marriages.

Systemic Exploitation Of Farmworkers: The Depreciation Of H-2a Farmworkers' Wages And The Effect On Similarly Situated Domestic Jobs, Brady Clark

William & Mary Business Law Review

Immigration has played a key role in helping the U.S. economy grow and provide labor to a variety of industries. One of the key pieces of this growth has been the H-2A visa program, which allows farm workers from other countries to come to the United States to help farmers plant, grow, and harvest. Yet, the H-2A program is riddled with problems that give complete power to the farm owner and strip the farm worker of any ability to stop a farm owner’s abuse. Because of this power, farm owners can take advantage of their H-2A workers, paying them lower …

Beyond Mass Deportation, Nancy Plankey-Videla, Huyen Pham, Angela D. Morrison, Luz E. Herrera

Faculty Scholarship

Donald Trump’s threats to carry out the mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants helped propel him to a second term as President of the United States. For the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. without lawful status, those threats have increased fears of forced returns to their countries of origin. While American immigration law is heavily focused on the legal processes leading to deportation, little attention has been paid to the post-deportation experiences of individuals who must reintegrate into their home countries. This gap in understanding is especially alarming given the high stakes of reintegration. A successful transition can empower …

Living Property, Joseph William Singer

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court has increasingly defined property rights that are per se exempt from regulation in the absence of compensation, most recently in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (2021) and Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023). The Court claims that it can identify property rights that are categorically protected from regulation by reference to history, tradition, and precedent. Yet this approach is oddly ahistorical; it is inconsistent with the fact that property law changed dramatically over U.S. history, as well as varying tremendously among the states. It is also inconsistent with the historical context of the Founding era. At that time, …