Immigration Law Commons^™

Modalities Of Social Change Lawyering, Christine N. Cimini, Doug Smith

Articles

The last decade has seen the rise of new kinds of grassroots social movements. Movements including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Sunrise, and #MeToo pushed back against long-standing political, economic, and social crises, including income inequality, racial inequality, police violence, climate change, and the widespread culture of sexual abuse and harassment. As these social change efforts evolve, a growing body of scholarship has begun to theorize the role of lawyers within these new social movements and to identify lawyering characteristics that contribute to sustaining social movements over time. This Article surveys this body of literature and proposes a typology …

Sanchez V. Mayorkas: Is This The End Of Green Cards For Temporary Protected Status Holders?, Thalia G. Rivet

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This Note was inspired by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sanchez v. Mayorkas. This decision put an end to the decade-long circuit split over whether a Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) recipient, who entered the United States unlawfully, could still become a Lawful Permanent Resident (“LPR”). Since its inception, TPS holders have been denied an avenue to adjust their status despite their socioeconomic impact on the United States and every TPS-designated country. This Note will break down and analyze the decision in Sanchez v. Mayorkas through (1) the examination of the circuit split cases, (2) the analysis of TPS holder’s …

Chevron: Fueling The Right Against Title 42 And The Denial Of U.S. Asylum Rights, Nicholas Pierre-Paul

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This Note was inspired by the questionable treatment of Haitian asylum seekers in Del Rio, Texas, where horseback U.S. officials charged at them using reins as whips, before immediately deporting them back to Haiti. The U.S. government justified its actions by claiming that Title 42 permits U.S. officials to prohibit the entry of individuals when there is a danger of introducing certain diseases, such as COVID-19. However, Title 42 conflicts with the United States’ codified commitment to the principle of non-refoulment, prohibiting it from returning certain refugees to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. Accordingly, the …

The Supreme Court In Crisis, David M. Hunt Library

2023 Event Invitations

The speakers will discuss recent decisions affecting abortion and gun rights, the public’s trust and confidence in the high court and cases the Court will decide before the summer involving LGBTQ rights, affirmative action, election law and immigration policy.

Speakers:

• Tom Gerety, former President of Amherst and Trinity Colleges, former Executive Director of the Brennan Center for Justice
• Adam Liptak, New York Times Supreme Court Correspondent
• David Rudenstine, Sheldon H. Solow Professor of Law at Cardozo and former Dean

Allowed To Stay: An Exploration Of Dhs New Guidelines To Dismiss Certain Immigration Cases, Jazmin E. De La Cruz Sanchez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guideline issued with the intent of reducing case backlogs has led to the dismissal of many immigrants’ legal proceedings. Having their case dismissed has allowed those immigrants to stay within the United States essentially with no legal status. I argue in this paper that these changes have left many in a state that’s been termed liminal legality. Building on previous research that employs this concept, I specifically argue that being in this position affects one’s employment, income, prospects for upward mobility, and future legal standing. Although this new guideline was created to …

Contextualizing Corruption: Foreign Financing Bans And Campaign Finance Law, Lori A. Ringhand

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Colorblind Nationalism And The Limits Of Citizenship, Ming Hsu Chen

Cardozo Law Review

Policymakers and lawyers posit formal citizenship as the key to inclusion. Rather than presume that formal citizenship will necessarily promote equality, this Article examines the relationship between citizenship, racial equality, and nationalism. It asks: What role does formal citizenship play in excluding noncitizens and Asian, Latinx, and Muslim citizens racialized as foreigners? What effects does it have on the meaning of being American as a non-White citizen? The Article argues that commitments to colorblind equality and democratic self-governance of the nation stand in contradiction to aspirations to protect all persons within the nation. Consequently, individual rights designed to remedy racial …

Recognizing The Right To Family Unity In Immigration Law, Eugene Lee

Michigan Law Review

The Trump Administration’s travel ban and separation of families at the U.S.- Mexico border drew newfound attention to the constitutional due process right to family unity. But even before then, the right to family unity has had a substantial history. Rooted in the Supreme Court’s line of privacy rights cases, the right to family unity is amorphous. This ambiguity has given rise to disagreement regarding not only legal doctrine surrounding the right but also whether the right even exists. This Note clarifies this disagreement by offering a historical account of the right to family unity and an overview of three …

The Immigration Shadow Docket, Faiza W. Sayed

Northwestern University Law Review

Each year, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)—the Justice Department’s appellate immigration agency that reviews decisions of immigration judges and decides the fate of thousands of noncitizens—issues about thirty published, precedential decisions. At present, these are the only decisions out of approximately 30,000 each year, that are readily available to the public and provide detailed reasoning for their conclusions. This is because most of the BIA’s decision-making happens on what this Article terms the “immigration shadow docket”—the tens of thousands of other decisions the BIA issues each year that are unpublished and nonprecedential. These shadow docket decisions are generally authored …

Prevention Or Creation Of Terrorism? The Sri Lankan Prevention Of Terrorism Act, Abigail Castle

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

Abstract

The tyrannical Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act (“PTA”) has been in effect for over forty years. Dating back to the decades-long civil war, the PTA has terrorized Sri Lankan citizens. The PTA authorizes the Sri Lankan government to arbitrarily detain citizens without warrants for up to eighteen months; use torture to extract confessions; and target protesters, minority groups, and political opponents. The PTA creates a breeding ground for numerous human rights violations with no accountability for the officials who commit human rights abuses. The use of the Act has intensified since 2019 with the Easter Sunday Bombings and …

Luck Of The Draw Iii: Using Ai To Examine Decision‐Making In Federal Court Stays Of Removal, Sean Rehaag

All Papers

This article examines decision‐making in Federal Court of Canada immigration law applications for stays of removal, focusing on how the rates at which stays are granted depend on which judge decides the case. The article deploys a form of computational natural language processing, using a large‐language model machine learning process (GPT‐3) to extract data from online Federal Court dockets. The article reviews patterns in outcomes in thousands of stay of removal applications identified through this process and reveals a wide range in stay grant rates across many judges. The article argues that the Federal Court should take measures to encourage …

Rights Without A Remedy: Detained Immigrants And Unlawful Conditions Of Confinement, Brandon Galli-Graves

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Cost/Benefit Balancing Tests Don't Exist: How To Dispel A Delusion That Delays Justice For Immigrants, Joshua J. Schroeder

West Virginia Law Review

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court nullified its earlier presumption that indefinite immigrant detention without bond hearings is unconstitutional under Zadvydas v. Davis. If Zadvydas is a nullity, those who raise due process balancing tests during the post-removal-period in immigrant habeas review may need to find new grounds for review. However, since Boumediene v. Bush was decided in 2008, there are several reasons not to despair Zadvydas’s demise

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For one, Zadvydas spoke to an extremely narrow subset of cases. It granted a concession under the Due Process Clause to immigrants detained beyond the statutory 90-day removal period. It …

Speculative Immigration Policy, Matthew Boaz

Scholarly Articles

This Article considers how speculative fiction was wielded by the Trump administration to implement destructive U.S. immigration policy. It analyzes the thematic elements from a particular apocalyptic novel, traces those themes through actual policy implemented by the president, and considers the harm effected by such policies. This Article proposes that the harmful outcomes are not due to the use of speculative fiction, but rather the failure to consider the speculative voices of those who have been historically marginalized within the United States. This Article argues that alternative speculative visions could serve as a platform for radical imagination about future U.S. …

International Digital Nomads: Immigration Law Options In The United States And Abroad, Scott Titshaw

Articles

Remote work has become common, allowing many people to choose to work anywhere with an adequate internet connection. Some are adopting a “digital nomad” lifestyle, moving with the seasons or years from place to place, including foreign locations. Yet, such international movement raises immigration and other legal issues. Many countries have adopted specific digital nomad visas and other immigration policies to encourage and regulate this trend. The United States is not one of them. Arguing that the United States should consciously plan for digital nomads, this article compares the current U.S. approach with the innovations of other countries, identifying the …

The Absurdity Of Criminalizing Encouraging Words, Eric Franklin Amarante

Scholarly Works

This article discusses the Supreme Court’s holding in Hansen v. U.S., which upheld a statute that makes it a felony to encourage an undocumented person to remain in the United States.

Expanding The Sixth Amendment’S Right To Counsel To Ensure Fairness For Noncitizen Defendants, Kathy Santamaria Mendez

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

When Congress Passes The Buck: How Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine Exposed Flaws In Granting The President Sanctioning Powers, Artem M. Joukov, Samantha M. Caspar

Seattle University Law Review

The United States (U.S.) Constitution provides few limitations on endowing the Executive Branch with powers to govern foreign trade, which was initially granted to the Legislature. In a world where global trade dominates, the power over foreign trade can be more important than the power over domestic matters. Leaving unrestrained trade authority to the Executive Branch may cause hazards for Americans and foreigners alike. Russia’s war in Ukraine demonstrates the flaws in permitting the Executive Branch to unilaterally sanction foreign states. This Article demonstrates how reactive Executive Branch policies infringed on the welfare and safety of American citizens and foreigners …

Pedaling Backwards: Examining The King County Board Of Health’S Choice To Repeal Its Bicycle Helmet Law, Schuyler M. Peters

Seattle University Law Review

In Part I, this Comment will explain the Helmet Law itself and the timeline that ultimately led to its repeal. Part II will focus on the positive impact of the Helmet Law, the dangers associated with the repeal, why the repeal should not have occurred in the manner it did, and what societal costs stem from the BOH’s decision. Part III will address the actions that must be taken to revoke this repeal and the reasons behind these alternative pathways, including an Equity Impact Review study specifically on the consequences of repeal, a collaborative outreach program to bring helmets to …

The Language Of Record: Finding And Remedying Prejudicial Violations Of Limited English Proficient Individuals’ Due Process Rights In Immigration Proceedings, Anna C. Everett

Connecticut Law Review

In immigration court proceedings, court interpreters interpret only those statements made directly to and by the limited English proficient (“LEP”) party. Thus, LEP individuals can only understand what is being spoken to them, not what is being asserted about them. In asylum interviews, applicants must provide their own interpreter, and failure to do so may result in an applicant-caused delay and, ultimately, a denial of work authorization. In immigration proceedings, the LEP party’s livelihood, family unity, and freedom from persecution and death are at stake. The message that the U.S. legal system makes clear is that it does not value …

Ready To Do The Difficult Work Ahead: The Legal Legacy Of Senator Harry Reid, Robert Lemus, Sarah Voehl

Nevada Law Journal Forum

This White Paper examines the legal legacy of Harry Reid, who served Nevada in the Senate for thirty years and rose to the position of Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015. Senator Reid's work on land and water policy, climate change, immigration, gaming, and labor deeply affected Nevada and the United States as a whole. Through his positions of leadership, he secured funding for critical infrastructure projects, protected public lands, championed renewable energy, passed the Affordable Care Act, fought for immigration reform, and advocated for labor and gaming issues. This paper concludes that Senator Reid's legal legacy is a powerful …

A Human Rights Approach To Climate-Induced Displacement: A Case Study In Central America And Colombia, Camila Bustos, Juliana Vélez-Echeverri

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The past decade was the warmest decade ever recorded. As climate impacts intensify, numbers of people displaced and in need of relocation increase. International law has yet to adapt to a changing climate and its implications for those most vulnerable. Experts still debate whether the existing refugee regime could provide a solution for those displaced by climate across international borders, while national governments continue to reckon with the domestic implications of internal displacement fueled by climate impacts. In this article, we apply a human rights lens to climate induced displacement, drawing from two case studies to highlight the human rights …

Fleeing The Land Of The Free, Jayesh Rathod

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Essay is the first scholarly intervention, from any discipline, to examine the number and nature of asylum claims made by U.S. citizens, and to explore the broader implications of this phenomenon. While the United States continues to be a preeminent destination for persons seeking humanitarian protection, U.S. citizens have fled the country in significant numbers, filing approximately 14,000 asylum claims since 2000. By formally seeking refuge elsewhere, these applicants have calculated that the risks of remaining in the United States outweigh the bundle of rights that accompany U.S. citizenship. Given the United States’ recent flirtation with authoritarianism, and the …

Remotely Relevant: Addressing Employment-Based Immigration Worksite Location Requirements In The Remote Workspace, Rachel Refkin

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

The worksite location requirements for the PERM process for immigrant visas and LCAs for specialty occupation nonimmigrant visas have lost their relevance during the revolution of the white-collar remote workspace within the United States under current DOL guidelines. Although on its face foreign nationals working outside the office appears to be a novel legal issue, remote work within the United States has been an insurmountable hurdle in the immigration space since telework gained popularity in the late twentieth century. It is possible to apply for both kinds of visas for telework, but adherence to the Farmer Memo appears to be …

Zoned In: How Residence Restrictions Lead To The Indefinite And Unconstitutional Detention Of New Yorkers Convicted Of Sex Crimes, Rebecca Tunis

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

Despite the New York Court of Appeals majority holding in People ex rel. Johnson, New York’s policy of detaining individuals beyond their maximum sentence because they are unable to procure SARA-compliant housing is plainly unconstitutional. The policy violates sex offenders’ fundamental right to be released from prison after serving their sentence. Further, the policy fails to meet even the most relaxed form of judicial review because the state has not shown that it benefits public safety. Indeed, there is virtually no evidence proving that this policy serves to protect the public at all, and a growing body of research shows …

State Responsibility For Forced Migration, Pooja R. Dadhania

Faculty Scholarship

International refugee law does not hold states accountable for the forced migration they cause. Using the international law doctrine of state responsibility, this Article aims to shift the discourse on migration policy towards a state accountability approach that considers the role states play in causing forced migration. This Article uses state responsibility to explore the obligations of a state after it commits a violation of international law that results in forced migration. The general principle undergirding state responsibility is that a state should provide full reparation for harms caused by its violation of an international obligation. Applying state responsibility to …

A Living Legacy: The Katzmann Study Group On Immigrant Representation, The Honorable Denny Chin

Fordham Law Review

On March 9, 2023, hundreds of individuals—including immigration lawyers, advocates, government officials, academics, journalists, and philanthropists—gathered for a symposium at Fordham University School of Law entitled Looking Back and Looking Forward: Fifteen Years of Advancing Immigrant Representation. The symposium was organized by the Fordham Law Review and sponsored by law school centers and clinics, nonprofit organizations, and the Katzmann Study Group on Immigrant Representation (the “Study Group”). For members of the Study Group, the day was particularly poignant because several sessions at the symposium honored the life and accomplishments of the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann, the Study Group’s founder and …

Advancing Immigrant Legal Representation: The Next Fifteen Years, Muzaffar Chishti, Charles Kamasaki, Laura Vasquez

Fordham Law Review

As a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Robert A. Katzmann found that immigration matters represented a severe and growing bottleneck of the cases at the court. Instead of treating this phenomenon purely as a case management problem, he chose to delve deeper to understand the underlying cause for the high level of appeals from immigration agency determinations. Judge Katzmann concluded that lack of effective counsel was a major factor, and he turned that understanding into a cause. In his 2007 clarion call, he implored the enlightened members of the legal community to rise to …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Beyond The Business Case: Moving From Transactional To Transformational Inclusion, Jamillah Bowman Williams

Seattle University Law Review

While workplace diversity is a hot topic, the extent to which the diversity management movement has effectively improved intergroup relations and reduced racial inequality remains unclear.1 Despite large investments in diversity and inclusion training and other company wide initiatives, historically excluded groups remain vastly underrepresented in leadership and the most lucrative careers, such as finance, law, and technology. This calls the efficacy of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts into question, particularly with respect to reducing racial inequality in the workplace.

This Article explains why it is time for organizational leaders to move beyond the transactional case for diversity and …