Immigration Law Commons^™

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.

Silent Shores: The Asean Human Rights Response To Refugee Protections, Lakshmi Sanmuganathan

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

Established on August 8, 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) emerged as the first intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting peace, security, and regional unity in Southeast Asia. In 2009, ASEAN affirmed its commitment to human rights by founding the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (“AICHR”), the first regional human rights system in Asia. This note offers a critical evaluation of the ASEAN human rights system and its response to refugee rights, recognition, and protections in Southeast Asia. It begins by assessing the historical foundation that has shaped ASEAN’s contemporary constraints. Building on this historical analysis, the focus …

Changemakers: Tracy Harper: Juris Doctorate: A Pioneer In The Provision Of Immigration Legal Services 03-2025, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of State Conviction Relief On Federal Deportation Law, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

Federal statute requires deportation of any alien drug offender convicted under federal or state law. An offender may have his conviction set aside, however, under federal or state provisions which authorize relief from the penalties and disabilities resulting from a conviction. Use of the relief conferred by these statutes presents the issue of whether the alien remains "convicted" and therefore deportable under federal law. In Kolios v. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Rehman v. INS, the First and Second Circuits reached apparently conflicting resolutions of this problem. The Kolios and Rehman decisions illustrate the confusion regarding the proper …

Dean Melanie Leslie’S Office Hors On The Trump Administration's Immigration Enforcement Tactics, Melanie Leslie, Lindsay Nash

2025 Event Invitations

Join Dean Leslie and Professor Lindsay Nash to discuss the immigration enforcement tactics of President Trump’s second term. Topics will include the intersection between immigration enforcement and political speech, the administration’s expansion of summary removal processes, the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, and the administration’s recission of longstanding rules placing important constraints on immigration enforcement. The two will also answer questions raised by the student attendees.

Eb-5 Visas: Selling Citizenship?, Riley Amdor

Immigration Law Blog

This article analyzes the EB-5 Investor Visa Program, specifically discussing whether this program could be considered a means of selling of United States citizenship and, conversely, how it may be beneficial to the U.S. economy. This will be done by examining the EB-5 Program requirements and the contributions it has made to the United States. On one hand, the EB-5 Program provides a direct path to citizenship if an immigrant can invest enough money in a U.S. company. On the other hand, the economic benefits that result from the EB-5 program are vast, stimulating the U.S. economy. Conversely, President Trump’s …

Administrative Closure: A Codified Shield For Justice And Judicial Efficiency, Abhilasha Khanal

Immigration Law Blog

Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals have long fought for the ability to manage their dockets efficiently, often using administrative closure to prioritize high-impact cases and de-escalate low-priority removals. This article explores how the codification of administrative closure safeguards this critical judicial tool against shifting political agendas. By examining the history of administrative closure, from its contentious beginnings to its recent formalization, this article highlights why its preservation is essential for protecting vulnerable immigrants while maintaining judicial efficiency.

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.

Discretionary (In)Justice Continued: Discretion As A Tool To Deny Asylum, Kate Aschenbrenner Rodriguez

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2012, I published an article entitled Discretionary (In)justice: The Exercise of Discretion in Claims for Asylum. At that time, I was concerned because of a pattern I had seen of adjudicators in individual cases denying applications for asylum not on the basis of statutory eligibility but instead in an exercise of the adjudicator’s discretion. Since that time, the administrations of both the former President Trump and the now-current President Biden have used every legal tool available to them, including the exercise of discretion in asylum claims, to make it more difficult to obtain asylum and therefore to discourage …

“Freedom Lives Hence, And Banishment Is Here”: The Weaponization Of Immigration Law To Punish Political Dissidents, Ryan Scott

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

This Note explores the long and bipartisan history of the United States government’s weaponization of the immigration system to control, exclude, and expel percieved political enemies. The near-unlimited power that the federal government has acrrued in immigration matters has been used since the Founders’ generation to purge the country of those whose ideas and speech are seen by the powers that be as threatening or subversive. This Note traces the arc of such efforts from the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the explusion of activists under President Trump. The Note also examines attempts to force the courts to …

How The United States Fails Immigrant Youth, Abigail "Abby" Reinhard Greene

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Immigrants are some of the most marginalized members of society. Immigrant youth, in particular, endure additional stresses due to their dual status as children and immigrants. Many fled their home country from persecution or entered the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian.

By May 2024, over 120 million individuals were “forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations.” In 2022, over 152,000 unaccompanied immigrant youths crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The United States faces several challenges in supporting these immigrant youths, and it currently fails to meet those challenges. ...

This note details how …

Secure 2.0'S Automatic Enrollment Provisions And Their Potentially Detrimental Effect On Undocumented Immigrants, Kelly Maurer

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 significantly expands retirement plan participation through automatic enrollment mandates, a policy aimed at improving financial security for American workers. However, these provisions may create unintended hardships for undocumented immigrant workers, who constitute between 4.4% to 5.4% of the U.S. labor force. This Note examines how automatic enrollment, default contribution rates, and current distribution requirements may create financial and legal hardships for undocumented workers lacking valid Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). The analysis explores the uncertain legal status of undocumented workers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as …

The Migrant Family Separation Crisis: The Multifaceted Approach To End The Practice, Obtain Redress, And Prevent Its Return, Mariela Olivares

Mercer Law Review

Recent movements highlight a dual approach to resisting the horrific government policies of family separation and family detention. Capitalizing on xenophobic and racist hostilities, the policies created deep societal and political divides while igniting new levels of resistance in public protest and legal challenges. Although the Trump Administration’s targeting of migrant families was not a new strategy to deter migration to the U.S., the oppression of migrants through the Family Separation Policy has taken on a heightened level of moral depravity and unconstitutional infringement of due process rights, parental rights, and rights of children. For some traumatized families, these actions …

Deportation And Immigration Enforcement In The United States: Analysis Of Regional And Country Variations, Exmond Ofori Sarpiah

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This study examines the motivations behind President Trump’s mass deportation policies due to the inflow of undocumented migrants from different regions in America. The study employs data visualization techniques, such as scatter plot and bar charts, to analyze regional and country variation trends in migrant removals and undocumented populations across global regions.

Settled Enough: Immigration Status And Child Settlement Under The Hague Convention, Sara Hingson-Rodriguez

Mercer Law Review

Hearing the term “child abductor” paints a shadowy figure within the mind, immediately invoking disdain and revulsion. But when the perpetrator is one of the parents, the shadow dissipates, and complications arise. These complications turn thorny when the parent absconds with the child to another country entirely, leaving behind the child’s old life—including the remaining parent. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention) established procedures to ensure that children who were wrongfully removed from their habitual residence to foreign countries could be promptly returned.

In Figueredo v. Rojas, the United States Court of …

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.

The Transition Process Of Syrian Refugee Families Separated By U.S. Immigration Law, Firas Aljijakli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Refugees are regarded as one of the most pressing humanitarian issues worldwide due to intricate social, economic, and demographic factors. Changes in U.S. immigration policy across successive administrations, particularly regarding the refugee ban and the duration of the resettlement process, have significantly impacted admission procedures. Consequently, family separations occur during the resettlement process, compelling families to navigate immigration policies while managing the challenges of being apart. This separation from their children greatly affects refugees’ ability to integrate into American society.

The research examines how Syrian refugee families cope with the separation resulting from U. S. immigration law. An important lens …

The Law Of Livelihoods: How Legal Frameworks Shape Migrants' Financial Journeys, Annie Bright

Presentations - 2025

The financial lives of migrants reveal critical intersections between legal frameworks and socio-economic outcomes. Drawing on the findings of the Journeys Project, a qualitative study examining the financial health and trajectories of migrants in their countries of arrival, this article explores the role of laws and policies in shaping the financial health of migrants, addressing barriers such as documentation, legal status, and access to financial services. It proposes legal reforms and frameworks that foster environments where migrants can achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency, using firsthand accounts from the project’s financial biographies to highlight the human impact of these issues.

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

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the complex and evolving intersections between immigration law and the First Amendment, identifying four doctrinal areas in which free speech claims arise prominently. First, it analyzes historical and contemporary grounds of inadmissibility and deportability based on speech, including ideological exclusions targeting anarchists and communists, and considers the continuing influence of the plenary power doctrine. Second, it explores retaliatory deportation claims, in which noncitizens allege that removal proceedings were initiated or accelerated in response to protected political advocacy, highlighting the chilling effects such actions may impose on core political speech. Third, the article evaluates constitutional challenges to federal …