Immigration Law Research Articles

Unregulated Immigration Law Clinics and Kant’s Cosmopolitan Right: Challenging The Political Status Quo

Unregulated law clinics in England and Wales are prohibited from directly offering immigration advice and assistance. This article argues that this restriction should not be a barrier to teaching immigration law. Kant’s duty-based ethics and his cosmopolitan right can provide a useful normative framework for challenging the political status quo in relation to the regulation of law clinics and policies affecting migrants. It is argued that introducing normative values into Clinical Legal Education can address the limitations of the conventional ‘hired-gun’ model and engender students to a more holistic approach to lawyering. In other words, a model which promotes the causes of third parties.

Maddalena Marinari, Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882–1965

Maddalena Marinari, <i>Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882–1965</i>

Immigration trials and international crimes: Expressing justice and performing race

This article examines the performative collisions between the wrong of genocide and the invocation of this international crime as a means to secure carceral control of borders. Drawing on courtroom observations, legal transcripts and the media coverage of an immigration trial in the United States, the article explores the performative relationship between international criminal law and immigration law. It argues that this relationship helped to construct and racialize the category of the ‘criminalized migrant’ while establishing the perceived ‘civility’ of criminal law as a primary means of enacting domestic border control. While race was never made explicit in the trial, it emerged in a fractured but significant way, as the horror of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi reinforced the wrong of violating immigration law.

Criminalization or instrumentalism? New trends in the field of border criminology

The crimmigration literature has underlined the increasing merging of criminal law and immigration law practices and procedures. Border criminology literature, in turn, has recently scrutinized the penal scenario in which this alleged fusion is taking place. Both pieces of scholarship, though, largely overlook the agonistic coexistence of border control interests and crime prevention aims, as well as the preference given to immigration enforcement arrangements over criminal law procedures in many jurisdictions. By drawing on a number of cases mainly—albeit not exclusively—taken from Spanish crimmigration policies, this article examines what may be called the ‘instrumentalism’ strategies that are notably transforming crime control practices targeting noncitizens, and the criminal justice system in its entirety.

Analyzing Migration Restriction Regimes.

This paper develops a framework for analyzing migration restriction regimes, and illustrates it with the case of U.S. immigration law and policy. Nation-states regulate the entry of foreign-born persons, and this regulation comprises three elements: the type of restriction, the apparatus of restriction, and the consequences of restriction. Restriction may be based on personal characteristics, numerical ceilings, or both. Personal restriction notices the characteristics of persons, using them as criteria for granting or denying admission. Numerical restriction places numerical ceilings on admissions. The apparatus of restriction may stipulate specific ceilings, whether some groups are exempt from the ceiling and, if so, by what criteria, and whether admission under the ceiling is first-come/first-served or by lottery or instead preferential and, if so, by what criteria. Two unintended consequences follow immediately: unauthorized migration (under both personal and numerical restriction); and visa-number backlogs (under numerical restriction). These in turn generate a range of policy devices: border enforcement, procedures for legalization and deportation, and procedures for clearing backlogs. Indeed, the history of a country's immigration law may be understood as a sequence of measures for first setting up the apparatus of restriction and then altering it in order not only to re-examine provisions of the initial setup but also to address unauthorized migration and visa-number backlogs. Viewing migration through this lens enables assessment of particular legislation and, more broadly, dynamics of a migration restriction regime, subject to world circumstances, including its possible inherent instability. The migration restriction lens also generates new metrics for a country's attractiveness and its innovativeness and creativity. To illustrate, the paper examines the migration restriction regime in the United States since the country's founding. Finally, the paper provides a checklist for a migration restriction setup that doubles as the basis for table shells for summarizing a country's migration restriction regime and its history.

Chapter 5: Establishing Teacher Allies through Critical Multicultural Coursework

Background Contemporary dominant discourses surrounding (un)documented migration in the United States are commonly divided into two polarized frames: those immigrants who are hard workers seeking a better life, and others who are border-crossing criminals. For teachers in the Southeast, developing an understanding of immigrants becomes critically important as new demographic trends and anti-immigration rhetoric have resulted in the implementation of restrictive laws, policies, and practices. In this article, we move beyond pedagogical strategies that address students’ linguistic needs and explore what teachers know and say about immigration, along with what they know about undocumented and DACAmented students. Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which exposure to counternarratives of undocumented or DACAmented youth and families altered the frames in which teachers viewed immigration and undocumented and DACAmented immigrants. Research Design The researchers used qualitative methods to collect a series of narratives in the form of I-essays from 71 preservice teachers over four semesters. The narratives were then used as a tool of communication in exploring two research questions: (1) What were teachers’ perceptions of undocumented immigrants, given the racialized context in the Southeast? (2) How did counternarratives presented in multiple formats challenge the dominant essentialized view of undocumented immigrants? Narrative data from participants were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. Findings The findings support how the use of critical conversations around immigration and exposure to the lives of youth and families through the use of film and narratives can support the development of teachers as undocumented allies. Conclusions We argue that preservice (ESL) teachers need to be knowledgeable about immigration laws, statuses, policies, and practices in order to be prepared to serve their students’ needs and to aid them in mapping out alternative routes/resources. For our participants, their views were challenged to reflect a deeper understanding of immigration, particularly around what it means to be an undocumented immigrant in an area of the United States that has experienced new immigrant growth. This study has significant implications for teacher preparation programs and further research.

Statistical Analysis on the Impact of Nigerian Immigrants on the Economy of Ghana

Ghana has been a destination for immigration in the post-colonial era and is still today hence the detrimental and potential contributions made by immigrants are worthy of investigation and examination. The country's non-enforced immigration laws have often made it a place for its neighbors to enter and work. Nigeria, a neighbor of Ghana breeds more developmental challenges than Ghana hence the movement of its citizens to Ghana for jobs and other purposes. Preferably, they move to Ghana because of the many cultural similarities and English as the official languages of the two countries. The research employs a mixed-method approach, as the subject cannot be addressed by just using either a qualitative or a quantitative method. The Study analyzes the contribution of Nigerian immigrants with multiple linear regression models and examines the relationship between Labor Market, Public Finance, and Real GDP. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to test the correlation between each independent variable and dependent variables. To find out Nigerian immigrant contribution to the economy of Ghana, labor Market, and Public Finance were measured against the dependent variable Real GDP in the multiple linear regression models. The results showed that there was no positive relationship between the independent variables (Labor Market and Public Finance and the dependent variable Real GDP). This implies Nigerian immigrants do not contribute to the Real GDP of Ghana. Keywords: Immigration, Economy, Real GDP, Labor DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-8-07 Publication date: April 30 th 2021

일본의 식민지적 통제와 미국 이민법의 네트워크: 한인 사진신부 사례를 중심으로(1910-1924)

일본의 식민지적 통제와 미국 이민법의 네트워크: 한인 사진신부 사례를 중심으로(1910-1924)

The COVID-19 Pandemic and International Law

How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect States’ obligations under international law? This is a question of not just academic interest but real importance for people’s lives. After all, whether States abide by international law—and whether international law is fit for purpose—is vitally important for everyone from refugees exposed to the virus in unsanitary detention centers to national leaders fighting disinformation campaigns and safeguarding vaccine supply chains. International law has been central to the world’s response to the pandemic from the start—even if the participants did not always realize it. International law, after all, required States to take certain actions to detect and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Some governments responded quickly and effectively, significantly reducing the impact on their populations, but many others were far less successful. Many have made matters worse by responding to the virus in ways that exacerbated the toll on the most vulnerable populations, violating their international law obligations in the process. Moreover, some States have used the pandemic as an excuse for delaying elections or for denying arrested persons adequate legal representation. This Article examines the many ways in which COVID-19 is straining the rules and norms of international law. It considers the five main bodies of international law implicated by the pandemic: international humanitarian law, international human rights law, immigration and refugee law, international cyber law, and the rules and regulations of the World Health Organization. It outlines the obligations each body of law impose on States, and how those obligations apply during the current pandemic. It concludes with several proposals for reform to the international legal system so that the world can prepare to more effectively address the next inevitable pandemic.

Refugee Crisis in North America: Comparative Case Study of the United States and Canada

The US continues to lean toward a traditional, negative approach (Gomez, 2018) and to encourage cultural diversity in Canada. In their initial immigration legislation, the Canada and US shared profound resemblances: both began with Euro- and Christian-centered laws in order to limit the influx of migrants from Southern/Eastern Europe and Asia. The researcher has taken an empirical approach to a comparative methodology, and performed a study of the immigration policies of each country empirically. Both qualitative and also quantitative data analysis approaches were used for the present research. The findings of the research suggest that the two countries share some of the foundational similarities concerning their initial immigration law. For instance, this includes the inception of their policies with the base as Euro and Christian policies, where both attempted to achieve restricted migration flow from the Asia as well as Southern/Eastern Europe. However, with time, the changes in the migration policies have occurred due to the diverging socio-cultural as well as geographical aspects.

Choosing to Stay: Alternate Migration Decisions of Ghanaian Youth

This article focuses on nationals from Ghana who have lost interest in pursuing migration dreams to Europe and North America after failed attempts to migrate. Many less experienced youths who attempt to migrate to Europe and North America face challenges such as strict immigration laws, high cost of financing migration plans, or illegal recruiters. Some risk their lives through dangerous routes to achieve their migration goals. The negative consequences recorded are numerous, including death en route to Europe and North America. Using life stories, this article lets failed migrants recount the frustration, wasted resources and years spent to fulfil their migration dreams. It discusses individual factors such as experiences that affect the decision not to pursue migration dreams despite the culture of migration in their communities. The article concludes that strict immigration policies in Europe and North America have restricted international migration among less experienced and less skilled youth in Ghana, leading to personal decisions not to migrate but adjust to the conditions at home, and later describing their stay as a preferred decision.

‘Pale, Male, Stale’: The Professor in Children’s Literature

In recent months and years, the universities of newspaper headlines have seemed fraught, embattled places. We hear about unequal opportunities for women and ethnic minorities, immigration laws in Britain which bar scholars from their workplaces, and about how new academics need to supply their own financial resources as much as their scholarly qualifications. There is also a clear anti-intellectual swing in political rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic, creating ever greater and more bitter slanging matches as various groups seek to establish the increasingly slippery ‘truth’ and discredit the ‘information’ provided by their opponents in the process. The coronavirus pandemic and its catastrophic economic consequences for universities around the world threaten to compound these problems. Melissa M. Terras’s Picture-Book Professors sets out to explore how academia is portrayed in children’s literature through an examination of the figure of the professor in children’s picture books. This engaging study of a neglected figure in children’s fiction is a generous and invaluable introduction, inviting further enquiry. Terras approaches this task with a mixture of close reading and statistical analysis to examine the presentation of professors in a corpus of almost 300 children’s picture books published between 1850 and 2014. In order to gather these materials, she undertook extensive database searches, but also made use of more innovative methods, consulting reader-generated reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, and harnessing her own connections and interactions with readers on social media. A fifth of the works in the corpus were found through reader recommendations.

A Children’s Rights Perspective to Ruiz Zambrano and Chavez-Vilchez: An Examination in Light of Theory, Practice and Child Development Research

Abstract This contribution demonstrates that the CJEU cases Ruiz Zambrano and Chavez-Vilchez are particularly significant from a children’s rights perspective. The article connects these two judgments and their implementation in the national Dutch context, with three commonplace themes from children’s rights literature; (1) the child as an equal bearer of rights, (2) the child as a distinct bearer of rights, and (3) the important role of developmental research. This perspective shows that the approach adopted by the CJEU with regard to the EU citizen child is paradigm shifting, as it breaks with dominant approaches in fundamental rights law and immigration law which historically place parental rights front and centre. The contribution demonstrates that the importance of this shift cannot be underestimated, because it provides the contested notions of children’s rights and the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) with both legitimacy and meaning.

Expanding the geographies of ‘sanctuary’ and the deepening and contentious nature of immigration federalism: the case of California’s SB 54

ABSTRACT This article examines the concept and practice of sanctuary jurisdictions in the United States, including its secularization through its codification in state and local laws. It traces the political and legal battles that involve the contentious dynamics in the development and expansion of such jurisdictions. The article will highlight and examine California's Senate Bill 54 (SB-54), also known as the California Values Act. SB-54 was the first state bill to establish a statewide sanctuary jurisdiction expanding the ‘geographies of sanctuary' beyond cities and counties. It was a bill enacted in response to the most anti-immigrant policies in contemporary U.S. history under the Trump administration. I will argue that the expansion of ‘geographies of sanctuary' through state laws fosters more inclusive immigration federalism, directly challenging the enforcement of today’s immigration laws considered by many as unfair and inhumane.

Hiding in Plain View: How the Extensive Use of Non-Judicial Officers Corrupts the Criminal Justice System

This chapter introduces our new book, JUSTICE OUTSOURCED: THE THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE IMPLICATIONS OF JUDICIAL DECISION-MAKING BY NON-JUDICIAL OFFICERS (Temple University Press) (2021). In it, we explain what led us to write this book, and how it focuses on a topic so far not discussed in the legal or criminological literature: the omnipresent use of non-judicial officers to make decisions in all aspects of the criminal justice system, and the implications of this use from the perspective of therapeutic jurisprudence, the ultimate aim of which is to determine whether legal rules, procedures, and lawyer roles can or should be reshaped to enhance their therapeutic potential while not subordinating due process principles. Essays in this book – by practicing lawyers, law professors, criminologists, sociologists and psychologists -- deal with non-judicial officers in the courtroom, with such officers in administrative settings, with ethical and practical considerations in the use of non-judicial officers, and the issues related to the use of such individuals from the perspective of a trial judge. it includes chapters on correctional law, immigration law, divorce law, criminal law and procedure, mental disability law, problem-solving courts, and other relates aspects of law and society. We hope that this book will lead to a greater understanding of this hidden aspect of the law, and why, on a daily basis, we -- giving this decision little or no thought --outsource important justice decision-making.

An Introduction to Danish Immigration Law

This chapter provides an overview of Danish immigration law to an international audience and aims to introduce readers to the core tenets of this exceptionally dynamic and politically charged legislative issue area. The chapter begins by examining the historical arch of Danish immigration legislation, before diving into a more in-depth analysis of three substantive domains: asylum, family reunification and expulsion/return. Throughout, we raise considerations and concerns from a rule of law perspective, and, in particular, examine the relationship between Danish law and international law. We then broaden the analysis and examine the approach Denmark has taken to brokering tensions between national sovereignty and international cooperation. To this end, we highlight 1) the remarkable shift in regulatory outlook and position-taking by Denmark, 2) the constraints and opportunities inherent in the Danish EU opt-out vis-a-vis EU’s migration policies, and 3) the significant increase in individual petitions regarding Denmark immigration law examined by different human rights institutions. The shifting compromises struck in each of these areas means that Denmark today occupies a relatively unique position within Europe in regard to immigration law.

Paths to Mobility: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Earnings Among Latino/a DACA Recipients in California

Undocumented immigration status is a structural barrier to socioeconomic mobility. The regularization of legal status may therefore promote the socioeconomic mobility of formerly undocumented immigrants. The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provided protection against deportation and access to work authorization for eligible undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. While studies using cross-sectional data find that DACA led to improved socioeconomic status, no studies have examined the socioeconomic status of DACA recipients over time and few have disaggregated among groups of DACA recipients. Drawing from one of the only longitudinal studies of DACA recipients, we use growth curve models to estimate individuals’ wage trajectories from the year prior to DACA receipt up to 77 months post-DACA receipt among Latino/a DACA participants in California. In this sample, DACA is associated with improved earnings trajectories for recipients, compared with nonrecipients. Among DACA recipients, there is variation in earnings growth by stage of the life course, as measured by age and educational attainment. Notably, DACA tenure appears to be particularly beneficial for individuals who attain DACA at earlier ages and who earn college degrees. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of immigration laws and policies in structuring immigrant integration and socioeconomic mobility in the United States.

Athletes in Transit: Why the Game is Different in Sports and the Visas Should be Too

At least as early as the ancient Olympic games, athletes have traveled to engage in competition. Participation in the games was so revered that military truces were enacted to secure the safety of spectators and athletes alike. In modern times, we can look to the holding of the first modern Olympics in 1896, followed a few decades later in 1930 with the first World Cup as the forefathers of modern international travel for athletes. And of course, this trend followed with the professionalization of sports and the desires of teams and fans to have the best and most commercially successful athletes. U.S. immigration law should be designed and interpreted to facilitate the entry of skilled athletes. Part I of this article provides a background of the current state of visas for both professional and amateur athletes, and e-gamers. Part I also examines potential issues of concern if the NCAA moves to allow student athletes to earn money from the name, image, and likeness. Part II examines the joint economic gains uniquely captured in sport through the importation of foreign players, and demonstrates that the interests of owners, players, and fans are uniquely aligned through the importation of foreign superstar talent. Part III examines how the Trump Administration tightened eligibility requirements through its interpretation and application of EB-1, P, and O visa guidelines over the past 4 years resulting in much greater rates of denial than at any time since the enactment of the COMPETE Act in 2006. Part III also proposes three immediate solutions: new regulations to allow foreign student athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness in accordance with proposed NCAA rule changes regarding name, image, and likeness (NIL); a clear category for e-gaming athletes as the field is primed for explosive growth over the next ten years; and a looser interpretation of the requirements for certain visas when utilized by athletes.

Human Mobility, COVID-19, and Policy Responses: The rights and Claims-Making of Migrant Domestic workers

ABSTRACT This article aims to explore policy responses to the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis, with a particular focus on disparate outcomes for international migrant domestic workers (MDWs). Through an analysis of interviews conducted with health and humanitarian organizations and experts in key migration corridors, it surfaces the central role that MDWs play in social provisioning and in mediating care responsibilities between the state and the family, particularly during lockdown and shelter-in place orders, and calls attention to the essential but excluded nature of migrant labor. The study investigates how states’ responses to COVID-19 intersected with existing institutions of social provisioning and immigration laws, and with claims-making by MDWs to shape the impact of this crisis upon the well-being of these workers. It emphasizes that understanding what is happening to migrant care workers can help rebuild stronger, more effective social protection systems after the crisis. HIGHLIGHTS Migrant domestic workers (MDWs) perform labor essential for social protection systems. The COVID-19 crisis revealed their exclusion from those social protection systems. Stronger pre-crisis social protection systems were more inclusive of MDWs. Countries of origin largely failed to advocate for these workers during the crisis. Claims-making by worker organizations emerged as workers’ main source of support. Greater social protection for MDWs is a public health and human rights imperative.

Chinese Elites and U.S. Gatekeeping: Racial Discrimination and Class Privilege in Boston's 1905 King Incident

In 1905, Boston immigration officials detained four Chinese students of the King family, inciting protest from Euro-American elites and sparking an international controversy that gave momentum to the American Boycott movement in Shanghai. A prominent family, the Kings successfully rallied business leaders to take their cause to President Theodore Roosevelt and effectively used the press to articulate Chinese grievances. Bringing to a head the tension between race-based and class-based interpretations of exclusion that troubled the legislation from its inception, the case prompted key reforms in the administration of Chinese exclusion and helped promote a pivot away from the movement for a wholesale “Chinese ban.” An examination of this incident and its role in struggles over immigration law illuminates the conflicted position of Chinese elites—disempowered by race yet empowered by class status—under exclusion. It also provides insights into the agency of Chinese elites in mobilizing resources to combat immigration abuses.