Immigration
How Texas’s Immigration Power-Grab Harms Migrants, Legal Immigrants, and Communities
March 14, 2024
By: Cassandra Whall* Recently, the news is dominated by discussions of a broken immigration system that has been straining the South, and the South’s belief that taking immigration into its own hands is the only appropriate and effective solution.[1] For months, Florida and Texas have been sending buses and planes filled with migrants to sanctuary…
Continue ReadingA Civil Gideon? The Case for Universal Representation in Immigration Courts
March 5, 2024
A Civil Gideon? The Case for Universal Representation in Immigration Courts By: Meg Keiser* In 1932, the Supreme Court began considering the right to counsel as a due process concern in Powell v. Alabama, holding that in capital cases where a defendant is unable to independently secure counsel, the Court must appoint counsel.[1] From Powell…
Continue ReadingThe Deportation Marketplace: The Unethical and Potentially Illegal Deal with El Salvador’s Mega-Prison
April 1, 2025
By: Jane Genske, Volume 43 Staff Member View/Download PDF Version: The Deportation Marketplace (Genske) The outsourcing of asylum responsibilities by wealthier nations through financial incentives—often termed “the commodification of refugees”—is not a new phenomenon. Countries have long paid others to accept and detain migrants, effectively shifting their obligations elsewhere. A recent agreement between the United…
Continue ReadingImmigration Rights During COVID-19—Interview with The Advocates For Human Rights’ John Bruning
May 15, 2020
JLI staff members Annali Cler, Kevin Thomson, and Marisa Tillman recently interviewed John Bruning, who serves as a staff attorney for The Advocates For Human Rights. The Advocates for Human Rights, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Minnesota, works to change systems and conditions that cause human rights abuses.
Continue ReadingLocking the Door to the Country on the Way Out: The Trump Administration’s Final Attempt to Eliminate Protections for Asylum Seekers
January 22, 2021
Only weeks before the expiration of the Trump presidency, his Administration sought to create an alarming regulation that opponents have called “the death knell” to asylum law and protections for vulnerable migrants. Check out this post from staff member Katie McCoy, as she outlines the proposed rule and the situation that the Biden-Harris Administration inherits.
Continue ReadingA Supreme Court unto Himself: The Disastrous Effects of the Attorney General’s Self-Certification Power on Immigration
February 13, 2021
The Attorney General has the power under 8 U.S.C. § 1103(g)(2) and 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(h)(1) to overturn BIA decisions, as well as circuit court precedent, on nearly any immigration case they see fit. This expansive power was given to the Attorney General long ago, when most immigration functions were housed under the Department of Justice. Now that immigrations functions are spread across a range of entities at the federal level, the status quo is problematic. This article examines the Attorney General’s power to self-certify cases to themself, the problems it raises in terms of rationale, due process violations for asylum candidates such as L-E-A-, and larger constitutional issues.
Continue ReadingThe Injustice of Inconsistency: Language Access in Judicial Proceedings
April 25, 2021
Rachel Pokrzywinski Judicial proceedings are often stressful. The stress is only compounded for an individual who must navigate the complex legal system in a language they are not proficient in. To ensure that these individuals receive adequate guidance and representation, federal law requires that, in all federal judicial proceedings, certified language interpreters must be provided…
Continue ReadingImmigration Under the Biden Administration: An Interview with Attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski
November 15, 2021
Interview by Grace Anderson* After four years of anti-immigrant, “Build the Wall” rhetoric from the previous presidential administration, President Biden came into office with promises to revitalize our nation’s immigration system. Almost a year into the Biden administration, JLI Staff Member Grace Anderson checks in with immigration attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski, owner of Kivu Immigration…
Continue ReadingBiden’s Private Prison Ban Must Include ICE Detention
March 16, 2022
By Katie McCoy* Our incarceration-focused immigration system needlessly locks up hundreds of thousands of noncitizens each year. The number of people incarcerated in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody was 15,000 when President Biden first took office, and it now hovers near 29,000. Sixty-nine percent of those detained have no criminal history. Many ICE detention…
Continue ReadingAn Illogical and Harmful Assessment: Credibility Findings in Trauma Survivor Asylum Applicants
April 18, 2022
By Linnea VanPilsum-Bloom* The current focus on and process for establishing credibility in asylum application interviews is illogical and harmful. A person who seeks asylum in the United States will either request asylum affirmatively, by applying to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or through their potential removal in Immigration Court. In either process, the…
Continue ReadingAbortion Asylees: Is There Still a Path Forward After Dobbs?
October 30, 2022
In this blog, JLI’s Lead Online Editor Madelyn Cox-Guerra analyzes the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on asylum-seekers who come to the United States.
Continue ReadingCALLING ALL ASYLUM SEEKERS: PLEASE, TELL US YOUR TRAUMA, OVER AND OVER AGAIN
May 15, 2023
A Look into the United States Asylum Process for Recent Afghan Evacuees By Coryn Johnson* I met the girl with the quiet not-quite-smile in a small building on a military base.[1] Laminate tiles in a dirty-off white made the flooring, coupled by white-paned windows framing cheap glass. The place resembled a one-room schoolhouse built in…
Continue ReadingBirthright Citizenship: An Unqualified Right?
October 31, 2023
By: Elise Skarda* The concept of birthright citizenship has been mentioned in the news frequently recently. Many conservative presidential candidates are calling for an end to birthright citizenship,[1] though it is an unqualified constitutional right. So what is birthright citizenship, where does it come from, and why is it unconstitutional to qualify it? Birthright citizenship…
Continue ReadingThe Bystander Standard: Do Survivors of Mass Shootings Qualify for U Visas?
February 23, 2024
By: Elizabeth Mansfield The aftermath of a mass shooting is never easy. This is especially true for those survivors who have to deal with the trauma of what they’ve just experienced as well as the trauma of the American immigration system. Undocumented survivors of mass shootings may have concerns about going to the police with…
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