ImmigrationProf Blog

Article on the Rights of Gitmo Detainees

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3D801424

For analysis of the constitutional rights of Gitmo detainees, see "Ninety Miles From Freedom: The Rights of the Guantanamo Bay Detainees" by ALAN TAUBER (University of South Carolina).

KJ

Duke Law Helps Gitmo Detainees

Duke Law School students will be directly involved in researching and writing briefs and helping craft strategy for the military lawyers who are defending Guantanamo Bay detainees.

In October, Duke Law School established the Guantanamo Defense Clinic, by special arrangement between the chief defense counsel for the detainees, Col. Dwight H. Sullivan, USMCR, Office of Military Commissions, Department of Defense, and Duke Law Professor Madeline Morris. An expert in international and humanitarian law, Morris is serving as a legal adviser to Sullivan as well as directing the clinic.

Sullivan and another member of his military defense team held a meeting with the students on Oct. 27 at the Law School, briefing them on the status of the detainees’ cases and brainstorming defense strategy.

"Our students have the opportunity to address complex questions of American and international law that are unique to the war on terror, such as whether terrorism is a crime and the very legitimacy of the use of military commissions for trying civilians engaged in war-like acts," said Morris, who also teaches the classroom component of the clinic.

As of Monday, when five detainees were newly charged with war crimes, nine out of a total of 505 prisoners have cases pending before the military commissions authorized by President George W. Bush. The four cases on which students received briefings involve Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman Al Bahlul, an alleged al Qaeda propagandist; Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi, alleged to have been a long-time associate, accountant and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden; David Hicks, an Australian national alleged to have trained and fought with the Kosovo Liberation Army and with al Qaeda in Afghanistan; and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden.

Charges levied against the detainees vary, but include conspiracy to commit attacks on civilians, murder and terrorism. Briefs drafted by clinic students have already been filed in various motions pertaining to Hicks’ defense.

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court said it would hear a defense challenge to the legality of the military commissions in the case of Hamdan. While the military commissions will likely be stayed pending a ruling in that case, Morris said the defense team -- and the clinic students -- will use the time to prepare for future proceedings in all nine cases.

"I wouldn’t miss this," said third-year law student Audry Casusol, one of five students enrolled in the clinic, which will expand to accommodate 24 in the spring semester. "We are not defending any acts the detainees are alleged to have done, but their rights. The system must be fair."

Added David Thompson, a second-year law student participating in the clinic, "I believe the international and domestic legal questions that emanate out of the United States’ decision to detain suspected terrorists in GuantanamoBay are incredibly important. Not only do these issues have bearing on American and global security, but they also have tremendous bearing on the character of American jurisprudence."

Duke Law Dean Katharine T. Bartlett said the establishment of the Guantanamo Defense Clinic provides a great opportunity for students and fits well with one of the school’s strengths.

"We are without doubt one of the strongest law schools in the country in the area of national security law, and we are on our way to being one of the strongest clinical schools as well," Bartlett said. "This is a unique opportunity for Duke and I am thrilled that Madeline Morris, with her expertise in both criminal law and human rights, was positioned to be able to take advantage of it."

For more information, contact: Frances Presma, Duke Law School | (919) 613-7248 | presma@law.duke.edu

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/11/guantanamo.html

KJ

New Anthology on the Civil Rights of Asian Pacific Americans

Professor Gabriel J. Chin has completed the compilation of a four-volume set that historically details the U.S. Civil Rights Commission's investigations into discrimination against Asian Pacific Americans. The work, published by William S. Hein & Co. Inc., is now available for purchase. A flier with more details is attached here: Download CivRtsCommn-APAs.pdf
-jmc

No Child Left Behind Act and Immigrant Children

New research from the Urban Institute explains why No Child Left Behind NCLB) may be one of the most important pieces of immigrant integration legislation in the past decade. The research finds that limited-English proficient (LEP) students are highly concentrated in a small share of America's public schools. Seventy percent of LEP students in kindergarten through fifth grade are enrolled in only 10 percent of the country's public elementary schools. The results also show that almost one-third of all LEP children enroll in schools serving low percentages of LEP children, or "Low-LEP" schools. High-LEP schools, where almost a quarter of students are LEP, are more likely than others to have teachers with provisional, emergency, or temporary certification, and their teachers are substantially more likely to be uncertified. On the other hand, Low-LEP schools lag behind High-LEP schools in LEP-focused in-service training for general education teachers, and in offering important services (such as support and enrichment programs). For this report, check out the Urban Institute website at www.urban.org

Immigration and Education Position -- UC Berkeley

IMMIGRATION AND EDUCATION
Open Rank (Tenure-track or tenure level)

The Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, invites applications for a faculty position (tenure-track or tenure level) in immigration and education to begin circa July 1, 2006. The search is for an outstanding scholar who will address this agenda in his or her teaching, research, and service. The successful candidate will join a group of faculty who examine issues of teaching, learning, and education through a social and/or cultural lens in our Language and Literacy, Society and Culture area of study, but will also have an important role working with faculty and students in other areas of the Graduate School of Education and the wider university. Applicants should send curriculum vitae and a statement of interests and qualifications, along with the names and addresses of at least three references and not more than three samples of published or unpublished writings to:

Search Committee
Immigration and Education
c/o Ms. Helen Clifton, Dean's Office
Graduate School of Education
1501 Tolman Hall, MC1670
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1670

The deadline for postdate of applications is December 2, 2005.

Report on Immigrants in the US Labor Market

For a study of immigrants in the U.S. labor market, see http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/68xx/doc6853/11-10-Immigration.pdf

What would this nation's labor market look like today without the immigration from the 1990s to the present?

KJ

REAL ID - Part II

Five of North Carolina’s seven Republican members of Congress introduced legislation yesterday that could cost the state more than $800 million in highway money each year if the state doesn't tighten its requirements to issue a driver's license. The proposal would penalize six states that accept Taxpayer Identification Numbers to issue driver's permits: North Carolina, Utah, New Mexico, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois. According to the most recent figures released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2003, there are more than 200,000 illegal immigrants living in North Carolina.

The ID numbers are issued by the Internal Revenue Service to taxpayers who do not have Social Security numbers.

The Congressmen say that the numbers are too easily duplicated and used by illegal immigrants to get state-issued driver's licenses. "Stop giving illegal aliens driver's licenses or you won't see another dime in transportation dollars," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-9th, the main sponsor of the bill. "We are reacting to states not stepping up and responding to national security issues," said U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th. U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, said that the North Carolina General Assembly has tried to pass similar legislation several times. She said she and the others hope that the introduction of the bill will persuade Raleigh legislators to change state law. Also supporting the bill are U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-3rd, and U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-11th. They say the bill is necessary for homeland security.

Opponents of the bill say that it duplicates the Real ID Act. The bill, which President Bush signed in May, mandates universal requirements for all states to follow when issuing driver's licenses. The procedures must be in place by May 2008. "This is unnecessary and going overboard," said Michele Waslin, the director of immigration policy at the National Council of La Raza, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that advocates for immigrant rights.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal, A.P., Nov. 10, 2005

bh

Questions regarding humanitarian parole requests

The Nation of Immigrators blog raises some interesting questions about why authority for granting (or denying) humanitarian parole requests rests with ICE.  The link is here.

"Wetback - the Undocumented Documentary"

A new immigration-related documentary is on the way.

Here are the links to the trailer and press kit.

House Subcommittee on Immigration: Hearing

The Congressional  Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims is holding an oversight hearing entitled "How Illegal Immigration Impacts Constituencies: Perspectives from Members of Congress."

When: 2:00 p.m., Thursday, November 10, 2005

Where: 2237 Rayburn Building.

WITNESSES: Hon. Henry Bonilla (R-Tex.); Hon. John Culberson (R-Tex.); Hon. Stevan Pearce (R-N.M.); and Hon. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.).

The hearing will explore questions on the number of illegal entries, the impact on border infrastructure, the relationship between increased border enforcement and violent crime, the tax burden of undocumented migration, and the impact on local schools and health facilities.  More information can be found at:

http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=206

Did Anti-Immigrant Ticket Hurt the Reps in Virginia?

Here's the www.ilw.com take on the Virginia govenor's race:

A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed pointed out the mistake that led to Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore's defeat in Virginia at the election polls. Mr. Kilgore ran not on a traditional small government GOP platform, but on a platform emphasizing a tough stance on immigration enforcement in Virginia, a Red state, and lost. The outcome of this election should be a warning to the GOP that a "getting tough on immigrants" platform may not be the ticket to winning elections.

Any thoughts?  Does Tom Tancredo/Pat Buchanan or George Bush speak for the Republican voter on immigration issues?

Immigration Law Syllabus Bank

Below are some syllabi for immigration-related courses.  First are courses in Immigration Law or Immigration Law and Policy; second are courses on Refugee Law and Policy (and forced migration); third are more specialized immigration courses; and finally there is a link to an older database of syllabi (2002).

If you have a syllabus you'd like to share, please feel free to contact us.

I.  Immigration Law and Policy Courses:

Recently offered immigration courses:

Download MotomuraImmigrationCitizenshipSyllabusCompositeSpr2006.pdf  (a composite PDF document that gathers together the four installments of Prof. Motomura's syllabus)

Download Yale-Loehr.2006.syllabus.doc  (Immigration and Refugee Law)

Download lawrence.Emp&Fam.3units.doc

Download Legomsky.3unit.ImmLaw.doc

Download Yale-Loehr.Cornell.coursedescrip.rtf Download Yale-Loehr.Cornell.syllabus.doc

Download Caplow.Brooklyn.3units.wpd

Download andySchoenholtzImmigrationAndPolicy.doc

Download Benitez.GW.3units.wpd

Download fernandoChangImmigAndPolicy.doc

Download Rose.Vanderbilt.syllabus.doc

Download SylbankJuly2002.doc

II.  Refugee Law & Policy:

Download gallagher.UniversitatJuame.ref&forced.migration.doc

Download Ramji.Schoenholtz.Georgetown.2units.doc

III. Specialty courses

Download ImRightsSylPt1F05.pdf (conveys the structure and approach of Motomura's "Immigrants Civil/Political Rights Seminar."  Actual readings are chosen by students (to relate to their papers) as the seminar proceeds.)

Download cox.Removal&Relief.pdf

IV.  2002 Syllabus bank (with table of contents at the beginning of the document):
Download SylbankJuly2002.doc

Health insurance and the undocumented

A recent RAND study concludes that undocumented migrants constitute a substantial share of the nationwide increase in the number of people without health insurance.  The study finds that the number of uninsured adults in the United States grew by about 8.7 million between 1980 and 2000. Extrapolating from trends in Los Angeles County, the authors conclude that about a third of that growth nationwide can be attributable to undocumented immigrants.  The link to the abstract is here.  And here is the article from today's Washington Post. -jmc

Gang Member Deportations

A number of community based and local groups (Immigrant Legal Resource Center, NLG Bay Area Chapter, Homies Unidos, and National Immigration Project) are currently strategizing on how to combat Operation Community Shield and the deportation of alleged gang members throughout the country.  They have decided to set up a pool of resources for both attorneys and activists on the National Immigration Project site to include the following:

1. Sympathetic stories of noncitizens who have been caught up in this Operation but are not violent criminals, etc. in orderto organize both national and local press conferences to counteract all   negative publicity by DHS
2. Post strategies and briefs (many attorneys, for instance, are arguing asylum for their clients)
3. Gather documentation proving that these people will be tortured and detained upon return to foreign countries, and
4. Provide a community education curriculum to provide local community groups with materials to do outreach to the communities. 

In local areas, such as LA, Bay Area, and DC, they also hope to hold press conferences and community forums to encourage alleged gang members to obtain status such as TPS and maintain their status.

Anyone working on these issues are encouraged to share strategies, arguments, briefs, and stories of clients with significant equities, by contacting Angie Junck at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Clients can remain anonymous. Angie's email is ajunck@ilrc.org

France to Summarily Deport Rioters (Muslims)

The International Herald Tribune (Nov. 9) reports that France began implementing emergency curfews in trouble spots across the country today and stepped up its crackdown on urban violence, announcing that all foreigners convicted in the rioting would be summarily deported. Overnight curfews for minors were declared in Nice and in several towns in Normandy. In Paris, a curfew will be imposed "if the situation requires it," the capital's police chief said. The number of attacks decreased sharply overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. There were 617 arson attacks on cars, down from more than 1,100 the previous night, Interior Ministry figures showed. Incidents were reported in 116 towns, compared with 226 the night before.  Keep your eyes going on in France to see if punitive measures against immigrants continues or whether any efforts are made to address some of the concerns being raised.

For a NPR story on immigration policy and the riots in France, see http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5006237

KJ

Noncitizen Vet Wanted for Post Story

Query Care of Dan Kowalski

From: David Montgomery montgomerd@washpost.com

Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 12:49 PM

I'm a feature writer at The Washington Post. I'm interested in doing a story for Veterans Day talking to non-citizen vets about why they were willing to put their lives on the line for an adopted country. I think the motivations and views of this subset of our vets could be very interesting. The most ideal people for me would be Iraq vets who are somewhere in the Washington DC area, because I would like to meet people in person. I'm willing to drive quite a bit if they're a little farther away. I know this is somewhat short notice, but I've had no luck trying other channels to meet non-citizen soldiers. Thank you for any help you can give. If you have other ideas of where I might look, please let me know. I speak some Spanish so at least that language should not be much of a barrier. Anyone who is interested in talking can email me at this address and I'll call them back, or they can reach me direct at 202-334-7224.

Sincerely,

David Montgomery

The Washington Post

KJ

Operation Linebacker

El Paso County will soon get about $375,000 in state grants to beef up security along the border, Sheriff Leo Samaniego said Monday. Gov. Rick Perry last month awarded the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, a group of 16 border county sheriffs, $6 million for Operation Linebacker. The border security plan calls for more sheriffs' deputies to patrol the border and act as a second line of defense to Border Patrol. All totaled, the border sheriffs estimate their security plan, which they hope will reduce illegal immigration and crime associated with it, will cost about $35 million. They've called on Congress to provide the funds and are awaiting lawmakers' decision on a bill by U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, that would provide the money.

Although Perry has often said border security is a federal issue, he said he announced his $9.7 million border initiative last month because Congress wasn't acting quickly enough. The remaining $3.7 million of his plan will go to the Texas Department of Safety and other border safety plans. Samaniego said he hopes the state grant funds will allow him to pay overtime for enough officers to add as many as 12 units to each of his shifts through February.

Most days, only three sheriff's officers patrol the area from San Elizario to Tornillo and north to Interstate 10. Samaniego said he will focus on adding deputies in that portion of the county, where he said residents have reported hundreds of undocumented immigrants trespassing on their land, damaging their property and demanding use of the telephone. "Some of them say they wake up in the morning and they look out the window, and they're surrounded by illegals all over the place," Samaniego said.

Source: El Paso Times, Nov. 8, 2005
bh

 

ABA Immigration and Crime Video Conference

Teleconference and Live Audio Webcast -- The Rings of Immigration Hell:  The Collateral Consequences to Aliens of Criminal Convictions  Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2005

This seminar presents the immigration consequences for non-citizen defendants of criminal convictions. Compared to losing "all that makes life worth living" a criminal conviction may not be an alien's most important consideration. This seminar is for lawyers and judges who interact with non-citizen clients including criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors, and immigration lawyers. Program Faculty include Robert J. McWhirter, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Arizona and author of The Criminal Lawyer's Guide to Immigration Law: Questions and Answers, 2nd Ed. (ABA Press 2005) and Molly Roth, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Western District of Texas. For details, see http://www.abanet.org/cle/programs/t05rih1.html

KJ

Congressional Research Service Report on Birthright Citizenship

The Congressional Research Service released a report tracing the history of "automatic citizenship" under US law and discusses the legislation in recent Congresses intended to alter it. http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/2005,1109-crs.pdf

KJ

El Paso (Home of Operation Hold the Line a/k/a Operation Blockade) Immigration Job

Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, Inc. (DMRS), the immigration legal aid clinic and refugee resettlement agency for the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, seeks new leadership. Situated on the border of the U.S. and Mexico, DMRS serves as the only full-service immigration legal aid clinic in the desert Southwest, offering legal services in the area of family-sponsored immigration, religious immigration, legal services to domestic violence and other serious crime victims, citizenship and naturalization, and deportation defense. It also serves as the USCCB/Migration & Refugee Services refugee resettlement program for the area and provides Refugee Cash assistance to refugees, asylees and human trafficking victims. A doctorate in jurisprudence is required with licensure in any state of the U.S., preferably the State of Texas, and eligibility for admission in the federal district court for the Western District of Texas and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.This individual will be responsible for the oversight of all legal and social services provided by the agency. The closing date for applications is November 30, 2005 with a tentative hiring date of December 16, 2005. All applications should be sent to Patricia Fierro, Human Resource Director, Catholic Diocese of El Paso, 499 St. Matthews Street, El Paso, Texas, 79907. No emails, faxes or phone calls will be accepted for consideration.

KJ