ImmigrationProf Blog

Teaching SIVs

For several years now, I've been using this John Oliver clip to teach students about SIVs for wartime translators. It's amazing. I particularly like this segment because, as I've blogged about before, a translator appears on the program and talks with a very flat affect about the murder of his father and the kidnapping of his young brother. I've found this to be a good introduction to discussion of how client trauma presents in wildly different ways and in ways that students may not be expecting.

I plan to continue to use this clip in 2022 because, as you know, the U.S. is still processing SIV applications for wartime translators.

This year, however, I'm adding a second video. Immprof Phil Schrag (Georgetown) recently shared a video about the rescue of an Afghani translator who worked closely with Schrag's son (Sam Lerman -- he's in the video) at Bagram Air Force Base. The video does an amazing job of capturing the chaotic U.S. pull-out from Afghanistan. And it's a terrific leaping off point for discussing both the legal hurdles facing translators who made it out but who still need to navigate the SIV process as well as the hurdles facing those who remain in Afghanistan.

-KitJ

A Comparative Law Example For Public Charge, Inspection

John Green is a well-known American author. I've only read two of his books -- The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down -- but aspire the read the remainder as well. You make recognize the names of some of his other works, which have been made into hit movies, including Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska.

Suffice it to say, he's a big deal.

And, yet.

In this fabulous TikTok, John Green talks about why it's such a pain for him to travel into Canada. Short answer: Because years ago he was denied entry for insufficient funds. And now he's always, always subject to secondary screening.

@literallyjohngreen Reply to @bookishbrittany ♬ original sound - John Green

I love this video so much. It is DEFINITELY entering the cannon of videos that I show in class. I will probably use it when talking about inspection at the border. But I might also use it when discussing public charge screening. It's a total winner.

-KitJ

Lil Wayne: A Crimmigration Tale

Lil Wayne is an American rapper. So you might be wondering why I'm posting about a U.S. citizen on an immigration blog. 

Here's the thing: Lil Wayne is interesting from an immigration perspective because of his inability to get a visa to play/tour in the UK. Back in 2009, Lil Wayne pled guilty to a weapons charge stemming from the 2007 discovery of a loaded gun on his tour bus. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, though he served only eight months due to good behavior.

Lil Wayne's latest application for a UK visa was denied in June 2022. (He wanted to perform at the Strawberries & Creem festival.) The UK's Home Office (their immigration folks) told Rolling Stone magazine: “Any individual who has been sentenced to a custodial sentence of 12 months or more must have their application refused.”

All-in-all, this tale strikes me as a fun comparative law real-o-thetical to cover in your crimmigration class. You could flip the facts -- make Lil Wayne a UK citizen with the same gun conviction. What would the results be for a US visa to play at a music festival?

Moreover, it would be an opportunity to play one of my all-time favorite SNL clips--Lil Wayne and Eminem on Their Valentine's Day Single:

-KitJ

Immigration Law: An Open Casebook

I am thrilled to introduce Immigration Law: An Open Casebook, the first open-source/open-access casebook on U.S. immigration law. I designed this book to serve as the principal text for a broad-based immigration law course as well as a specialty course on crimmigration.

The book provides explanations and primary source readings regarding immigration law in the United States. Topics include the constitutional bases for regulating immigration, the contours of the immigration bureaucracy, the admission of immigrants and nonimmigrants into the United States, undocumented migration, the deportation and exclusion of noncitizens, refugee and asylum law, immigration detention, federal and state immigration crimes, border and interior immigration enforcement, and the law concerning citizenship and naturalization.

The book has a Creative Commons license that allows adopters to add to, delete from, abridge, rearrange, and alter the work as best fits their courses. (See "Notices" inside the book.) The project is similar to open access casebooks offered by CALI's eLangdell bookstore.

The book is available for free download at this link. It is available in both .pdf and .docx format. Paperback versions of the book are available for purchase on Amazon for under $14.

Questions? Adopting the book? Email me: kit.johnson at ou.edu.

-KitJ

Anti-Racist Curricular Resources from Cardozo

As part of an effort to help faculty identify course specific material related to racial justice, Cardozo Law School has developed a new hub for Anti-Racist DEI Curricular Resources.  The resource is now available to professors at all institutions.  The resource is organized by common law school classes and primarily includes readings focused on the intersection of race (and other DEI topics) and that class.  I looked over the Immigration Law and Constitutional Law sections and found some helpful ideas. Those teaching courses that have less established connection may find it especially helpful.

The Hub Includes:

• Resources for 1L Courses Recommended readings and other course materials for Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contract Law, Criminal Law, Property Law and Torts.
• Resources for Upper-Level Courses Recommended readings and other course materials for Upper-Level courses including Administrative Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution & Mediation, Bankruptcy Law, Clinical Education, Contract Drafting, Criminal Procedure, Environmental Law, Evidence, Family Law, Federal Courts, Human Rights Law, Immigration Law, Insurance Law, Intellectual Property Law,  New York Law & Courts, Tax Law and Wills, Trusts & Estates.
• Professional Development Resources For Professors
• Background Materials 

MHC (h/t Peter Markowitz)

Are You An AAPI Woman Looking To Become A Law Prof? Fri Conference For You.

I imagine many of our readers are immprofs already. But perhaps not. Perhaps you're an aspiring immprof. If so, and if you happen to be an APPI woman, there's a conference you might look into happening this Friday:

If you are or know an AAPI woman thinking about becoming a law professor, please share details about this upcoming July 8th webinar: https://t.co/HrHGs11cyr Registration details here: https://t.co/5KjA6OPHe1 pic.twitter.com/7CwpjEbrkM

— Seema Mohapatra (@profmohapatra) June 30, 2022

I spy immprof Huyen Pham (TAMU) in there. She's bound to have sage advice for you.

-KitJ

Pastor: The unborn are "morally uncomplicated," immigrants are not

In 2018, Pastor Dave Barnhart of the Saint Junia United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama posted this message to Facebook:

“The unborn” are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don’t resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don’t ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don’t need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don’t bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn. It’s almost as if, by being born, they have died to you. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus but actually dislike people who breathe.

Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's overruling of Roe v. Wade, Pastor Barnhart's sentiments are once again recirculating online. Appropriately so.

This framework of being "morally uncomplicated" is hardly foreign to the immprof community. I think, particularly, of the work of immprof Becky Sharpless (U. Miami) looking at how we characterize those convicted noncitizens who have spent significant periods of time incarcerated. That work naturally ties into the work of immprof Mike Wishnie (Yale) who coined the phrase "super undocumented."

I wonder if students might find Pastor Barhnart's characterization thought provoking as well.

-KitJ

Clerk Who Recognized Same Sex Marriage for Citizenship Dies

This week marked the passing of Clela Rorex, a clerk from Boulder County, Colorado who in 1975 issued a marriage license to a gay couple decades before the movement took root. The Colorado Governor, Jared Polis, and national media have described her legacy for the LGBT community, which is fitting during Pride Month. Governor Polis said in the NY Times article:

“So many families, including First Gentleman Marlon Reis and I, are grateful for the visionary leadership of Clela Rorex.”

Less attention has been paid to Rorex's role in extending a key benefit of marriage: citizenship acquisition for spouses. Those who teach immigration law today may consider the case law straightforward. But until same sex marriage became federally recognized in United States v. Windsor  (2013), it was not settled that a gay citizen could pass on citizenship to his partner. Shortly after Windsor was announced, Janet Napolitano on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security directed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to "review immigration visa petitions filed on behalf of a same-sex spouse in the same manner as those filed on behalf of an opposite-sex spouse."

Although perhaps taught as a historical background in the case book, Adams v. Howerton has long been the lead case on marriage in immigration law. It was the first U.S. lawsuit to seek recognition of a same-sex marriage by the federal government, and it initially failed: the case stands for the proposition that the term "spouse" refers to an opposite-sex partner for the purposes of immigration law. 

Mr. Adams was born in the Philippines. His family moved to the United States when he was 12, and he grew up in Minnesota. Adams became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1968 and was living in Los Angeles, California when he met Anthony Corbett "Tony" Sullivan, an Australian citizen who was visiting the U.S. on a tourist visa. They were one of six gay couples granted marriage licenses by Ms. Rorex in Boulder, Colorado on April 21, 1975. On the basis of the marriage, Mr. Adams applied to the Immigration Naturalization Service for Mr. Sullivan's citizenship as an immediate relative, but he was denied. The denial letter stated that "[Adams and Sullivan] have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots." A revised letter was later sent, explaining that "[a] marriage between two males is invalid for immigration purposes and cannot be considered a bona fide marital relationship since neither party to the marriage can perform the female functions in marriage.

After losing Sullivan's appeal of his deportation order in 1985 and being denied Adams' request for residency by Australia, in 1985 the couple traveled in Europe for a year. Afterward, they returned to the U.S., lived in Los Angeles, and avoided high-profile activism that might attract the attention of immigration authorities. Adams worked for a law firm as an administrator until his retirement in 2010. After retirement, Adams and Sullivan made some appearances at events supporting same-sex marriage. Adams died at his Los Angeles home on December 17, 2012.

Sullivan survived him and, on April 21, 2014, on their 39th wedding anniversary, Sullivan filed a motion with the Los Angeles Field Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to reopen and reconsider his late husband's petition for a marriage-based green card which that office had denied. On January 5, 2014, the USCIS approved Adams' immigrant visa petition filed in 1975 on behalf of his husband. Sullivan received his green card in April 2016.

Limited Partnership, a documentary telling the couple's story, was released by Tesseract Films in 2014 and makes for a compelling immigration class!

MHC

Chinese Laundry Exhibit at Yosemite National Park

We spent our first summer vacation at Yosemite National Park. It was my third visit to the park and much is the same. The scenery in Yosemite Valley remains spectacular: granite rock faces, rushing water falls, popping wildflowers. The unexpected treasure was Mariposa Grove and nearby Wawona, at the south entrance to the park: majestic giant sequoias, scarred from wildfire and yet with leaves reaching for the sky and glistening with afternoon sunlight. Ranger Connie Lau, who was until recently a high school teacher, took us on a walk that prompted us to observe and connect with the natural world. She asked us about our roots before describing the expansive root system that holds steady these giants, the protective devices that keep us healthy such as nutrition and hydration, and what makes us stand tall.  Her last question to the group was about legacy, taking note that the oldest of the sequoias had been dated 3,000 years and that the grove had lived through generations of parkgoers and national affairs. She recommended we consider those who built the paths we walked on... and provided the services that made possible our visits through the decades. That led her to recommend the Chinese laundry exhibit, adjacent to the Wawona Hotel, a few short miles from the Mariposa Grove. 

Drawing on research from Park Ranger Yenyen Chan (who had interned at NPS while a Yale undergraduate), this in-depth feature from the Sierra Club explains that the exhibit opened in October 2021 to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the park and the workers who contributed to and sustained it. The Gold Rush fueled interest in the Sierras and Yosemite Valley. In order to accommodate the visitors, Yosemite built two stagecoach roads and employed Chinese immigrant workers who had grown disillusioned with gold prospecting after the imposition of taxes on foreign miners. In the 1870s, 300 immigrants worked to build roads by carving and blasting a path to the Wawona hotel. In 1882, 250 Chinese workers worked alongside other laborers to build a 56-mile road from Crocker’s Station to Tioga Pass, at 9,945 feet. The Chinese were paid $1.20 per day, while the European American workers made $1.50 per day.

Rangers discovered the humble brown structure and cast aside relics of the Chinese laundry workers who cleaned and pressed clothing and hotel linens for the Wawona Hotel before the structure fell into disuse. This is the site of the new exhibit. Displays showcase historic photographs, artwork, and artifacts found in the park over a century ago. There is a 1915 photo of the beloved backcountry cook Tie Sing with Stephen T. Mather and the Mather Mountain Party as well. There are some interactive activities for visitors, asking them about their experiences with migration or to explain the hardest job they've ever done on a slip of cloth to be hung on a clothes line. The most moving to me was an activity inspired by the tradition of Chinese laundries in America, which would enclose a small piece of paper with Chinese calligraphy into finished pieces of laundry. Visitors are asked to write a note of encouragement to the Chinese laundry workers. The visitors before us wrote notes of thank you for their contributions and their sacrifices. My family, born of Chinese immigrants to the US post-1965, added to their thanks and included an apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act and discrimination that would follow notwithstanding their contributions. We also included assurances that their legacy would be remembered through exhibits such as this one and the small but growing contingent of Chinese American rangers committed to telling their stories.

MHC

Asylum Real-o-thetical

On Monday, Russia's Victory Day, anti-war messages appeared on the Russian news site Lenta. Reportedly (because it turns out translating Russian isn't in my wheelhouse), the slogans included:

• "Vladimir Putin has turned into a pitiful dictator and paranoiac"
• “Russian authorities have banned journalists from talking about the negative”
• "Russia threatens to destroy the whole world"
• “War makes it easier to cover up economic failures"
• "Zelensky turned out to be cooler than Putin"

So where does the asylum real-o-thetical come in? With these few lines from the BBC: "two employees of the pro-Kremlin publication took responsibility for the 'performance', adding they were now outside Russia and had written that they would probably need jobs, lawyers and political asylum."

In the Guardian's coverage of this story, the journalists are identified by name and one told the paper: "Of course I am afraid... I am not ashamed to admit that. But I knew what I was doing, what the consequences could be.”

-KitJ

The DHS Coloring Book

Chalk this up to things I didn't know existed, but I'm sure my students will find fascinating--The DHS Coloring Book: A Showcase of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the...Jobs We Do. Here's a sample page that your students can color while learning about sanctuary cities.

Short Clip Highlights Paperwork Problems for Ukrainian Refugees

This 1 minute and 38 second clip from NBC Nightly News does an excellent job highlighting the paperwork problems facing Ukrainian refugees hoping to find a new home in the United States. It spotlights the "online portal" the U.S. has set up, specifically for Ukrainians. And it highlights the sorts of items that migrants must show to establish their eligibility for the program--a deed to their war-ravaged home, paper vaccine records from hospitals overrun by war.

Lots of fruitful jumping off points for in-class discussion in less than two minutes of video.

-KitJ

 

Podcast: At Liberty's Podcast, "Refugees of Color Matter Too"

A new podcast episode of ACLU's "At Liberty" series highlights the racism in the U.S. immigration system. Definitely worth a listen! Here's the summary description:

This week, we’ll be talking about something that’s on everyone’s mind: Ukraine. After weeks of building forces on the border, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then, the UN has reported that nearly 700 civilians in Ukraine have lost their lives – although the true figures are likely much higher. Over 3 million refugees have fled the country, while more than 2 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced from their homes.

There has been an incredible outpouring of support for Ukrainian refugees, with many European countries opening up their borders and setting up systems to process the large influx of refugees. And the Biden administration recently granted Temporary Protected Status (or TPS) against the deportation of Ukrainians living in the United States.

At the same time, many immigrants’ rights advocates and organizers have pointed out that these same protections and supports have NOT been extended to refugees and asylum-seekers from other majority-Black and Brown countries ,like Cameroon, Ethiopia, and up until very recently, Afghanistan. This contrast has been a startling reflection of the anti-Black racism and white supremacy embedded in our systems.

There is no question that Ukrainian refugees must be given access to the protections and support that they need. And, those same protections and supports must be provided to all migrants – to all people who are fleeing dangerous conditions – regardless of their race, their religion, their language, or their nationality.

IE

Spicy Takes on U.S. Citizenship & History by UCSB Undergrads

US Imperialism in the Pacific and questions of Asian Citizenship pic.twitter.com/rEysucwZFd

— Janna Haider is on the UAW 2865 bargaining team (@janna_e_haider) March 8, 2022

-KitJ

Memo Re: Case Flow Processing Before Immigration Courts

I was looking through our archives this evening and I couldn't find coverage of this April 2021 memo from the EOIR regarding case flow processing. While it's nearly a year old, and so hardly a current event, I thought I'd make sure that our readers have seen it.

First off, clinicians, yes, I know, you've already seen this. You're living it. I see you!

But pure podium profs like myself may have had this one slip past. For you all, a little background is in order: This April 2021 memo comes under Biden's administration's watch, but it builds off an earlier memo issued in November 2020 during the Trump Administration.

What's this memo all about? It's about moving from in-person hearings (think master calendar hearings) to written pleadings. Here's how the memo describes its goals:

In order to increase docket efficiency, reducing the number of in-person hearings held to deal with purely preliminary and routine matters is an imperative that benefits both the immigration court system and the parties before it by ensuring that cases are effectively managed and those which require a trial are heard more quickly overall... EOIR encourages parties in immigration court to resolve cases through written pleadings, stipulations, and joint motions.

I could see assigning this memo as an in-class exercise in Immigration Law. One could ask students to parse it: What types of cases should be on the non-hearing path? Is there any way to get a hearing if you want one? Or, for more policy-focused discussion, one could ask: What is the goal of this memo? Who does it benefit? Who does it hurt? Why?

-KitJ

Mechanics of Immigration Court Part 1: The Master Calendar Hearing & Filing Applications for Relief

Last week, I attended the ABA Commission on Immigration's webinar entitled Mechanics of Immigration Court Part 1: The Master Calendar Hearing & Filing Applications for Relief.

I signed up for this program because I did not come to teaching immigration law from the practice of immigration law. My route was far more circuitous. And while I adore teaching and writing on the topic of immigration, I don't always have great facility with the practice side of the work. This was a great opportunity for me to pick up some nuts and bolts that my students might be interested to know. And, super mega bonus, one of the teachers was immprof extraordinaire Denise Gilman (UT)!

Now, in exciting news... the webinar has been posted online! In fact, it's right here:

This is especially exciting for me because there will be two more events in this series and I can't make the other live sessions. In case you can, here are the details:

• Part 2: Corroboration, Preparing Witnesses and Working with Experts.  February 22, 2022 from 12-:15pm Eastern.  REGISTER HERE.
• Part 3:  The Individual Calendar/Merits Hearing.  March 17, 2022 from 12-1:15pm.  REGISTER HERE

I'll be sure to link y'all to the videos when they make their way to YouTube.

-KitJ

Migration is Often Deadly

Yesterday, I noted that the journey to the United States is often deadly for undocumented migrants -- whether they travel across the frozen Northern border or across the treacherous oceans from the Caribbean. Not to mention, of course, deaths that result from traversing the deserts across the Southern border.

It bears noting that unlawful migration anywhere can be deadly. Readers may think that obvious, but I think that fact gets lost in news coverage that focuses so much on "vast hordes of ... people crowding in upon us" and less on the dangers of their journeys.

Just this week WaPo reported that Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard officers shot and killed an infant when they fired upon a ship of Venezuelan migrants looking to enter their nation without authorization. Deaths at the hands of border enforcers isn't unheard of, but, more commonly, irregular migrants face death just because of the circumstances under which they must attempt entry into a country where they are unwanted. As Ingrid noted not long ago, those deaths increased significantly in 2021. (For other compelling coverage of this issue, look to the PBS coverage of crossing the Darién Gap.)

Irregular migration is inextricably linked with the possibility (and in some cases probability) of death. It's up to us as teachers to open our students' eyes to this sobering reality.

-KitJ

Coming to America Is Often Deadly

Two recent news pieces about unlawful migration to the United States have wildly different factual set-ups and, unfortunately, very similar and deadly consequences.

First came the late-January story of the Patel family from India (dad, mom, 11-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son) who tried crossing into the United States from Canada. They walked, in the dead of winter, across the open and unforgiving landscape of Manitoba. They didn't make it. They froze to death.

I've previously blogged about unlawful migration across the Northern border. (See here, here, here, here, here, here.) It's more common that folks are trying to get into Canada from the U.S. because Canada, broadly speaking, is more generous towards asylees. (Cf. here.) But the route is the same. As are the dangers: death, frostbite.

Then came the story just days later: one single survivor of a boat filled with migrants coming from the Bahamas to the United States. The boat capsized, killing everyone but Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo. Among the dead: his sister.

Like the Patels, Juan Esteban and his sister were not citizens of the country where they landed before migrating. The Patels came to Canada from India. Juan Esteban and his sister came to the Bahamas from Colombia. Both cohorts traveled with family. Both relied on smugglers who had followed the same routes and the same passages before. Both undertook incredibly treacherous journeys that resulted in death.

I don't have a grand point in juxtaposing these two tales. They just haunt me in different ways. One pulls at my greatest fear -- watching a loved one drown -- the other pulls at my lived experience of what it's like to be outside in North Dakota in the dead of winter. I wonder what students would think if presented with these two stories side-by-side.

-KitJ

UNHCR Tools for Teaching about Refugees and Asylum Seekers

 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees offers simple explanations of refugees, internally displaced people, and stateless people. Their animated videos can be used to in an introductory classroom or even for children. The video above, Who is a Refugee, explains the journey of refugees from a conflict-ridden home country to a more stable host country and the legal obligation to accept refugees who would be persecuted on return to their country. Beyond the initial migration, it explains that some refugees will be able to return to their home country, if conditions stabilize, while others will choose to integrate and remain in their host country. It describes the trauma and other challenges a refugee faces and examples of how a host country can assist with learning the host language, training for work, and learning customs in a community. 

 

This video explains the asylum-seeking process, including the kinds of proof required, considerations for the adjudicator, and the difficulties an asylum seeker may face while waiting for a determination. For example, it describes housing challenges, work permits, and the uncertainty of not knowing what outcome will be reached. The simple and yet accurate description may be useful to an asylum seeker or volunteer without legal training.

 

Finally, this video, Who Helps Refugees?, explains ways that individuals and organizations can assist with integration, from donation to practical assistance and friendship.

Because the videos are not country-specific, the spare explanations can be used in many settings. There are many other short videos available from other organization with more personal stories and specific country histories, including TEDx talks here, here, and here.

MHC

Silver lining of remote learning for LEP parents

One generalization about immigrants that is often true is that they come from different places and therefore speak different languages.

Those who come to the US as adults lack the same opportunities to learn English that their children have in K-12 public schools, where civil rights laws since Lau v. Nichols require that educational access not be denied on the basis of language.

A happy news story from pandemic times is that the provision of educational software and computers to English language learners during remote learning benefitted parents as well as children. Linking, Empowering, and Advancing Families (LEAF) is a partnership between metro schools and community groups in Nashville, Tennessee that offered such classes. As word got around, classes filled and overflow interest channeleed into other classes. The convenience of home computing or even learning on a smart phone while on-the-go expanded the reach of the program. As a result students began to learn practical vocabulary for ordering food at a restaurant, shopping, and working. Teachers are able to encourage them in their learning.

MHC