Property, Indigeneity and Immigration

Thanks to Ben and Al for inviting me to guest-blog here. As Ben mentioned, I am an assistant professor of law at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. I just finished my first year of teaching property and immigration law. My research interests include, among other things, indigenous peoples' property rights and the intersection between property and immigration. I look forward to blogging about property laws in exotic places such as American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In these two U.S. territories, for example, only indigenous peoples who have the requisite amount of blood quantum may own property or lease land for more than 55 years. I examine the complex questions of indigeneity, culture, property rights and constitutional issues that these land alienation restriction laws raise in a forthcoming piece entitled, "Exploring the Meaning of Blood Quantum Laws." (I will post the paper on SSRN soon.)

I will also be blogging about not-so-exotic places like Farmers Branch, Texas and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which have been entangled in lawsuits because of their recently enacted ordinances available here and here that prohibit undocumented immigrants from renting property.

Thanks again for the invitation.

Rose Cuison Villazor
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