In a short, unanimous opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a migrant can be prosecuted for the federal felony of illegal reentry based on a removal order that shouldn’t have been issued in the first place. The Court’s decision in United States v. Palomar-Santiago, No. 20-437 (U.S. May 24, 2021), blocks migrants from defending themselves from federal immigration crime prosecutions that require prosecutors to show that they were previously deported. Even a deportation that shouldn’t have happened, today’s opinion concludes, can trigger a felony conviction. In 1998, Refugio [...]
Supreme Court delivers migrants a win on stop-time rule
The U.S. Supreme Court gave migrants a bit of breathing room when it announced this week that federal immigration law requires notice of removal proceedings to come in a single document. The court’s decision in Niz-Chavez v. Garland, No. 19-863 (U.S. April 29, 2021), brought together Justices Barrett, Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor, and Thomas under an opinion written by Justice Gorsuch. At its most technical, the case focused on the “stop-time rule,” a provision of immigration law that stops the time that some migrants can count toward eligibility for cancellation of removal. Migrants who not [...]
Biden names pick to lead ICE
President Biden has picked Harris County Sheriff Ed González to lead the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. As head of one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States, Sheriff González has extensive experience running a large police force and jail network, two key features of ICE’s operations. At times, though, González has butted heads with the immigration agency and its rightwing allies in the Texas government. Most notably, in March 2017 González pulled the sheriff’s office out of a 287(g) agreement with ICE claiming that the agreement cost his department [...]
ICE prison population inching up
When President Biden entered the White House, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency counted the smallest population within its prison network in many years. Three months into the administration’s tenure, signs are beginning to point towards a reversal. Monthly population figures from ICE show that the agency’s confined population plummeted during the pandemic. Rather than being attributable to reform of ICE’s detention practices, the drop was likely caused by changes along the border and within local law enforcement agencies. During the pandemic, the federal government effectively [...]
Moving to Ohio State University
After eight years at the University of Denver, I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the faculty at Ohio State University this summer as the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. My partner and colleague at the University of Denver, Margaret Kwoka, will also join OSU as the Lawrence Herman Professor in Law. With my focus on the intersection between criminal and immigration law and Margaret’s focus on government secrecy, OSU’s strong contingent of stellar faculty with compatible interests across multiple departments offers an exciting new institutional [...]
Immigration, Nativism & Race in the United States
When Douglas Massey asks for an essay, it’s time to celebrate. That’s exactly what I did when he invited me to contribute to an issue of Dædalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the time I had no idea who else he was reaching out to. Last week, the magazine came out and I’m in awe to find myself in such company. Like Massey, these are scholars from a variety of disciplines whose work I’ve read and learned from for decades. As a group, these are the types of scholars who inspire me—hard-working, rigorous, passionate intellectuals. My essay, Criminalizing [...]
Border Patrol apprehensions, 1925-2020
With news of an increase in the number of migrants arriving at the border, I thought it useful to share historical patterns of apprehensions by Border Patrol. The chart below uses data reported by Customs and Border Protection dating back to the Border Patrol's founding. The agency's data indicate that the United States has not seen a historically unprecedented situation at the border in many years, at least not if measured by the number of people coming into the Border Patrol's custody. On the contrary, as of the last full fiscal year--2020, which ended on September 31, 2020--the Border [...]
ICE issues enforcement priorities
Last week, ICE issued new enforcement priorities meant to guide its immigration detention and removal activities. In a memo signed by Acting Director Tae D. Johnson, the agency outlines three types of risks—national security, border security, and public safety—that it will prioritize at least temporarily. The memo notes that permanent priorities are expected within 90 days. Until permanent priorities are distributed, the Johnson memo, released on February 18, sets ICE’s enforcement parameters. It does not, however, apply to Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security [...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 24
- Next Page »