Immigration Law

This course will focus on immigration law from, respectively, a legal, political, international, public policy, social, and ultimately, moral and ethical perspective. We will address issues such as citizenship, migration, marriage, asylum, and many more areas that relate to immigration law. We will begin the process of trying to unpack the various layers of this debate.

There are different learning outcomes that this course will seek to pursue. To begin, in light of the current debate on immigration, we will explore how this discussion relates to issues such as class, inequalities, employment opportunities, and the history of who has been able to migrate to the U.S. and during what time periods and who has not. We will also study the implications of the rhetoric that has been used by the various sides during the course of this debate and, in particular, how civil society has responded. Additionally, we will analyze how international law, international treaties, and international institutions have contributed to both the public discourse and to public policy as it relates to immigration. And thereafter, we will look at the empirical research and data on what is actually occurring in terms of immigration trends within and into the U.S.

In sum, the course will offer lessons so that the class will be familiar with:

a). the historical context under which immigration policy in the U.S. has developed, and

b.) current events and policy trends as they relate to the main immigration issues of today.

At the end of the semester, my hope is that we will each have a more detailed understanding of the complex nature surrounding immigration law and policy in the United States.

Required Texts:

T. Alexander Aleinikoff, David A. Martin, Hiroshi Motomura, Maryellen Fullerton, Juliet Stumpf, and Pratheepan Gulasekaram Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy (West Publishing 9th ed. 2021)

Statutory Supplement (2022) available on line and in hard-copy

Please also go to www.ssrn.com and sign up. It is free. This is a scholarly website where I will, on occasion, ask you to download articles to read.

Grading:

The course will have 2 separate tracks to it. Up to 10 students will have the option of enrolling in a separate section of the course that will fulfill the advanced writing requirement, and students in that section will be assessed based on class attendance and participation (20%) as well as a lengthy writing project that will receive multiple iterations of feedback throughout the semester (80%). All other students will be assessed based on one final 3-hour exam that will be open book, open notes (80%) as well as class attendance and participation (20%). the targeted mean for the course will aim to be 3.3.