Case Law
What rule did Plyler v Doe produce and why is it important in immigration law?
Plyler v. Doe (1982) established the rule that states cannot deny free public K–12 education to undocumented children
WHY NOT?
because doing so violates the Equal Protection Clause.
WHY DOES IT MATTER
It is important in immigration law because it prevents states from creating parallel, exclusionary systems that punish children for their immigration status, thereby limiting states’ ability to regulate immigration indirectly through education policy.
What is "crimmigration" and how does Congress help facilitate it?
Crimmigration refers to the growing overlap between criminal law and immigration law, where immigration enforcement increasingly relies on criminal processes, categories, and penalties.
Congress facilitates crimmigration by expanding the list of immigration-related crimes, broadening deportation grounds, and funding enforcement structures that treat migration as a criminal threat.
What is the significance of "287g"?
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes formal agreements allowing state and local law enforcement to perform certain federal immigration enforcement functions after receiving federal training and supervision.
What protection does the Fourth Amendment provide to non-citizens in the US?
Non-citizens (really all people) physically present in the United States are protected by the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
BONUS 10: what are some notable exceptions we learned about this quarter?
What is the principle of nonrefoulement?
The principle of nonrefoulement prohibits a state from returning a person to a country where they would face persecution, torture, or other serious harm
What rule did US v Arizona produce and why is it important in immigration law?
Arizona v. United States (2012) established the rule that federal law preempts most state attempts to regulate immigration, striking down key provisions of Arizona’s SB 1070 as intrusions into exclusively federal authority.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
It is important because it reaffirmed that states cannot create their own immigration enforcement regimes, preserving a uniform national immigration system and limiting state-level criminalization of immigrants.
What impact did the 1996 legislation Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) have on immigration enforcement?
dramatically expanded the grounds of deportability and curtailed judicial discretion by making many crimes “aggravated felonies”
What are the steps in the chronology of a removal proceeding?
What is federalism and from where is this principle derived?
Broadly, federalism means dividing up governance between national and subnational entities. States, cities, Native nations.
1. the 10th Amendment
2. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution
What is the "nexus requirement" in refugee law?
the nexus requirement is the legal requirement that a person has faced persecution either at the hands of the state or that the state is powerless to prevent, and that persecution must be “on account of” one of the five protected grounds
What rule did Regents of California v. DHS produce and why is it important in immigration law?
Regents of the University of California v. DHS (2020) held that the Trump Administration’s rescission of DACA was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act because the agency failed to adequately follow administrative procedure and failed to provide a reasoned explanation.
It is important in immigration law because it reaffirmed that even broad executive authority over immigration must comply with APA procedural requirements, limiting abrupt policy reversals and protecting hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients from unlawful agency action.
Which act of legislation established the DACA program as we know it today?
Congress has FAILED to pass a comprehensive "dream" act for over four decades. DACA is the result of an executive memo (under Obama) which allowed certain immigrants to escape deportation and obtain work permits for a period of two years—renewable upon good behavior.
What is expedited removal and why is it so common?
Expedited removal is a fast-track deportation process created by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996. It allows low-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers to order someone removed without a hearing before an immigration judge, unless the person asserts a fear of persecution or expresses an intent to seek asylum.
It is backed by statutory authority + courts defer heavily to executive, making it easy to use without consequence
What is inclusive federalism and what are some examples of it?
Inclusive federalism refers to a model in which federal, state, and local governments share immigration-related authority in ways that expand protections, services, or integration opportunities for noncitizens rather than restrict them.
EXAMPLES?
When and where do asylees present themselves for a credible fear/well founded fear interview?
Immediately at a port of entry (airport, land border, seaport)
After being apprehended near the border by CBP or Border Patrol
While in DHS custody if fear is expressed during processing
What rule did Jennings v Rodriguez produce and why is it important in immigration law?
Jennings v. Rodriguez (2018) held that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not require periodic bond hearings for noncitizens in prolonged immigration detention, allowing detention to continue indefinitely unless Congress explicitly provides otherwise.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
It is important in immigration law because it significantly narrowed due-process protections for detained noncitizens and affirmed broad executive authority over immigration detention.
What are the first five grounds for inadmissibility?
Health-related grounds (communicable diseases, lack of required vaccines, etc.)
Criminal grounds
Security and terrorism-related grounds
Public charge
Labor certification and qualifications for certain immigrants
What is “attrition through enforcement”?
“Attrition through enforcement” is an immigration-control strategy designed to make daily life so difficult for undocumented people—through policing, employment restrictions, and denial of services—that they are pressured to “self-deport.”
What is restrictive federalism and what are some examples of it?
In restrictive federalism, cities and states pass laws and ordinances which both avoid pre-emption and which make life more difficult for immigrants.
EXAMPLES?
What are the five protected grounds under which someone can apply for asylum?
Race
Religion
Nationality
Political Opinion
Membership in a Particular Social Group (PSG) — a flexible category that covers groups defined by characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, family ties, or other immutable or fundamental traits.
What role has SCOTUS played in the Vasquez-Perdomo case?
the Supreme Court of the United States has granted the government’s request to stay a lower-court injunction that had prohibited immigration officers from making stops based solely on four factors: apparent race/ethnicity; speaking Spanish or accented English; presence at certain locations (e.g. car washes, bus stops, day-labor pickup sites); or type of work.
WHAT'S NOTABLE ABOUT SCOTUS' ACTION?
What are the first five grounds for removability?
Inadmissible at time of entry or adjustment / violating status
Criminal offenses (including crimes involving moral turpitude, aggravated felonies, controlled substance offenses, firearm offenses, etc.)
Failure to register or falsification of documents
Security and related grounds (terrorism, threats to national security)
Public charge—becoming a public charge within 5 years of entry for reasons not affirmatively shown to have arisen after entry
What were the requirements under which undocumented youth could qualify for DACA?
Entered the U.S. before age 16 and were under age 31 as of June 15, 2012.
Continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007, and were physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, and at the time of applying.
Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012.
Were in school, had graduated from high school or obtained a GED, or were honorably discharged veterans of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces.
Had no felony convictions, no “significant misdemeanors,” no three or more non-significant misdemeanors, and did not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety
BONUS: who does this leave behind?
Which doctrine establishes that Congress may not compel a state to enact or enforce a federal regulatory program, conscript state officers, or prohibit a state from enacting laws as long as those laws are not preempted?
Anti-commandeering doctrine
BONUS 25: where in the Constitution can we find this doctrine?
What are some of the bars to receiving asylum?
conviction of a particularly serious crime
commission of a serious non-political crime outside the U.S.
reasons to believe that you are a danger to the security of the U.S.
participation in terrorist activities, or
persecution of others.
Under Trump, these were expanded to include any felony under federal or state law, harboring undocumented people, DUI, gang activity, drug use, domestic violence