Court of Injustice: Law Without Recognition in U.S. Immigration

216 Pages·2020·1.632 MB·English

by  J.C. Salyer

Court of Injustice
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Court of Injustice
Law Without Recognition in U.S. Immigration
J.C. Salyer
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of
Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on request.
ISBN: 978-1-5036-1140-5 (cloth)
ISBN: 978-1-5036-1248-8 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-5036-1249-5 (electronic)
Cover design: Michel Vrana
Typeset by Motto Publishing Services in 10/14 Minion Pro
For Paige West
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Th e Paradoxes of U.S. Immigration Law
and Deportation 1
1 Migrants, Criminal Aliens, and Folk Devils 27
2 A Social History of the Development of U.S. Immigration Law 49
3 Th e Role of Lawyers and Judges in U.S. Immigration Law 77
4 Law Without Recognition: Excluded Equities and
Judges Without Discretion 104
5 Th e New York Immigrant Family Unity Project:
A Revolution Such as Lawyers Would Mount 131
Conclusion: Th e Limitations and Possibilities of
U.S. Immigration Law 150
Notes 171
Bibliography 179
Index 193
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Acknowledgments
FIRST, I WANT TO THANK everyone at the Arab American Family Support
Center (AAFSC), where I have been the immigration law clinic’s staff attorney
for over a decade. I am particularly indebted to the legal program’s coordina-
tor, Hizam Wahib, without whose assistance I could not do my job and with-
out whose humor and friendship I would not want to. I would also like to ex-
press my thanks to the hundreds of clients I have represented at AAFSC for
their trust and for sharing their experiences. For many of those clients, I have
only been able to explain that under the current law there is nothing that I, as
an immigration lawyer, can do to assist them and their families. In a way, this
book is my response to the inability to address their needs as a lawyer within
the current legal system. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the immigration law-
yers who took time to speak with me as part of this project and to the numer-
ous lawyers who have assisted me to better understand immigration law both
as a researcher and an immigration attorney. Deserving of special gratitude is
Nancy Morawetz of the New York University School of Law Immigrant Rights
Clinic and the attorneys involved with the New York Immigrant Family Unity
Project.
As an anthropologist, I owe a huge debt of appreciation to Michael Blim,
who is as generous with his intellect as he is with his friendship, which makes
him my model of a good academic citizen. I would also like to thank my col-
leagues, whose scholarship and friendship I appreciate and depend upon:
Joshua Bell, Andy Bickford, Jamon Halvaksz, Jerry Jacka, David Lipset, Alex
Mawyer, Patrick Nason, Jason Roberts, G.S. Quid, and all of my colleagues
in the Barnard Anthropology Department. For me, New York City is a home
because of the friendship of Paul Th omas and everyone else at PSC, Latrice
Tice, Elisha Omar, Colin Felsman, Aly Neel, Debra Minkoff , Silke Aisenbrey,