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

Author:   J.C. Salyer
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
ISBN:  

9781503611405


Pages:   216
Publication Date:   02 June 2020
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Court of Injustice: Law Without Recognition in U.S. Immigration


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Overview

Court of Injustice reveals how immigration lawyers work to achieve just results for their clients in a system that has long denigrated the rights of those they serve. J.C. Salyer specifically investigates immigration enforcement in New York City, following individual migrants, their lawyers, and the NGOs that serve them into the immigration courtrooms that decide their cases. This book is an account of the effects of the implementation of U.S. immigration law and policy. Salyer engages directly with the specific laws and procedures that mandate harsh and inhumane outcomes for migrants and their families. Combining anthropological and legal analysis, Salyer demonstrates the economic, historical, political, and social elements that go into constructing inequity under law for millions of non-citizens who live and work in the United States. Drawing on both ethnographic research conducted in New York City and on the author's knowledge and experience as a practicing immigration lawyer at a non-profit organization, this book provides unique insight into the workings and effects of U.S. immigration law. Court of Injustice provides an up-close view of the experiences of immigration lawyers at non-profit organizations, in law school clinics, and in private practice to reveal limitations and possibilities available to non-citizens under U.S. immigration law. In this way, this book provides a new perspective on the study of migration by focusing specifically on the laws, courts, and people involved in U.S. immigration law.

Full Product Details

Author:   J.C. Salyer
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
Imprint:   Stanford University Press
ISBN:  

9781503611405


ISBN 10:   150361140
Pages:   216
Publication Date:   02 June 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

"Contents and AbstractsIntroduction: The Paradoxes of U.S. Immigration Law and Deportation chapter abstractBy introducing the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration, this chapter explores the broader nature and history of anti-immigrant policies and the deprivation of the rights and interests of immigrants. It introduces the main arguments of the book, which are that immigration law fears migrants in a manner that is so overbroad that it punishes, detains, and deports immigrants who bear little resemblance to the stated fears used to justify the laws and that these practices go unchecked by the courts, which defer to the political branches of government under the plenary power doctrine. Finally, the introduction argues that we can learn a lot about the potential for resistance and reform by understanding how lawyers advocating for their clients in immigration courts are sometimes able to achieve just results for their clients even within this unfair system. 1Migrants, Criminal Aliens, and Folk Devils chapter abstractThis chapter uses the ethnographic example of a young man named Omar to illustrate how history, political and economic changes, and race are intertwined in the production of sweeping immigration laws aimed at the perceived dangers of criminal aliens and explores how the 1996 amendments to immigration laws were a manifestation of a neoliberal ideology that constructed ""aliens and citizens as different kinds of persons"" (Greenhouse 2013, 104). The chapter shows how a key aspect of these changes was removing discretion to make individualized judgments from immigration judges and how the restoration of this discretion is necessary to reach just results. 2A Social History of the Development of U.S. Immigration Law chapter abstractThis chapter addresses how the contemporary position of migrants relates to the historical development of U.S. immigration law. The chapter explores how more than a century of immigration legislation and judicial interpretation created both substantive and procedural limits on the protection of migrants' rights. In particular, the chapter shows that the trend has been for perceived threats to be projected in the form of an abstract alien, who embodies those dangers, but for the laws that are passed to be so broad that they affect actual individuals who do not present those threats. 3The Role of Lawyers and Judges in U.S. Immigration Law chapter abstractThis chapter draws on participant observation and interviews to examine current immigration law and focuses, in part, on areas in which immigration judges still retain some discretion: asylum cases and cancellation-of-removal cases. The chapter explores how, even within the relatively rigid system of laws that make up current immigration law, immigration lawyers are able to retain and exploit some flexibility to achieve favorable outcomes for the individuals they assist. 4Law Without Recognition: Excluded Equities and Judges Without Discretion chapter abstractThis chapter explores the particular provisions of contemporary immigration law and the effects they have on individuals. Drawing on participant observation and the experiences of immigration lawyers who were interviewed, the chapter illustrates areas where current immigration law is inflexible and fails to account for individual circumstances and equities and focuses on examples that illustrate both the possibility of a more humane immigration law and the process by which that possibility has been lost under current law. 5The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project: A Revolution Such as Lawyers Would Mount chapter abstractThis chapter provides a detailed account of NYIFUP, which is the first government-funded assigned counsel system for indigent detained migrants facing deportation. The chapter shows how NYIFUP is able to not merely improve access to counsel for individual clients but also use its institutional structure to make broader challenges to existing laws and practices and to systematically document abuse, mistreatment, and injustice suffered by migrants in detention and in removal. Conclusion: The Limitations and Possibilities of U.S. Immigration Law chapter abstractThis chapter concludes the book by arguing that one of the main failings of the current immigration system is its refusal to recognize individual equities, such as family relationships, hardships, and social participation and contributions. By examining the Supreme Court's rationale in Trump v. Hawaii, this chapter analyzes how the socio-legal position of migrants is conceptualized. The chapter argues that although immigration law is not itself the sole or main cause of (or solution to) issues of inequality and injustice that relate to migration, its current formalistic and inflexible nature should not be allowed to reduce complex individual, historic, political, and economic events and relationships to narrow legal categories that limit the ability to provide justice to people in precarious positions not of their own making. The chapter ends by recommending areas for reform."

Reviews

Court of Injustice brings a critical ethnographic lens to understanding the reproduction of inequality, xenophobia and racism in U.S. immigration. Salyer dismantles the fictions of 'rule of law' and 'national security' to reveal an arbitrary and punitive federal system decades in the making, and how local governments, lawyers, and civil society are fighting back. -- Shannon Gleeson This book does such a powerful job of recounting the sad, complicated and disempowering history of immigration laws. It clarifies not just for academics but for everyone that the denial of due process is central to how the legal system responds to immigrants. But what I love about this work is the humanity that J.C. Salyer brings with it. In the end we see that we are all these immigrants and refugees. They are our future and our past and every single one of us is called upon now to see this and act. -- Maria Hinojosa Salyer combines vast legal knowledge with deft anthropological analysis to produce a comprehensive and engaging account of today's immigration system. Highlighting the lawyers navigating a treacherous legal system, this book is a unique, essential, urgent read for anyone who cares about immigration and immigrants today. -- Cecilia Menjivar, University of California Court of Injustice identifies the real structural and procedural problems for noncitizens facing removal from the United States. Salyer's unique perspective on legal services for immigration clients reveals the inequities inherent in the court system and how enforcement policies often preordain outcomes. Policymakers should play close attention to this book. -- Bill Ong Hing


Salyer combines vast legal knowledge with deft anthropological analysis to produce a comprehensive and engaging account of today's immigration system. Highlighting the lawyers navigating a treacherous legal system, this book is a unique, essential, urgent read for anyone who cares about immigration and immigrants today. -- Cecilia Menjivar * University of California, Los Angeles *


Court of Injustice identifies the real structural and procedural problems for noncitizens facing removal from the United States. Salyer's unique perspective on legal services for immigration clients reveals the inequities inherent in the court system and how enforcement policies often preordain outcomes. Policymakers should play close attention to this book. -- Bill Ong Hing * University of San Francisco * Salyer combines vast legal knowledge with deft anthropological analysis to produce a comprehensive and engaging account of today's immigration system. Highlighting the lawyers navigating a treacherous legal system, this book is a unique, essential, urgent read for anyone who cares about immigration and immigrants today. -- Cecilia Menjivar, University of California * Los Angeles * This book does such a powerful job of recounting the sad, complicated and disempowering history of immigration laws. It clarifies not just for academics but for everyone that the denial of due process is central to how the legal system responds to immigrants. But what I love about this work is the humanity that J.C. Salyer brings with it. In the end we see that we are all these immigrants and refugees. They are our future and our past and every single one of us is called upon now to see this and act. -- Maria Hinojosa * <i>Latino USA</i> * Court of Injustice brings a critical ethnographic lens to understanding the reproduction of inequality, xenophobia and racism in U.S. immigration. Salyer dismantles the fictions of 'rule of law' and 'national security' to reveal an arbitrary and punitive federal system decades in the making, and how local governments, lawyers, and civil society are fighting back. -- Shannon Gleeson * Cornell University *


This book does such a powerful job of recounting the sad, complicated and disempowering history of immigration laws. It clarifies not just for academics but for everyone that the denial of due process is central to how the legal system responds to immigrants. But what I love about this work is the humanity that J.C. Salyer brings with it. In the end we see that we are all these immigrants and refugees. They are our future and our past and every single one of us is called upon now to see this and act. -- Maria Hinojosa * <i>Latino USA</i> * Court of Injustice identifies the real structural and procedural problems for noncitizens facing removal from the United States. Salyer's unique perspective on legal services for immigration clients reveals the inequities inherent in the court system and how enforcement policies often preordain outcomes. Policymakers should play close attention to this book. -- Bill Ong Hing * University of San Francisco * Salyer combines vast legal knowledge with deft anthropological analysis to produce a comprehensive and engaging account of today's immigration system. Highlighting the lawyers navigating a treacherous legal system, this book is a unique, essential, urgent read for anyone who cares about immigration and immigrants today. -- Cecilia Menjivar, University of California * Los Angeles * Court of Injustice brings a critical ethnographic lens to understanding the reproduction of inequality, xenophobia and racism in U.S. immigration. Salyer dismantles the fictions of 'rule of law' and 'national security' to reveal an arbitrary and punitive federal system decades in the making, and how local governments, lawyers, and civil society are fighting back. -- Shannon Gleeson * Cornell University *


Author Information

J.C. Salyer is Assistant Professor of Practice in Anthropology and Human Rights at Barnard College, Columbia University. Salyer is Director of the Human Rights Program at Barnard, and also a staff attorney for the Arab-American Family Support Center, a community-based organization in Brooklyn, where he runs the organization's immigration clinic.

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