The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction
How the immigration courts became part of the nation’s law enforcement agency—and how to reshape them.

During the Trump administration, the immigration courts were decried as more politicized enforcement weapon than impartial tribunal. Yet few people are aware of a fundamental flaw in the system that has long pre-dated that administration: The immigration courts are not really “courts” but an office of the Department of Justice—the nation’s law enforcement agency.
 
Alison Peck's original and surprising account shows how paranoia sparked by World War II and the War on Terror drove the structure of the immigration courts. Focusing on previously unstudied decisions in the Roosevelt and Bush administrations, the narrative laid out in this book divulges both the human tragedy of our current immigration court system and the human crises that led to its creation. Moving the reader from understanding to action, Alison Peck offers a lens through which to evaluate contemporary bills and proposals to reform our immigration court system. Peck provides an accessible legal analysis of recent events to make the case for independent immigration courts, proposing that the courts be moved into an independent, Article I court system. As long as the immigration courts remain under the authority of the attorney general, the administration of immigration justice will remain a game of political football—with people’s very lives on the line.
 
"1137643439"
The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction
How the immigration courts became part of the nation’s law enforcement agency—and how to reshape them.

During the Trump administration, the immigration courts were decried as more politicized enforcement weapon than impartial tribunal. Yet few people are aware of a fundamental flaw in the system that has long pre-dated that administration: The immigration courts are not really “courts” but an office of the Department of Justice—the nation’s law enforcement agency.
 
Alison Peck's original and surprising account shows how paranoia sparked by World War II and the War on Terror drove the structure of the immigration courts. Focusing on previously unstudied decisions in the Roosevelt and Bush administrations, the narrative laid out in this book divulges both the human tragedy of our current immigration court system and the human crises that led to its creation. Moving the reader from understanding to action, Alison Peck offers a lens through which to evaluate contemporary bills and proposals to reform our immigration court system. Peck provides an accessible legal analysis of recent events to make the case for independent immigration courts, proposing that the courts be moved into an independent, Article I court system. As long as the immigration courts remain under the authority of the attorney general, the administration of immigration justice will remain a game of political football—with people’s very lives on the line.
 
29.95 In Stock
The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction

The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction

by Alison Peck
The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction

The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction

by Alison Peck

Paperback(First Edition)

$29.95 
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Overview

How the immigration courts became part of the nation’s law enforcement agency—and how to reshape them.

During the Trump administration, the immigration courts were decried as more politicized enforcement weapon than impartial tribunal. Yet few people are aware of a fundamental flaw in the system that has long pre-dated that administration: The immigration courts are not really “courts” but an office of the Department of Justice—the nation’s law enforcement agency.
 
Alison Peck's original and surprising account shows how paranoia sparked by World War II and the War on Terror drove the structure of the immigration courts. Focusing on previously unstudied decisions in the Roosevelt and Bush administrations, the narrative laid out in this book divulges both the human tragedy of our current immigration court system and the human crises that led to its creation. Moving the reader from understanding to action, Alison Peck offers a lens through which to evaluate contemporary bills and proposals to reform our immigration court system. Peck provides an accessible legal analysis of recent events to make the case for independent immigration courts, proposing that the courts be moved into an independent, Article I court system. As long as the immigration courts remain under the authority of the attorney general, the administration of immigration justice will remain a game of political football—with people’s very lives on the line.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780520389663
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication date: 05/17/2022
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alison Peck is Professor of Law and Codirector of the Immigration Law Clinic at West Virginia University College of Law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xiii

Part I Crisis in the Immigration Courts 1

1 The Attorney General's Immigration Courts 3

2 Whittling Away at Asylum Law 14

3 Policing the Immigration Courts 27

Part II From World War II to 9/11: The Ghost of the Fifth Column 47

4 A New Type of Tough in the Department of Labor 49

5 Refusal 66

6 Invasion 77

7 The Welles Mission 88

8 Alien Enemies 103

9 Reckoning 111

10 Un Día de Fuego 114

11 President Bush's Department 127

Part III The Future of the Immigration Courts 143

12 Checks and Imbalances 145

13 Reforming the Immigration Courts 160

Epilogue: Portrait of an American in the Twenty-First Century 167

Notes 173

Bibliography 201

Index 211

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