Immigration at the AALS

Ths Association of American Law School annual meeting ran from January 2-6 at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. The program of the Section on Immigration Law was on Thursday afternoon. The program was entitled “‘We’ Becoming: Histories of Naturalization,” with the following panelists: Irene Bloemraad (sociology, UC Berkeley), Hiroshi Motomura (North Carolina), Gerald Neuman (Harvard), and Lucy Salyer (History, New Hampshire). Peter Spiro (Temple) served as moderator. The panel focused on historical practices to naturalization. I was in transit to DC during this panel so cannot offer more details. Readers should feel free to offer comments about the panel.

At the biusiness meeting of the Immigration Law Section, Hiroshi Motomura (North Carolina) was named the new chair and Leti Volpp (UC Berkeley) the chair-elect. Peter Spiro (Temple),  Nancy Morawetz (NYU), and Lenni Benson (New York) will continue on the Executive Committee with the chair and chair -elect.  Thanks to all of them for their leadership.  Special thanks to outgoing chair Peter Spiro for a job well done!

The Section on Immigration Law co-sponsored a panel with the Minority Groups Section that was held on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The program was entitled ”Membership, Citizenship and Race” and included as panelists Muneer Ahmad (American), Dean Alex Aleinikoff (Georgetown), Ediberto Roman (Florida International), and Adrien Wing (Iowa). This blogger moderated this motley crew. The Memphis University Law Review will publish the papers. Attendance was good and the speakers gave insightful presentations offering historical and modern perspectives of race, citizenship status, and membership in U.S. social life. The panel offered contrasting optimistic and pessimistic views of the future. Importantly, the panelists kept to their time and we saved a half hour for a great exchange of ideas. Thanks to the panelists and all those in attendance!

KJ