Immigration at the AALS Annual Meeting
It is that time again! This week, hundreds of law professors from across the United States are converging on Washington, D.C. for the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). This year, the AALS President is immigration expert and author of a recently-published immigration book (No Undocumented Child Left Behind (2012)), Professor Michael Olivas (Houston). For those of you coming East, keep in mind that this year’s annual meeting will be a bit chilly; it was about 32 degrees F in D.C. when I arrived this afternoon.
As usual, the annual meeting has a number of immigration-related programs. The Section on Immigration Law program on Saturday at 3:30-5 p.m. is entitled “Responding to Immigration Flows Resulting from Failed States and Civil Wars: From Western Europe’s Response to the Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa to the United States’ Response to Mexico.”
The Section on Constitutional Law is sponsoring a Thursday afternoon (2-3:45) program on American Citizenship in the 21st Century. Panelists include Garrett Epps (Baltimore) (moderator), Rose Cuison Villazor (Hofstra), Rogers Smith (Penn/Political Science), and yours truly. The panel will discuss the latest debates over birthright citizenship, “anchor babies,” immigration reform, and much more. The panelists are fortunate to have Epps, author of the leading law review article on the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as moderator.
There are other programs that may be of interest to ImmigrationProf readers.
An AALS program on Thursday morning (11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) is entitled “Haiti After Two Years.”
The Section on International Human Rights has a program on Friday morning (8:30-10:15 a.m.) on “New Voices in Human Rights.”
The Section on Africa has a panel on Friday afternoon (4-5:45 p.m.) on “The International Criminal Court and Its Focus on Africa: Helping or Hindering Peace on the Continent?” This panel includes my former colleague Diane Marie Amann, now of the University of Georgia School of Law and founder of the blog IntLawGrrls.
Besides catching up with, and making new, friends, the AALS annual meeting is a time for honors. My dear friend, the late Professor Keith Aoki, will be honored with two posthumous awards, the Clyde Ferguson Award of the AALS Minority Groups Section for a career dedicated to racial and social justice, and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Teacher of the Year Award. The Ferguson award will be given at the Minority Groups Section luncheon on Thursday. Keith will be honored with the SALT award at its annual gala on Saturday night.
Besides good conversation and a great law publishers’ exhibit, there is always something new and different at the AALS annual meeting. The inaugural Law and Film Series will feature some great films, including “Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice.” Professor Reynoso, a civil rights icon, was an Associate Justice on the California Supreme Court and a law professor at the New Mexico and UCLA law schools before coming to UC Davis School of Law. Abby Ginzberg, the producer and director of the film, will be on hand at the screening to talk about the film and answer questions.
If you are in D.C. for the AALS annual meeting, or simply are in the neighborhood and want to say hello, please feel free to stop by the friends of UC Davis law school reception on Thursday at 7 p.m.
UPDATE (1/7): Here is some more information about the Immigration Section panel on Saturday afternoon. The title is “Responding to Immigration Flows Resulting from Failed States and Civil Wars: From Western Europe’s Response to the Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa to the United States’ Response to Mexico,” Abstract :The political situation in North Africa and the Middle East has already led to greater migration to Western Europe, with Western European countries reacting differently, and often very defensively to the (potential) influx of refugees and others. Many of these countries have had individual agreements with Libya, for example, to restrict and prevent migration from countries further South. The current political upheaval makes those countries unable, or unwilling, to police and enforce such agreements. As a result, some EU member states have begun to close their borders to their neighbors, endangering a core concept of the European Union. This situation presents an interesting contrast — or analogy — to the U.S. response to immigration resulting from the current violence in Mexico, potential political change in Cuba, and environmental and human rights problems in Haiti. Similarly, Canada has been faced with the influx of boat people who have been fleeing political oppression or economic deprivation farther away. The political and legal response has also often been to restrict access. What could the United States, Canada and Western Europe learn from each other regarding their legal responses to these situations? What best practices could they develop in addressing such situations before they arise? How have human rights considerations, including refugee protection, impacted political and legal decision-making in these different situations?
Speakers include:
1) Marshall Fitz, Director of Immigration Policy, American Progress
2) Uffe Holst Jensen, Counsellor, Home Affairs, Political, Security and Development Section, EU Delegation to the United States
3) Professor Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto
KJ