The Politics of Immigration Enforcement

Ohio State University immprofs Inés Valdez, Mat Coleman and Amna Akbar question President Trump’s rhetoric regarding the enforcement of federal immigration law in this thoughtful WaPo piece. Despite public statements to the contrary, the trio writes: “Laws don’t enforce themselves; people make decisions about how to enforce them.”

The authors note that “whether a migrant has a legal right to be in the United States must be adjudicated in immigration courts.” It’s not a simple matter of enforcement.

Moreover, “locating migrants who may lack legal status requires surveillance and policing that are also constrained by laws.” Regarding this piece, the authors offer some helpful background on Secure Communities and INA 287(g) agreements, both of which have been subject to civil rights challenges.

“These law enforcement approaches are not static,” they write. Which is why then-DHS Secretary Kelly was so wrong when he said: “the law deports people. Secretary Kelly doesn’t.”

Want to read the long form version of these arguments? Check out the authors’ article Missing in Action: Practice, Paralegality, and the Nature of Immigration Enforcement.

-KitJ