Immigration Article of the Day: Liminal Immigration Law by Juliet P. Stumpf & Stephen Manning
Liminal Immigration Law by Juliet P. Stumpf & Stephen Manning, Iowa Law Review, Forthcoming
This article unearths a currency of “law” that operates powerfully beyond the edge of traditional law to govern migration within the United States. It tracks how agencies and advocates have innovated to create widely followed rules that operate like traditional legal rules but are not. These rules are law-like, or liminal, in that they stand apart from “hard” law like statutes, regulations, or opinions, but exert a similarly powerful effect. Because of their liminal nature, these rules lead a precarious existence and are often in transition, tending either toward codification or toward extinction. They are, nonetheless, surprisingly sticky. The article employs case studies of three liminal rules—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the mandatory immigration detainer, and administrative closure—to illustrate the existence and power of liminal immigration law.
KJ