Immigration Law Section Program at AALS Annual Meeting

Nancy Morawetz, Chair –Elect, of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Immigration Law has announced that, at the AALS annual meeting in San Francisco this January, the Section on Immigration Law will host a panel discussion on immigration detention and due process. The program will be on Saturday, January 8th at 8:30 A.M.  Here is a description of the program:

Due Process in the Era of Mass Immigration Detention

During the past two decades there has been a surge in immigration detention. Today, the detention system is massive and growing. Although nominally a system of civil detention, it operates under norms developed for incarceration. Detainees are held in a sprawling complex of local jails, federal detention centers and private facilities and are routinely transferred between facilities. These detainees are processed through a variety of mechanisms. Some will appear before an immigration judge and may later pursue administrative appeals and judicial review. Others will face administrative removal orders or reinstatement of old removal orders by deportation officers with limited review. Still others will be encouraged to stipulate to removal while they are being held in custody.

The panel will explore due process questions in this system of mass detention. The panelists will look at whether due process can be achieved without a right to counsel and whether there are reforms short of such a right that can improve due process. The speakers will be:

Raha Jorjani, University of California School of Law at Davis

Anil Kalhan, Earl Mack School of Law at Drexel

Peter Markowitz, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law David Martin.

Principal Deputy General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security (on leave from University of Virginia School of Law)

KJ