Description
Book SynopsisHow the immigration courts became part of the nation's law enforcement agencyand how to reshape them. During the Trump administration, the immigration courts were decried as more politicized enforcement weapon than impartial tribunal. Yet few people are aware of a fundamental flaw in the system that has long pre-dated that administration: The immigration courts are not really courts at all but an office of the Department of Justicethe nation's law enforcement agency. This original and surprising diagnosis shows how paranoia sparked by World War II and the War on Terror drove the structure of the immigration courts. Focusing on previously unstudied decisions in the Roosevelt and Bush administrations, the narrative laid out in this book divulges both the human tragedy of our current immigration court system and the human crises that led to its creation. Moving the reader from understanding to action, Alison Peck offers a lens through which to evaluate contemporary bills and propos
Trade Review"An eye-opening look at how the history and structure of U.S. immigration courts contribute to present-day problems. . . . Supported with lucid legal analysis and incisive historical details, this is a persuasive call for change." * Publishers Weekly *
"Sometimes there are books that leave you much better for the experience. This is one of them. . . . Alison Peck has filled a major gap, setting out a roadmap toward possible legislative alternatives to this unsatisfactory arrangement by offering the Title I Tax Court as a better option. If this is to happen, it will almost certainly have to be as a function of comprehensive immigration reform, a tantalizing oasis in the current political desert. If that happens, I will listen to her very carefully, as I did here." * Southwestern Historical Quarterly *
"Highly readable and informative. . . . A valuable lens through which to see the problems and politics of the US immigration system." * CHOICE *
"Peck shows an excellent command of the sources and presents a solid argument. . . . academics will find the monograph valuable for its concise history, and it would be especially appropriate to assign in an upper division or graduate university course on the history of U.S. immigration policy." * Journal of Arizona History *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Preface
Part I. Crisis in the Immigration Courts
1. The Attorney General's Immigration Courts
2. Whittling Away at Asylum Law
3. Policing the Immigration Courts
Part II. From World War II to 9/11: The Ghost of the Fifth Column
4. A New Type of Tough in the Department of Labor
5. Refusal
6. Invasion
7. The Welles Mission
8. Alien Enemies
9. Reckoning
10. Un Día de Fuego
11. President Bush's Department
Part III. The Future of the Immigration Courts
12. Checks and Imbalances
13. Reforming the Immigration Courts
Epilogue: Portrait of an American in the Twenty-First Century
Notes
Bibliography
Index
