Immigration Research and News: Attorney Burnout, the Court Backlog, Operation Lone Star Backfires, and more.
Happy Tuesday morning, folks! Classes are back in session at Syracuse University and temperatures here are in the single digits this week(!!). Just yesterday afternoon I held the first class meeting of my spring course titled “Geographies of Migration and Mobility.”
The course tends to attract students made up of a diversity of majors, perspectives on the topic of migration, and personal backgrounds. I am investing more time this year in actually writing up the course in a book format, not because I plan on publishing a textbook any time soon, but because I think it might be a good resource for my future self (I am forever forgetting the things my past teacher self did) or for other teachers who are looking for a more detailed resource guide.
As part of that project, I plan to circle back to this question here on Substack about how we can effectively teach this topic of immigration, not because I have answers but mostly because I have a lot of questions that I want to think through. If you are also teaching an immigration course or even an immigration unit in another course, I’d love to hear about your experience. So feel free to let me know in the comments or reach out directly.
Okay, let’s get into it.
NEW IMMIGRATION RESEARCH
Asylum Attorney Burnout and Secondary Trauma
New research from Lindsay M. Harris & Hillary Mellinger published in Wake Forest Law Review examined the mental health consequences of working in the immigration system. The article is longer and more developed than I can summarize here and likely to become one of those canon articles that shape our thinking about the personal effects of immigration lawyering for years to come.
Here’s a key conclusion from their research:
Survey findings include much higher self-reported symptoms of burnout and secondary traumatic stress among asylum attorneys than previously surveyed populations, including immigration judges, social workers, hospital doctors, nurses, and prison wardens. In addition, female-identifying attorneys, attorneys of color, and solo practitioners reported higher symptoms of burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
A simple but impactful graphic later in the article substantiates and clarifies this observation.
Their paper titled “Asylum Attorney Burnout and Secondary Trauma“ is available to read on SSRN.
Report Finds Immigration Court Backlog Growing… in 1982
After the Congressional hearing in the immigration court last week, I decided to dive into my archival research (which was incredibly easy now that I have a good portion of my research in DEVONthink). I found this report I had *almost* forgotten about from 1982 that talks about the growing backlog of immigration cases. I tweeted out the screenshots last week, but I’ll add them here, too. One of my big takeaways from the archival part of my past work was just how few problems we notice with the courts today are actually new. Most of these issues are structural. That is to say, the problems are due to the nature of how the immigration system has been constructed, rather than the historical moment or simply how things are “now.”
Here’s the tweet.
IN IMMIGRATION NEWS
Family Gets Asylum After 20-Year Saga
Deepa Fernandes from the San Francisco Chronicle tells the story of a family that fled the Taliban and arrived in the United States in 2001 receives asylum—a 20-year saga. This reminds me of a case I saw concluded in 2017 (ended with the person getting their green card back), but the initial case began in 1981. See Deepa’s story here: “After 20 years in limbo, an asylum decision brings resolution to Sacramento family.”
Operation Lone Star Backfires
Operation Lone Star, the program created by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to arrest and detain migrants on criminal trespassing charges, is backfiring. Many migrants are being released on bail which allows them to pursue their asylum claims. This was an entirely predictable outcome, but yet another example of how border policy is so often more about performativity than substance. (See Peter Andreas’ “Border Games” for more on that argument.” See this article by Jasper Scherer at the Houston Chronicle: “How Gov. Abbott's border crackdown is backfiring, giving more migrants a clearer path to the U.S.“
FLRA Still Trying to Bust Immigration Judges Union
The Republican majority on the Federal Labor Relations Authority is moving forward in its efforts to break up the immigration judges union. This decision came out last week at the same time that Congress was discussing the possibility of separating the immigration courts from the political influence of the Department of Justice (more information here), thereby avoiding these kinds of back-and-forths with political appointees. The story is here: “Labor Authority Continues Effort to Bust Immigration Judges Union, Without Management Support.”
Biden Administration Still Defending Title 42 in Court
The Biden administration was back in court last week defending the Trump-era Title 42 program. The Department of Justice told a judge that Title 42 allowed the agency to reduce the risk of spreading covid by screening migrants quickly and expelling them. Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, however, described Title 42 as “a brutal policy against families” that did not have the support of public health officials. Biden administration to defend controversial Trump-era border policy in court by Priscilla Alvarez.
THANK YOU FOR READING! 🙏🏼
If you found this information useful, help more people see it by clicking the ☼LIKE☼ ☼SHARE☼ button below.