Abstract
As increasing numbers of immigrants face deportation, a major asymmetry in existing immigration procedures requires attention. Individuals who are deported from the United States and attempt to reenter are afforded an opportunity to prove their fears of return to their home countries, whereas those with prior deportation orders who have remained in the United States are not. This difference is based on the false premise that the latter have already had their day in court and do not need an additional layer of screening. This article fills a critical gap in the existing scholarship, which has thus far failed to focus on the asymmetrical application of reasonable fear screening procedures. It proposes a novel solution: adoption of a uniform pre-removal risk screening process to safeguard all immigrants from return to serious harm, torture, or even death. This approach would ensure that the United States fulfills its obligations under domestic and international law to protect refugees and provides all immigrants with due process and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Other countries already engage in such universal pre-removal risk screenings, and the United States has an obligation to do the same.
Recommended Citation
Sabrineh Ardalan,
Asymmetries in Immigration Protection,
85 Brook. L. Rev.
(2020).
Available at:
https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol85/iss2/1