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51 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 1 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/colhr51 and id is 1 raw text is: 









            ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK:
       CRIMINALIZING ASYLUM-SEEKERS



         Thomas M. McDonnell* and Vanessa H. Merton**

                            ABSTRACT

       In nearly three years in office, President Donald J. Trump's
war against immigrants and the foreign-born seems only to have
intensified. Through a series of Executive Branch actions and policies
rather than legislation, the Trump Administration has targeted
immigrants and visitors from Muslim-majority countries, imposed
quotas on and drastically reduced the independence of Immigration
Court Judges, cut the number of refugees admitted by more than
80%, cancelled DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and
stationed Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents at
state courtrooms to arrest unauthorized immigrants, intimidating
them from participating as witnesses and litigants. Although initially
saying that only unauthorized immigrants convicted of serious crimes
would be prioritized for deportation, the Trump Administration has
implicitly given ICE officers carte blanche to arrest unauthorized
immigrants anytime, anywhere, creating      a climate of fear in
immigrant communities.
       Particularly disturbing is the targeting of asylum-seekers,
employing the criminal justice system and the illegal entry statute in

   *   Professor of Law, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University,
B.A., J.D., Fordham University. We thank Professor Karen Musalo, UC Hastings
College of the Law, for commenting on a draft of this article. I thank my
administrative assistant, Judy Jaeger, and my research assistants, Amanda
Bertan-Chung and Julie Yedowitz. I also thank my wife, Kathryn Judkins
McDonnell, for her constant support. My contribution to this article is dedicated
to my daughter, Mary Louise Waldron, whose commitment to social justice is
inspiring.
   **  Professor of Law, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, B.A.
Radcliffe College, J.D., New York University School of Law. My contribution to
this article is dedicated to my son Darrow Slade Godeski Merton and to my
daughter Rebecca Suzanne Godeski Merton, both of whom in their own ways fight
for peace, freedom, justice, and the rule of law-and to the worldwide victims of
oppression and persecution they both work so hard to help.

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