Immigration Legal Services Guide
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Research Guides
A User's Guide to the USA Patriot Act and Beyond
Concerned about fundamental civil liberties being undermined by the USA PATRIOT Act and similar congressional legislation, Abele (philosophy and religious studies, Illinois Valley Community College) offers a nontechnical introduction to its main provisions, the prior Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and proposed legislation such as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (or "PATRIOT II"). He also summarizes analysis of USA PATRIOT done by the American Civil Liberties Union and other critics and considers developments as of the end of 2003.
L4
AILA's Asylum Primer: A Practical Guide to U.S. Asylum Law and Procedure
Germain, Regina (2007) - L4
Asylum Case Law Sourcebook: Master Index and Case Abstracts for U.S. Court Decisions
Martin, David A. (2006) - L4
Civics and Citizenship Toolkit: A Collection of Educational Resources for Immigrants
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2007) - Gov Docs
Comparative Legal Approaches to Homeland Security and Anti-Terrorism
Beckman, James (2007) - L4
Essentials of Removal and Relief: Representing Individuals in Immigration Proceedings
Vail, Joseph A. (2006) - L4
Extraterritorial Immigration Control : Legal Challenges
Ed. by Ryan, Bernard and Valsamis Mitsilegas (2010). Ryan (law, U. of Kent, UK) and Mitsilegas (European Criminal Law, U. of London, UK) present a collection of 14 essays analyzing the legal challenges posed by contemporary phenomena of extraterritorial immigration control.
Hein's Cumulative Index to Interim Precedent Decisions of the Board of Immigration Appeals
L4
Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship
Punctuated by marches across the United States in the spring of 2006, immigrant rights has reemerged as a significant and highly visible political issue.Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of U.S. Citizenshipbrings prominent activists and scholars together to examine the emergence and significance of the contemporary immigrant rights movement. Ed. by Buff, Rachel Ida (2008) - L4.
Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy
The sixth edition of this casebook continues its tradition of comprehensive analysis and coverage of immigration and citizenship. Additions and refinements include new material on the growing role of states and cities in the direct and indirect enforcement of federal immigration law, as well as a more compact treatment of asylum and the Convention Against Torture in a depth suitable for an introductory course in immigration and citizenship.
By Aleinikoff, Thomas Alexander (2008) - L4.
Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy
Since its initial publication in 1992, this casebook has been adopted at 172 U.S. law schools. It mixes theory, policy, and politics with practice-oriented materials that deal in doctrine, planning, and problem-solving. The authors make heavy use of policy analysis, fact problems, and simulation exercises.
Legomsky, Stephen H. (2009) - L4
Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity: A Guide to Representing Foreign-Born Defendants
Kramer, Mary E. (2008) - L4
Immigration Law and Procedure
Charles Gordon, Stanley Mailman, Stephen Yale-Loehr -- L4
Immigration Stories
Martin, David A. and Peter H. Schuck (2005) - L4, Faculty Collection, Permanent Reserve
In the Common Defense: National Security Law for Perilous Times
Baker, James E. (2007) - L4
Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook
Kurzban, Ira J. (2010) - L4, Reference, Permanent Reserve, LSO Library
Legal Frameworks for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
ed. by Niessen, Jan and Thomas Huddleston (2009) - UES
National Security and the Legal Process
What are the legal limits for America's global war on terrorism? In this two-volume work, Philip O'Neill tackles this question so that the next generation of policymakers can make sensible, lawful decisions. In particular, he explores the international legal framework in which a nation may act militarily against another state for the purpose of the acting state's internal security.
O'Neill, Philip (2008) - L4
Passing Lines : Sexuality and Immigration
Passing Lines seeks to stimulate dialogue on the role of sexuality and sexual orientation in immigration to the U.S. from Latin America and the Caribbean. The book looks at the complexities, inconsistencies, and paradoxes of immigration from the point of view of both academics and practitioners in the field.
Passing Lines takes a close look at the debates that surround eyewitness testimony, expertise, and advocacy regarding immigration and sexuality, bringing together work by scholars, activists, and others from both sides of the border.
Epps, Brad, Bill Johnson González, and Keja Valens (2005) - L4
Refugee Law and Policy : A Comparative and International Approach
Those who call upon US refugee legal mechanisms and systems rely not only on domestic and international law also upon long tradition. Musalo (law, U. of California, Hastings College of the Law) and her co-authors keep this in mind as they cover the historical origins of refugee law, international norms and state practice, including the impact of the 1980 Refugee Act and international policies of asylum, standards of proof in claims for protection, definitions of persecution, including discrimination, the Nexus requirement, types of persecution (including that on the basis of political opinion, religion, race, nationality and social group), gender-related claims to refugee status, qualifications upon protection, the rights of asylum seekers, and the process of proving the claim.
Musalo, Karen et al (2007) - L4
Seeking Asylum Alone: United States
Bhabha, Jacqueline and Susan Schmidt (2006) - L4 and online
Africa Yearbook
Information on the legal, social, political and economic state of African nations.
AllAfrica.com
News from a variety of African countries and sources - Yale access via Westlaw
EOIR Virtual Law Library
AG/BIA & OCAHO Decisions; also available on Lexis and Westlaw
Ethnic News Watch
US minority & ethnic newspapers, journals, and magazines - Yale access only
Federal Rules of Apellate Procedure
Title VI. Habeas corpus; proceedings in forma pauperis
F.R.A.P. 22. Habeas corpus and section 2255 proceedings
F.R.A.P. 23. Custody or release of a prisoner in a habeas corpus proceeding
F.R.A.P. 24. Proceeding in forma pauperis
Title VII. General Provisions
F.R.A.P. 25. Filing and service
F.R.A.P. 28. Briefs
F.R.A.P. 29. Brief of amicus curiae
F.R.A.P. 47. Local rules by courts of appeals
HAPI Online
Citations to articles on Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean, the US-Mexico border region, and Latinos in the U.S.; excellent resource for human rights research (some full-text links otherwise check Orbis and Morris for journal titles) - English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German (Yale access only)
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP)
Index of foreign and international law review articles (if you don't find the journal via Yalelinks, do a Title search in Morris for the journal just to be sure) - Yale access only
LexisNexis -- 2nd Circuit
Acess cases and some briefs from Lexis - start at Legal > Cases - U.S. > All Courts - By Circuit > 2nd Circuit - Feeral & State Cases, Combined - Type: CORE-TERMS (immigration) and use Date Restriction: Past 10 Years
Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Searchable library catalogue and articles database; full-text Yearbook of United Nations Law (Vol.1 1997-current); many full-text articles in the Electronic Journals Library
PACER
Use PACER to access documents from the dockets of pending and resolved matters.
Most of the material that is available on PACER is available in the docket databases on Bloomberg Law and Westlaw. Those databases should be your first docket research stop.
PACER charges $0.10 per page VIEWED. The law libary MAY reimburse you for PACER charges that you incur, however, to be eligible for reimursement, you must meet with John Nann (john.nann@yale.edu) or Julie Krishnaswami (julie.krishnaswami@yale.edu) before you incur the charges.
You must register for your own PACER account here: https://www.pacer.gov/psco/cgi-bin/regform.pl
ProQuest Congressional
Legislative history research 1789-present. Full text of Congressional hearings (published and unpublished), bills and resolutions, Serial Set, reports, prints, documents, Congressional Record, legislative histories for enacted laws, Congressional Research Service reports, and regulatory materials. Subscription includes access to bill texts and tracking. Dates of coverage vary.
ProQuest Newspapers
Coverage of national, international, and local news. Find full text articles from many major U.S. newspapers - current and historical; includes Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. New papers added frequently, check "Searching: ## databases" for full, current list.
Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)
Index to economic, political, and social issues; 1600 periodicals and journals, books, directories, reports, government documents; Yale Links connects to some full-text - Yale access only
Westlaw - 2nd Circuit
Access cases and some briefs from Westlaw - run a search in the fed2-all database and limit by using the topic (to) field restriction: to(24) and asylum I5 petition (topic 24 is aliens, immigration, and citizenship)
World News Connection
Monitor non-U.S. media sources; material provided to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by the Open Source Center (OSC); analysts from OSC domestic and overseas bureaus monitor timely and pertinent open-source materials - Yale access only
WorldCat
WorldCat is the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) online "union catalog"; that is, its database of over 1 billion records of books and other materials held in more than 10,000 academic, public, special and national libraries around the world. Use WorldCat to locate materials outside of Yale, in almost any area of study, or to locate items in specific libraries and research collections. WorldCat provides catalog records for books, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you.
NEW ! Click on the Yale links icon and then on the link for submitting an Interlibrary Loan request to obtain items that Yale does not own.
Yale subscribes to a paid version of WorldCat, click of 'Access database.''
8 CFR 208.1
Available through Lexis, Westlaw, and GPO
8 USC 1158 (Asylum - REAL ID)
Available through Lexis, Westlaw, GPO, an d LII
Australia Country Advice Service
Provides the RRT with country of origin information to assist them in undertaking reviews
Australia Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) and Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT)
Child Status Protection Act
Pub. L. 107-208, 116 Stat. 927 (2002) - (pdf); featuring AILA's wealth of resources on CSPA, including 2008 agency memo, BIA and federal court decisions, and more; Esparza and Mott's CSPA Review Checklist; and American Immigration Law Foundation CSPA Practice Advisory
EOIR BIA Practice Manual
Page also contains guide to oral argument and FAQ (pdf)
EOIR Immigration Court and BIA Court Telephonic Case status Information
EOIR Immigration Court Practice Manual
Available online and in pdf
EOIR Virtual Law Library
AG/BIA & OCAHO Decisions; also available on Lexis and Westlaw
FRAP and Local Rules of the 2nd Circuit
Global Legal Monitor
Online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources.
Gonzales v. Thomas
547 U.S. 183, 126 S.Ct. 1613, 164 L.Ed.2d 358 (2006) - Court of Appeals must remand case to BIA for asylum eligibility determination on a previously unconsidered claim for asylum based upon "fear of persecution on account of membership in a particular family" rather than considering the question de novo on petition for review of BIA's denial of application for asylum.
Opinions of the 2nd Circuit
Search for "asylum" or "immigration"
U.S. State Department Reports
1993-1999 and 1999-current; Trafficking in Persons Reports; Religious Freedom Reports
United Kingdom Home Office
Includes the Home Office Country Reports - current country reports from the UK's Country of Origin Information Service
United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Home Page
USCIS Affirmative Asylum Process
Includes USCIS Affirmative Asylum Procedures Manual (large pdf)
USCIS Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC)
Asylum Officers are required to complete, among other courses, a five-week Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC). The AOBTC includes international human rights law, asylum and refugee law, interviewing techniques, decision-making and decision-writing skills, effective country conditions research skills, and computer skills. In addition compulsory in-service training for all asylum officers is held weekly.
USCIS Asylum Resources
Contains a few country reports in the Profile and Perspectives Series; note: the "country information page" referred to at the bottom of the USCIS page no longer exists
USCIS InfoPass
Schedule or cancel an appointment with USCIS; includes the Customer Guide (see also, InfoPass.org)
USDOJ Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) Decisions
8 USC 1158 (Asylum - REAL ID)
Available through Lexis, Westlaw, GPO, an d LII
Africa Action
The oldest human rights organization focused exclusively on Africa. Find a variety of documents and positions papers from the oldest organization in the U.S. working on African affairs whose mission is to change U.S.-Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in Africa.
African Human Rights Resource Center
Find African human rights instruments and related documents from the University of Minnesota Human Rights library
AILA Fact Sheet on asylum provisions of TVPRA
The AILA Asylum committee offers a February 23, 2009, Fact Sheet from USCIS Asylum Division concerning the implementation of the asylum-related provisions of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). AILA Doc. No. 09022563.
AILA/Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate Liaison Meeting
Q & As from AILA’s May 6, 2009, liaison meeting with the USCIS Office for Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate cover the following issues: humanitarian parole, credible fear interview delays, implementation of the TVPRA, and waiver procedures at Ciudad Juarez. AILA Doc. No. 09062266.
Amnesty International
Search the Human Rights Reports by country and Library archives for most reports, news releases and urgent actions published from 1996 to date
Asylum Judges
A 2008 NYT article about asylum judges chosen by the Bush administration
AsylumLaw.org
Laws, teaching tools, and country-conditions for many different jurisdictions including the U.S.; created specifically to help those seeking asylum around the world - free registration; includes National Immigrant Justice Center's Asylum Manual (pdf) for representing affirmative and in removal proceedings asylum seekers; to access sensitive information, you will need to register (free)
Atrocities & Genocides
Yale 2006 conference presentation of internet resources on genocide research in ten countries
Canada Issue Papers, Extended Responses & Country Fact Sheets
IPSs and EPs contain in-depth research on issues relevant to the refugee determination process; CFSs contain political, socio-economic, and other fact-based information about a country
Canada National Documentation Packages
Selection of documents on human rights, security conditions and other issues that are relevant to the determination of refugee protection claims in Canada
Child Status Protection Act
Pub. L. 107-208, 116 Stat. 927 (2002) - (pdf); featuring AILA's wealth of resources on CSPA, including 2008 agency memo, BIA and federal court decisions, and more; Esparza and Mott's CSPA Review Checklist; and American Immigration Law Foundation CSPA Practice Advisory
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress
December 11, 2007 (pdf) - FTCA explained in detail; also discusses Bivens and 1983 actions in relations to lawsuits brought against law enforcement; excellent citations to ALR articles, treatises, and other secondary sources; Asylum Law & Female Genital Mutilation: Recent Developments
Country Conditions in Gender Asylum Cases
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Hastings
EISIL
American Society of International Law's (ASIL) Electronic Information System for International Law is a comprehensive database for primary documents, websites, and research guides - a great first-stop for finding international agreements; search by title, subject, keyword // has a human rights section
EOIR memo to immigration judges on the 2008 Asylum Jurisdiction Provision (2009)
EurasiaNet
Provides information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia; operated by the Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute
Eyes on Darfur
Amnesty International leverages the power of high-resolution satellite imagery to provide evidence of the atrocities being committed in Darfur
For the Record
Search for UN human rights documents by year (1997-2003) and by country
Gender Asylum - Matter of Rodi Alvarado
UC Hasting's compilation of documents in the Matter of R.A.
Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)
Law Library of Congress' public database of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations - official documents in original language with some English translations.
Global Policy Forum
An independent policy watchdog that monitors the work of the United Nations and scrutinizes global policymaking; GPF works particularly on the UN Security Council, the food and hunger crisis, and the global economy
Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web
LLRX research guide
Human Rights Country Reports
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
Human Rights First
Find reports on human rights, refugees, law and security, discrimination, crimes against humanity, and more.
Human Rights First Publications
Includes reports by region, country, and topic
Human Rights Internet
Portal to search for human rights organizations, documents, and other information available online
Human Rights Library
Minnesota's premier and comprehensive searchable collection of human rights documents and information, including treaties and links to organizations
Human Rights Research Websites
Yale research websites - includes a list of links to human rights organizations
Human Rights Treaties
Chronological list of human rights treaties from The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Human Rights Watch World Reports
Also available in print from the F/I Office - L1
Human Trafficking Laws - United States/Mexico and China/Vietnam
Le, Christina T. - GlobaLex
I.N.S. v. Elias-Zacarias
502 U.S. 478, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) - Addressing "well-founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion" - (1) guerrilla organization's attempt to conscript Guatemalan native into its military forces did not necessarily constitute "persecution on account of political opinion" and (2) alien who testified that he refused to join guerrillas because he was afraid that government would retaliate against him and his family failed to show eligibility for asylum
I.N.S. v. Orlando-Ventura
537 U.S. 12, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d. 272 (2002) - Judicial decision cannot be made instead of administrative decision on a basic matter entrusted by law to an administrative agency.
IALRJ Asylum Law
The International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) database contains numerous court decisions pertaining to asylum law from many different countries, primarily Germany (where the database was developed); search in multiple languages using established keywords or simply by country of decision; results in English and vernacular.
Immigration Legislation Handbook
(2010) Also available as an electronic resource
Immigration Procedures Handbook
(2010-2011)
Also available as an electronic resource
INS Guidelines for Children Asylum Claims
1998 memo to asylum and immigration officers
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Cases and reports of the Commission, headquartered in Washington DC, created in 1959 as an autonomous body of the OAS that provides recourse to individuals who have suffered human rights violations - English, Spanish, French and Portuguese
Keesing's
Keesing's was founded in 1931 with the intention of creating a lasting archive of original, accurate, and objective articles on the world's political, social, and economic events. Our team of experienced news writers and editors (based in Cambridge, UK) create a series of concise, clear articles which we publish every month, providing our readers with a digestible but detailed summary of global news.
Koulibaly v. Mukasey
No. 07-3743 (6th Cir. 2008) - Court reversed BIA's affirmation of denial of asylum, holding that the substantial evidence did not support the BIA's adverse credibility finding because it was based on an Asylum Officer's Assessment to Refer which lacked standard indicia of reliability.
La Constitución de los Estados Unidos en Español : Un Servicio para el Pueblo Americano
Chen, Jim (2006)
Legal Action Center's Practice Advisories
Find assistance on how to proceed on many issues
Legislative History material from DOJ
Find the text of HR 7311 (Pub.L. 110-457) plus earlier versions of the bill and memoranda from interested parties
Model Rules of Professional Conduct
ABA
National Immigration Forum
Reports on asylum disparities, immigration judges, and other issues
Neufield and Chang memo on SIJ provisions of TVPRA (2009)
(restricted to AILA members)
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Find news and events, publications, international law and human rights insturments, and a searchable database for human rights documents of the OHCHR's Charter or treaty-based bodies; click on "Countries," then "Human Rights in World" - select a region and find valuable reports
Orbis
Yale University Library catalog - do Keyword searches in "Journals/Periodicals/Newspapers"
Practice Advisory -- 2009 update on legal relief options for unaccompanied alien children after TVPRA
Project Diana
Yale project - find full-text of core human rights decisions and documents
Refugee Law
A collection of refugee decisions from the highest national courts of Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States; these cases have been selected and summarized by the Director of the Refugee Caselaw Site, Professor James Hathaway of the University of Michigan; since 2004, the collection has expanded to include decisions from other asylum countries, as well as the most important decisions of lower courts and tribunals in the core collection states.
Researching Federal Case Law
Research Review (pdf) - currently unavailable
Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (SADPD)
Find some country reports and other materials on human rights for persons with disabilities in Africa
Seeking Asylum Alone: United States
Bhabha, Jacqueline and Susan Schmidt (2006) - L4 and online
South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission, Videotape Collection
Yale Artemis Project - watch streaming video of news broadcasts assembled by journalist Max Du Preez, covering the history and activities of the Commission
TVPRA tracked by govtrack
Find legislative history, CRS report, and other valuable documents
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Their World Refugee Survey has country reports (latest available is for 2008)
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, established by UN General Assembly, is mandated to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide; hosts the powerful RefWorld database, a collection of reports relating to situations in countries of origin, policy documents and positions, and documents relating to international and national legal frameworks; take note of the publication entitled "State of the World's Refugees"
UNHCR Refworld
Refworld is the leading source of information necessary for taking quality decisions on refugee status. Refworld contains a vast collection of reports relating to situations in countries of origin, policy documents and positions, and documents relating to international and national legal frameworks. The information has been carefully selected and compiled from UNHCR's global network of field offices, Governments, international, regional and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and judicial bodies.
United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
An independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress whose goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide; includes a library with digital collections including peace agreements, terrorism/counter-terrorism resources, and afghan oral histories, as well as library catalog with full-text USIP Special Reports and Peaceworks
University of Minnesota - Asylum and Refugee Resources
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
USCIS
USCIS Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC)
Asylum Officers are required to complete, among other courses, a five-week Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC). The AOBTC includes international human rights law, asylum and refugee law, interviewing techniques, decision-making and decision-writing skills, effective country conditions research skills, and computer skills. In addition compulsory in-service training for all asylum officers is held weekly.
USCIS Policy Memorandum on Changes to T and U Nonimmigrant Status and Adjustment of Status Provisions (2010)
World Newspapers
Search by country for English-language newspapers, magazines, and news websites
WorldCat
WorldCat is the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) online "union catalog"; that is, its database of over 1 billion records of books and other materials held in more than 10,000 academic, public, special and national libraries around the world. Use WorldCat to locate materials outside of Yale, in almost any area of study, or to locate items in specific libraries and research collections. WorldCat provides catalog records for books, maps, sound recordings, musical scores, films, archives, and computer files held in research, corporate, and public libraries, as well as museums, archives and historical societies. All searches may be easily printed, downloaded or e-mailed directly to you.
NEW ! Click on the Yale links icon and then on the link for submitting an Interlibrary Loan request to obtain items that Yale does not own.
Yale subscribes to a paid version of WorldCat, click of 'Access database.''
