"David Boaz on Immigration" - My Contribution to the Liberty Fund Symposium on "The Legacy of David Boaz"
My contribution considers his views on immigration and its role as a vital front in the broader struggle for liberty.
Immigration
Our Fifth Circuit Alien Enemies Act Amicus Brief
The brief was filed on behalf of the Brennan Center, the Cato Institute, law-of-war scholar Prof. John Dehn, and myself.
Harvard International Student With a Private Instagram? You Might Not Get a Visa.
Under new State Department guidance, having private or no social media presence "may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question [a student visa] applicant's credibility."
J.D. Vance Wants a Free Market for Crypto. What About Everything Else?
Vance says "you've gotta let these people make decisions on their own." He should try that approach more generally.
How Palantir Is Expanding the Surveillance State
If you think the government will only use these tools to track illegal immigrants, think again.
How Trump's Tariffs and Immigration Policies Could Make Housing Even More Expensive
Out-of-control housing costs helped Trump win the 2024 election. Is he about to make the problem worse?
SCOTUS Allows Trump Administration to Revoke Parole Status of Noncitizens Present under CHNV Program
A reminder that the Executive Branch retains substantial discretionary authority over immigration policy and will prevail in court when that authority is properly exercised.
Wait, Lilo & Stitch Is About Medicaid and Family Separation?
A strange sort of policy logic powers the new Disney remake.
Civil Rights Groups Say Immigrants Are Being Denied Legal Access at Detention Centers
Reason confirmed reports of dysfunction and violence at one of those detention centers earlier this week.
Marco Rubio Sure Has a Weird Definition of Free Speech
Marco Rubio has announced a plan to deny visas to foreigners who censor Americans.
'Banal Horror': Asylum Case Deals Trump Yet Another Loss on Due Process
President Trump is entitled to try to execute his immigration policy. He is not entitled, however, to violate the Constitution.
Illinois Cops Gave ICE Access to More Than 5,000 Surveillance Cameras Nationwide
A camera network developed to help find missing cars and persons is now being used for immigration enforcement.
Overcrowding and Dysfunction Produced a Quiet Riot at a Miami Federal Prison Holding ICE Detainees
Half the elevators at Federal Detention Center Miami are broken. Immigrant detainees are kept on lockdown, and lawyers can barely reach their clients.
Trump Seeks to Deport Afghans Who Fled the Taliban
Lifting TPS status would make them eligible for deportation to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is likely to persecute and punish them.
The Alien Enemies Act Doesn't Say What Trump Claims It Says
Father of the Constitution James Madison made a distinction between alien enemies and alien friends.
The Case Against Judicial Deference to Executive Branch "Factual" Determinations in Alien Enemies Act Cases
Legal scholar Rebecca Ingber offers some strong arguments against deference in this context.
An "Ugly Tax" in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill"
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby rightly decries the GOP's inclusion of a tax on remittances immigrant workers send to their families, in the "Big Beautiful Bill."
Harvard's Best Protection Is To Get Off the Federal Teat
It's the best shield when the executive branch tries to strong-arm private universities.
Trump's Mass Cancellation of Student Visas Illustrates the Lawlessness of His Immigration Crackdown
A federal judge blocks the administration's "Student Criminal Alien Initiative," which targeted foreign students who had no criminal records.
Gary Winslett: The American Dream Has Migrated South
Middlebury professor Gary Winslett argues the South—not China—poached the Rust Belt’s manufacturing base by out-competing it on policy.
Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed
Plus: Trump bill passes the House, Danish father of five detained in ICE custody in Louisiana, and more...
Dave Smith and Alex Nowrasteh Debate Immigration
Is it consistently libertarian to support government restrictions on immigration?
Report: 50 Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Entered the U.S. Legally, Contrary to White House Claims
"It's not just one or two administrative errors," says the Cato Institute's David Bier.
ICE Helps Round Up Sex Workers in Florida
In Operation Fool Around and Find Out, 244 "human trafficking" arrests, but no human trafficking.
Most Migrants Deported to Imprisonment in El Salvador Under the Alien Enemies Act Had no Criminal Record and Many had Entered the US Legally
A new Cato Institute study by David Bier presents the most extensive available evidence on these points.
What Kristi Noem Gets Wrong About Habeas Corpus
The legal principle safeguards civil liberties, protecting even unpopular people from the government.
Serious Immigration Law Enforcement Means Serious Destruction to American Liberty
Stephen Miller's trial balloon about abrogating habeas corpus in immigration cases shows how any libertarian with pragmatic intelligence should reject so-called "libertarian" arguments for strict immigration laws.
Trump Says Birthright Citizenship Is Only 'About the Babies of Slaves.' Historical Evidence Says Otherwise.
The 1866 debate over birthright citizenship included a debate over immigration.
Fourth Circuit Rules Against Trump Administration in Alien Enemies Act Case
In a 2-1 ruling, the Court ruled Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act cannot supersede a settlement barring deportation of a group of migrants. One judge also held the AEA was invoked illegally.
Supreme Court Allows DHS to Suspend Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans
The latest SCOTUS order shows the justices are taking a more nuanced approach to district court injunctions of Trump Administration policies than its critics, left or right.
Lee Kovarsky, D. Theodore Rave, and Steve Vladeck on Class Actions and the Alien Enemies Act Litigation
Kovarsky and Rave defend the use of class actions in AEA habeas cases. Vladeck highlights the significance of the Supreme Court's grant of an injunction to a "putative class" of AEA detainees.
Men Caught In Prostitution Sting Aren't Sex Traffickers, Massachusetts High Court Says
But the ruling suggests prostitution clients could be convicted of sex trafficking in other circumstances.
Bigotry, Hypocrisy, and Trump's Admission of Afrikaners as Refugees
The Administration isn't wrong to admit white South African migrants. But it is wrong to exclude all other refugees, including many fleeing far worse discrimination and oppression.
Our Supreme Court Amicus Brief Opposing Termination of CHNV Immigration Parole, Which Would Subject Some 500,000 Legal Immigrants to the Risk of Deportation to Oppressive Regimes
The brief is on behalf of the Cato Institute and myself.
Supreme Court Issues Ruling Temporarily Blocking Alien Enemies Act Deportations
The ruling held that migrants detained under AEA had not been given adequate notice of their potential deportation. It also reflects the Court's growing distrust of the Trump Administration.
Supreme Court Enjoins Summary Removal of Alleged Tren de Aragua Members under Alien Enemies Act
A majority of the justices seem unconvinced the Administration was prepared to provide the process that was due. Justices Alito and Thomas dissent.
A Simple Defense of Nationwide Injunctions
Nationwide illegality by the federal government requires a nationwide remedy.
The Supreme Court May Rule for Trump on Nationwide Injunctions but Probably Not on Birthright Citizenship
The president's executive order on birthright citizenship had its first test before the Supreme Court.
Hasan Piker's CBP Detention Marks Another Trump-Era Attack on Free Speech
"The reason they're doing this is to try to create an environment of fear, to try to get people like myself...to shut the fuck up," said Hasan Piker.
My New Lawfare Article "Trump's 'Emergencies' Are Pretexts for Undermining the Constitution"
The article explains why these claims to emergency powers are illegal and dangerous, and how to stop them.
Some Reasons to be Skeptical of Nationwide Injunctions
The Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA, Inc. should rein in the district courts' use of nationwide injunctions.
Trump (Partially) Wins an Alien Enemies Act Case
In a badly flawed decision, a federal district court ruled that Trump can invoke the AEA because the Tren de Aragua drug gang's activities amount to a "predatory incursion."
Trump's Case Against Birthright Citizenship Is a Constitutional Loser
The text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment run counter to Trump’s executive order.
At 'Orgasmic Meditation' Trial, Feds Can't Find a Clitoris—or Evidence of Forced Labor
The government has been putting sexuality, sexual labor, and unorthodox ideas about sex on trial.
Reason Nominated for 17 Southern California Journalism Awards
Nominees include stories on inflation breaking brains, America's first drug war, Afghans the U.S. left behind, Javier Milei, and much more.
Since Immigration Is an 'Invasion,' a Top Trump Adviser Says, the President Might Suspend Habeas Corpus
Stephen Miller's understanding of the Constitution is dubious for several reasons.
