This seminar examines the rights
(and responsibilities) of noncitizens in the United States. As an overarching theme, we will analyze when and how questions of membership in U.S. society are complicated by noncitizen status, including permanent residence in the United States, lawful nonimmigrantstatus, and unauthorized migration.
In format, this seminar is a writing workshop organized around student papers. Core requirements include (1) researching and writing a publication-quality paper; (2) selecting reading materials on the paper topic for the seminar; and (3) read and providing written critiques of other students’ drafts. The emphasis will be on learning about substance, writing, and editing by engaging intensively with research projects—each student’s own project and those of others in the seminar.
Paper topics chosen by students will define the exact contours of seminar coverage. A non-exhaustive list of possible topic areas includes: eligibility for health care and other public benefits; noncitizen political participation; identity documents; access to education; temporary worker programs; workplace protections for noncitizens; human trafficking; criminal law and procedure; immigrant integration; state and local laws affecting noncitizens; and much more. Students should be prepared to define a paper topic in some detail by the second week of the seminar.
Students who have taken the Immigrants' Right
course (Law 332 offered during Spring 2009) will not be allowed to enroll in this
seminar.
Prerequisite: Law 331 (Immigration Law). Enrollment will be limited to 15 students.