By Dennis Mulligan, Esq.

October 2023

In 2020, there were 281 million international migrants in the world or 3.6% of the global population. U.S. immigration policies to turn back asylum seekers at U.S. borders, beginning under the Trump administration and continuing under President Biden, violate U.S. obligations under refugee conventions and other post-WW II treaties which established international norms for the protection of persons fleeing harm in their own countries.

By Sean R. Olender, Esq., and Jonathan C. Dunten, Esq.

July 2009

Tens of thousands of immigrants are imprisoned in federal government detention centers across the United States. Arrested by local police officers on “civil” charges, and without any effective means to challenge the reasonableness of their arrests, these individuals are often spirited half way across the country by the federal government to become what are in growing numbers, America’s “disappeared.”

By Jonathan Dunten, Esq.

October 2008

With the goal of completing some 698 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2010, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has been armed by Congress with the authority to “waive all legal requirements” “in his sole discretion,” including those designed to protect the environment, Native American graves and territorial integrity – without judicial review. This extraordinary delegation in the hands of an appointed executive officer raises critical questions regarding separation of powers, federalism and equal protection of the laws. The Texas Border Coalition, including 19 cities, 18 Chambers of Commerce and 10 counties challenged this delegation of power as unconstitutional.