The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts

"Americans take pride in their courts and the rule of law. Unfortunately, the U.S. immigration courts, with the awesome power to remove immigrants from this country, are in crisis, with endless backlogs, little judicial independence, and a lack of legitimacy among immigrants and the general public. The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts tells the surprising story of the evolution of the immigration courts and what we need to do to make the immigration courts independent and deserving of the respect befitting legal institutions"--Kevin R. Johnson, Dean, University of California, Davis School of Law "How did our immigration courts become part of our law enforcement apparatus--and what can we do about it? This pathbreaking book shows us both what is wrong with our current system of deciding immigration cases and how we can fix it. Important and eye-opening."--Kermit Roosevelt, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School "Alison Peck's innovative history of the immigration courts teaches us that they were not designed to be neutral decision-makers. Political machinations led to their placement inside the Justice Department, so political outcomes are what we get. To free the immigration courts from political pressures, Peck argues, Congress must give them the independence they deserve."--César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, author of Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants