Dean Johnson Quoted in San Francisco Chronicle

Dean Kevin R. Johnson’s immigration scholarship was cited in the San Francisco Chronicle. Dean Johnson discussed the Supreme Court’s February 27 ruling in Jennings v. Rodriguez. The court’s decision allows the government to hold immigrants in detention indefinitely, without bail, while they await a hearing on their possible deportation.

The article focused on how frequently Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito used the word “alien” when he wrote the majority opinion and why it matters. The piece referenced Dean Johnson’s 1997 article in the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, "The Social and Legal Constructions of Nonpersons." Dean Johnson’s article examined the terminology used to discuss the legal rights of immigrants in the United States. Particularly, the word “alien”.

“The concept ‘alien’ brings all the images to mind — it’s not human, and it’s not us,” he told the Chronicle.

Dean Johnson also used the example of President Dwight Eisenhower’s mass-deportation campaign in 1954, Operation Wetback, to give context to the use of language.

“They thought the term wasn’t offensive,” he said. “It took a generation to remove (the word) Negroes from our discussion. These things change slowly but surely.”

Dean Johnson wrote an in-depth analysis of the Jennings v. Rodriguez case for the SCOTUSblog.

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.