Immigration Law and Policy Symposium
Professors Kevin Johnson and Jennifer Chacon will participate in a symposium on immigration law and policy hosted by The University of Chicago Legal Forum on October 27-28, 2006. During the panel, Criminalization and Immigration Law, Johnson will argue that national security concerns need not mean closing the borders. He contends that better comports with the political, social, and economic factors contributing to immigration would be better for national security. Chacon will argue that the increasing reliance on immigration enforcement mechanisms to achieve the law enforcement goal of punishing "criminal street gang members" carries high social costs that have not been properly considered, including: undermining standard criminal procedural protections, encouraging discriminatory laws and law enforcement; and subverting human rights norms in the United States and elsewhere.
The University of Chicago Legal Forum is a student-edited journal that focuses on a single cutting-edge legal issue every year, presenting an authoritative and timely approach to a particular topic. Every fall, the Legal Forum hosts a two-day symposium, with the participants then contributing articles for the volume. The October 2006 Symposium will focus on "Immigration: Law and Policy," to be subsequently published as Volume 2007.