JOURNAL
Law and Society Review

The Law and Society Association, through Blackwell Publishing, publishes a journal, the Law and Society Review, in four issues per volume per year. Founded in 1966, the Review, is regarded by sociolegal scholars in the United States and other countries as the leading journal in the field. The Review has established a tradition of quality by using expert peer review and strong guidance from the editors.

  JOURNAL
Journal of Refugee Studies

The Journal of Refugee Studies is published by Oxford University Press, four issues per volume per year. The Journal provides a forum for exploration of the complex problems of forced migration and national, regional and international responses. The Journal covers all categories of forcibly displaced people. Contributions that develop theoretical understandings of forced migration, or advance knowledge of concepts, policies and practice are welcomed from both academics and practitioners. Journal of Refugee Studies is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, and is published in association with the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.

  JOURNAL
International Journal of Refugee Law

The International Journal of Refugee Law is published by Oxford University Press, four issues per volume per year. It has been praised by the Times Higher Education Supplement as one of the key source materials in the field of refugee protection. The journal aims to stimulate research and thinking on refugee law and its development, taking account of the broadest range of State and international organization practice. In addition, it serves as an essential tool for all engaged in the protection of refugees and finding solutions to their problems. It regularly provides key information and commentary on today`s critical issues, including the causes of refugee and related movements, internal displacement, the particular situation of women and refugee children, the human rights dimension, restrictive policies, asylum and determination procedures, populations at risk and the conditions in different countries.

  JOURNAL
International Migration

International Migration is a peer reviewed, scholarly journal devoted to research and policy analysis of contemporary issues affecting international migration. The journal is edited by Elzbieta Gozdziak of the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University and is published and distributed by Blackwell Publishing, and sponsored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Micah Bump is the Associate Editor. The editors at ISIM are responsible for the direction and content of the journal. You may submit online here.

  REPORT
Immigration and Local Policing
Results from a National Survey of Law Enforcement Executives
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Scott H. Decker, Paul G. Lewis, Doris Marie Provine and Monica W. Varsanyi
Arizona State University, April 2008

This report presents the initial results of a recent nationwide survey of police executives about the challenges for local law enforcement on how to respond to immigration and the presence of undocumented residents. Based on 232 survey responses from police chiefs in large U.S. cities, the results indicate that local police play a critical role in the ways in which local communities relate to immigrants, particularly in their exercise of discretion with regard to immigration enforcement.

  COURSE
Susan Coutin: Immigration and the Production of Legal Identities, University of California, Irvine, Spring 1997.

This seminar examines the relationship between the movement of people across national borders and the creation of laws seeking to govern such movement.  Though comparative in scope, the course will focus on the example of Latin American immigration to the United States.   The following questions will be addressed:  What does movement mean within different forms of nationhood?  Why do people immigrate?  Can law govern international movement?  In what sense is immigration law powerful?  What sorts of social persons and realities does U.S. immigration law create?  In what sense do immigrants have agency and create law?  How does immigration itself reconfigure the nation? 

  COURSE
Susan Coutin: Immigration and Law, 1998.

Nations establish laws that govern movement across their borders, yet the economic, political, and social forces that compel people to move seem to overwhelm these legal systems.  Can stricter enforcement mechanisms work?  Would civil rights have to be sacrificed to fully control U.S. borders?  How can competing interests be balanced in the pursuit of a just immigration policy?

To address these questions, this class examines the relationship between immigration and law.  The first half of the course focuses on the formulation and enforcement of immigration policies in the United States.  The course begins with a discussion of national sovereignty, individual rights and international law; each of which shapes immigration policies in complicated ways.  Next, the course explores current and past U.S. immigration policies, with the goal of identifying the principles on which these policies have been based.  The course then turns to the forces that shape both immigration, and U.S. immigration policies.  Competing explanations will be considered.  Students will then study the particular dilemmas that arise in immigration law enforcement. 

The second half of the course considers the social realities that immigration laws address.  These include the increasingly transnational nature of immigrant communities, the legalization claims raised by undocumented immigrants, the meanings of citizenship, and the nature of human rights abuse.