Jennifer M. Chacón

The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was supposed to be a stepping stone, a policy innovation announced by the White House designed to put pressure on Congress for a broader, lasting set of legislative changes. Those changes never materialized, and the people who hoped to benefit from them have been forced to navigate a tense and contradictory policy landscape ever since, haunted by these unfulfilled promises. Legal Phantoms tells their story. After Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration bill in 2013, President Obama pivoted in 2014 to supplementing DACA with a deferred action program (known as DAPA) for the parents of citizens and lawful permanent residents and a DACA expansion (DACA+) in 2014. But challenges from Republican-led states prevented even these programs from going into effect. Interviews with would-be applicants, immigrant-rights advocates, and government officials reveal how such failed immigration-reform efforts continue to affect not only those who had hoped to benefit, but their families, communities, and the country in which they have made an uneasy home. Out of the ashes of these lost dreams, though, people find their own paths forward through uncharted legal territory with creativity and resistance.

The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was supposed to be a stepping stone, a policy innovation announced by the White House designed to put pressure on Congress for a broader, lasting set of legislative changes. Those changes never materialized, and the people who hoped to benefit from them have been forced to navigate a tense and contradictory policy landscape ever since, haunted by these unfulfilled promises. Legal Phantoms tells their story. After Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration bill in 2013, President Obama pivoted in 2014 to supplementing DACA with a deferred action program (known as DAPA) for the parents of citizens and lawful permanent residents and a DACA expansion (DACA+) in 2014. But challenges from Republican-led states prevented even these programs from going into effect. Interviews with would-be applicants, immigrant-rights advocates, and government officials reveal how such failed immigration-reform efforts continue to affect not only those who had hoped to benefit, but their families, communities, and the country in which they have made an uneasy home. Out of the ashes of these lost dreams, though, people find their own paths forward through uncharted legal territory with creativity and resistance.

Intended for use with the authors' casebook, Immigration Law and Social Justice (2018), Immigration Law and Social Justice, 2020 Case and Statutory Supplementcovers new federal cases, enforcement policies, and administrative decisions since the book's publication. The 2020 Case and Statutory Supplement features: Supreme Court cases: Trump v. Hawaii (2018)--The third iteration of the President's travel ban was deemed constitutional in that it included more than just Muslim-majority countries and there was consultation throughout the relevant administrative agencies. Sessions v. Dimaya (2018)--The term "crime of violence" is impermissibly vague with relation to the aggravated felony ground of deportability. Pereira v. Sessions (2018)--A defective Notice to Appear does not stop the clock in accumulating physical presence for purpose of cancellation of removal as a non-lawful permanent resident. Federal court decisions: Barbosa v. Barr (2019)--A conviction of robbery in the third degree under a particularOregon statute is not categorically a crime involving moral turpitude. Ms. L, et al., v. ICE (2018)--The separation of migrant children from their parents at theborder violates due process and is not in the public interest. County of Santa Clara v. Trump (2017)--The President's executive order to withhold certain federal funds for so-called "sanctuary jurisdictions" violates the Tenth and Fifth Amendment rights of the cities and counties involved. Additional Updates regarding administrative decisions and actions made between 2017 and 2019.