Compounded Disadvantage: Race, Criminal Record, and Access to Justice in Immigration Courts

复合劣势：种族、犯罪记录和在移民法庭诉诸司法的机会

• 批准号: 2213699
• 负责人: Emily Ryo
• 金额: $ 33.79万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213699&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Compounded; Disadvantage; Race; Criminal; Record

For immigrants, even minor and relatively routine interactions with law enforcement—such as a traffic stop—can dramatically increase the chances of detention and deportation. This is true even for lawful permanent residents and those with deep social ties to the United States. Detention and deportation are widely recognized as devastating life events with enduring negative consequences not only for the individuals, but also for their families and surrounding communities. Yet because there is no right to government-appointed counsel for immigrants in removal proceedings, most immigrants lack legal representation. As a result, immigrants in removal proceedings are one of the most vulnerable, yet least legally protected groups in our justice system. This project investigates how these immigrants fare in our immigration court system once they enter the immigration adjudication process. Such an investigation is critical to developing policies that promote a more fair and equitable justice system that ensures access to justice for all individuals in the United States.This project will address three key questions. First, are there racial/ethnic disparities in case outcomes in removal proceedings for immigrants with criminal history? Second, what is the role of judicial bias in generating racial and ethnic disparities in these case outcomes? Third, are immigrants of color less likely to have legal representation in these proceedings, and are the benefits of legal representation smaller for them even when they are represented? To address these questions, this project will collect and analyze several major datasets on immigration court cases and immigration judges in the United States. This unique dataset will widely expand the study of immigration adjudication across multiple disciplines including law, public policy, sociology, political science, criminology, and other related fields. In addition, findings from this research will generate new insights about how racial disparities across multiple legal institutions can have mutually reinforcing effects that generate compounded disadvantage for marginalized communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

对于移民来说，即使是与执法部门进行轻微且相对常规的互动（例如交通拦截）也会大大增加被拘留和驱逐出境的机会。 即使对于合法永久居民和与美国有深厚社会联系的人来说也是如此。 拘留和驱逐出境被广泛认为是毁灭性的生活事件，不仅对个人、而且对其家庭和周围社区造成持久的负面影响。 然而，由于在遣返程序中移民无权获得政府指定的律师，因此大多数移民缺乏法律代表。 因此，递解程序中的移民是我们司法系统中最脆弱但最不受法律保护的群体之一。 该项目调查这些移民进入移民裁决程序后在我们的移民法院系统中的表现。 这样的调查对于制定促进更加公平和公正的司法系统的政策至关重要，确保美国所有个人都能诉诸司法。该项目将解决三个关键问题。 首先，有犯罪记录的移民的遣返程序中的案件结果是否存在种族/民族差异？ 其次，司法偏见在这些案件结果中产生种族和民族差异方面发挥了什么作用？ 第三，有色人种移民在这些诉讼中获得法律代表的可能性是否较小，即使他们有代表，法律代表的好处对他们来说是否也较小？ 为了解决这些问题，该项目将收集并分析有关美国移民法庭案件和移民法官的几个主要数据集。 这个独特的数据集将广泛扩展跨多个学科的移民裁决研究，包括法律、公共政策、社会学、政治学、犯罪学和其他相关领域。 此外，这项研究的结果将产生新的见解，了解多个法律机构之间的种族差异如何产生相互强化的影响，从而给边缘化社区带来复合的不利影响。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。