Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Arthur Rizer

LL.M Course 819 | 2 credit hours

This course will explore the relationship between national security and immigration. The course will first provide a historical backdrop of this issue and continue with threshold national security issues that have immigration implications. Particularly, the current legal framework that surrounds this issue will be explored to include specific provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act as well as peripheral legal issues such as material support of a terrorist organization. Other national security questions will be discussed to include protecting the borders, criminal immigration prosecutions, and population control. Lastly, this course will explore the conflict between individual rights and national security and attempt to answer the threshold question of whether it is appropriate to use immigration laws as a national security enforcement tool. This course is oriented toward the practitioner due to the focus this course places on the legal framework and litigation strategies necessary for removing or detaining individuals who are national security threats. At the same time, we will spend time learning how to defend against the government using the immigration statutes as a national security tool. To facilitate this, students will not learn through lectures and group discussions alone, but also through examining real legal documents that have been filed in the United States District Courts and the Courts of Appeals. Students will also have the opportunity to examine a real A-file in order to practice issue spotting. In the 2-credit version of this class, students will be evaluated by examination.