Events

Past Event

Withholding Protection

April 18, 2019
12:10 PM - 1:10 AM
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Jerome Greene Hall, Room 107

Event #5 of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review’s 50th Anniversary Symposium Series

Article: Withholding Protection
Author: Lindsay M. Harris, Assistant professor of Law & Co-Director of the

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia - David A. Clarke School of Law

In June 2018, President Trump wrote a pair of tweets en route to his golf course, calling for “no judges; no court cases” at our border and swift deportation of immigrants, essentially without due process. While immigrant advocates were quick to explain the myriad constitutional problems with this proposal, elements of Trump’s dream are already a reality.

Professor Harris will discuss how a single Customs and Border Protection officer can short-circuit the checks and balances prescribed by U.S. and international law to protect refugees from being returned to harm, and cast a long shadow over a future, meritorious asylum claim. She will examine the disastrous interplay between two “speed deportation” processes—expedited removal and reinstatement of removal—insufficient safeguards that leave refugee screening at our borders in the shadows, and the absence of judicial review.  Professor Harris will also explore, as an immediate first step to implement the humanitarian protections enshrined in law, the merits and risks of using readily available technology—more specifically, the use of Body Worn Cameras by Customs and Border Protection officers conducting screenings of potential refugees at the border.


HRLR’s 50th Anniversary Symposium Keynote is co-sponsored by Student Affairs and the Clerkship Office.
The Author Series is co-sponsored by CSIL, Rightslink, SIRR, and LaLSA.