I’m a Scholar and Legal Advocate writing on U.S. immigration policy.

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My Scholarship

My scholarship focuses on the constitutionality of immigration laws, racial bias in crimmigration enforcement, the effects of the war on drugs on immigrant communities, and the role of settler colonialism in shaping contemporary expressions of immigration law.

SSRN Page

About Me

I am a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley Center for the Study of Law and Society, a Lecturer in Legal Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Adjunct Professor at the Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. I am an immigration attorney in private practice, a board member of LexisNexis Benders Immigration Bulletin, and I’ve served on the Executive Board of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild and as Co-Chair of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild Immigration Committee. I have also held leadership positions in the American Immigration Lawyers Association within the Northern California Chapter. I’ve edited and authored practice guides and treatises for LexisNexis and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and have been invited to contribute to the ImmigrationProf blog, and LexisNexis where I’ve been recognized as an Expert Commentator.

Law Review Articles
& Essays

  • Decolonizing Immigration Equal Protection (in progress).

  • If Equal Protection were Real, Immigration Prisons Would be Abolished, 44 Seattle U. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2021).

  • UnEqual Protection in Immigration Law, 50 Sw. L. Rev. 232 (2021).

  • Unequal Protection in Immigration Law, Yale Notice & Comment, Symposium on Racism in Administrative Law, (July 2020).

  • Bringing Democratic Rule of law to Immigration (in the Age of Trump), 97 Denver L. Rev. (2020).

  • Crimmigration – Structural Tools of Settler Colonialism, 16 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 9 (2018).

  • Immigration Law’s Due Process Deficit and the Persistence of Plenary Power, 28 La Raza L.J. 119 (2017).

  • The Natural Persistence of Racial Disparities in Crime-Based Removals, 13 U. St. Thomas L.J. 532 (2017).

  • What [and Whom] State Marijuana Reformers Forgot, Crimmigration Law and Noncitizens, 9 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 2 (2016).

  • The Role of Equality Principles in Preemption Analysis of Sub-Federal Immigration Laws: The California TRUST Act, 18 Chap. L. Rev. 481 (2015).

Treatises, Bar Journals,
Op-Eds, Blogs

Select Professional
& Academic
Presentations

  • Panelist, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Supreme Court Analysis, October 2021.

  • Panelist and Moderator, LatCrit, Racial Capitalism and Toward a Critical Immigration Studies, 2021.

  • Panelist, American University Washington College of Law Administrative Law Review Symposium, Detention and Incarceration Crises: Administrative Challenges and Potential Improvements, 2021 (invited).

  • Panelist, Chair, and Moderator | Law and Society Association Conference, 2021.

  • Guest Speaker, United States Capitol Historical Society, Toward a More Perfect Union, May 2021.

  • Presenter, UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration, Emerging Immigration Scholars Winter Workshop, 2021.

  • Podcast Guest Speaker with Kevin Johnson, American University Washington College of Law, Administrative Law Review, A Hard Look, 2020.

  • Moderator, Berkeley Law, Criminalization of Climate Migrants, 2020.

  • Panelist, Southwestern Law Review, A Conversation About Deported Americans, 2020.

  • Panelist, Chair, and Moderator | Law and Society Association Conference, 2020.

  • Symposium Speaker | Denver Law Review, Immigration Law in Shifting Times, 2020.

  • Panelist | Bringing Democratic Rule of law to Immigration (in the Age of Trump), LatCrit: Latina & Latino Critical Legal Theory Annual Conference, 2019.

  • Moderator | Race, Criminal Justice and Migration Control, Law and Society Association Conference, 2019.

  • Panelist/Paper Presentation | Law and Society Association Conference, 2019.

  • Invited Panelist | From Supremacy to Sanctuary: Current Issues in Immigration Law, 2017 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit, Long Beach, California, November 2017.

  • Paper Presenter | Executive Action Impetus: Reversal of the Rights Deficit in Immigration Law?, NYU Law, Clinical Law Review Writers’ Workshop, New York, September 2017.

  • Presenter | Immigration Defense for Public Defenders, Marin County Public Defender, May 2017.

  • Paper Presenter | Substantive Due Process in Preventative Immigration Incarceration, Emerging Immigration Scholars Workshop, Texas A&M Law School, Fort Worth, Texas, May 2017.

  • Presenter | Alameda County Bar Association, Bay Area Legal Incubator, Launching and Managing a Successful Modest Means Practice, March 2017.

  • Speaker | UC Davis School of Law, Aoki Center Spring 2017 Interdisciplinary Research Seminar, The Equality Principle in Crimmigration Policing, March 2017.

  • Founder | Immigration Scholar Writing Groups, 2017-present.

  • Symposium Speaker | What [or Whom] State Marijuana Reformers Forgot, Michigan State University Law School, East Lansing, Michigan, February 2016.

  • Symposium Speaker | Priority Enforcement Program’s Permanent Legitimacy Problem, St. Thomas Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2016.

  • Symposium Speaker | Family Detention and the Refugee Crisis, UC Davis School of Law, Davis, California, March 2016.

  • Paper Presenter | Sanctuary Cities or Secure Communities? Legal, Moral and Historical Considerations, University of St. Thomas Law Journal Spring 2016 Symposium, March 2016.

  • Paper Presenter | Decriminalization and Immigrant Integration, 2015 LatCrit Conference, Anaheim, California. October 2015.

  • Paper Presenter | Decriminalization and Immigrant Integration, Emerging Immigration Scholars Workshop, University of California, Irvine. May 2015.

  • Paper Presenter | Pretextual Enforcement of Immigration Law, Immigration Scholars Workshop, University of California, Irvine. May 2014.

  • Paper Presenter | Right to Counsel for the Undocumented, Emerging Immigration Scholars Workshop, University of California, Irvine. May 2013.

  • Panelist | American Immigration Lawyers Association, California Chapter Conference, Secure Communities and Material Support and TRIG, 2011.

  • Panelist | American Immigration Lawyers’ Association: Secure Communities and Material Support, 2010.

  • Panelist | National Lawyers Guild: Secure Communities and Material Support and Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds (TRIG), 2009.

  • Panelist | Berkeley Law: Starting a Law Practice, 2006.

 

Professional
Associations

  • Member, State Bar of California

  • Admitted, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

  • Admitted, U.S. District Court, California, Northern District

  • Member, Society of American Law Teachers

  • Member, Law and Society Association

  • Member, Legal Writing Institute

  • Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association

  • Publication Editor, American Immigration Lawyers’ Association National Conference, 2013-2014

  • Member, American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, California Conference Planning Committee, 2011

  • Co-Liaison, Northern California Chapter American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2006-2007

  • Chair, Northern California Chapter American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, Continuing Legal Education Committee, 2005-2006

  • Co-Chair, Bay Area Chapter National Lawyers Guild Immigration Committee, 2005-2007

  • Executive Board Member, Bay Area Chapter National Lawyers’ Guild, 2005-2007