On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom (“UK”) held a referendum to decide whether it should withdraw from the European Union (“EU”), the economic and political union between twenty-eight European countries.[1] UK citizens voted to leave the EU by a percentage of fifty-two percent to forty-eight percent.[2] Despite multiple delays, […]
In the summer of 2019, an annual music and arts festival held in Byblos, Lebanon, cancelled a concert by the band Mashrou’ Leila, whose vocalist is openly gay, on the heels of an escalating campaign by Christian groups that demanded the concert’s cancellation.[1] The cancellation stemmed from claims that “the […]
Following the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Lebanon began receiving an influx of Syrian refugees.[1] The influx began slowly but grew exponentially over the years. At the peak of migration, “the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was registering on average over 48,000 refugees per month.”[2] […]
In most, if not all, countries around the world, applicants applying for residency, citizenship, and visas are required to pay a fee.[1] There is nothing new or novel about governments charging fees to cover the administrative and processing costs associated with individuals changing lawful status. However, under the current administration […]
With the increase of immigrants entering the United States at the southern border in the past two years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) realized it needed a way to protect children who were being used for entry by nonfamilial adults. Beginning in May 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement […]
Only twelve years old, Ali has become his family’s breadwinner.[1] He works eleven hours daily at an automobile repair shop near the refugee camp where his Syrian family lives. He earns almost fifteen dollars each week. His father, Mahmoud, couldn’t find work; desperate, the family had sent Ali to look […]
Every day, immigration officials must determine whether to admit or remove the many aliens who have arrived at an official “port of entry” (e.g., an international airport or border crossing) or who have been apprehended trying to enter the country at an unauthorized location.[1] Immigration officials must also determine whether there […]
Most conversations about immigration include someone referring to others as “illegal.” The US government officially refers to certain people as “illegal aliens.”[1] Many migrants are accused of being in or entering the US “illegally.” Regardless of whether or not a person has committed a crime in entering the US without […]
Forty-five years ago, in Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to an abortion is a fundamental liberty, and where certain “fundamental rights” are involved, regulation limiting these rights may be justified only by a “compelling state interest.”[2] Later, in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey,[3] the Court […]
The men held by the Australian government in offshore processing centers and temporary transit centers in Papua New Guinea and Nauru are not afforded adequate healthcare. The asylum seekers in these centers are not offered proper access to medical attention generally and especially in cases requiring immediate attention, should be […]