Beyond Criminality in the U.S. Immigration System
Beyond Criminality in the U.S. Immigration System In a world where the U.S. federal government still executes incarcerated people, it’s easy to see the nation-state’s vicious obsession with the idea of “irredeemable criminality.” There are few places in the U.S. where this obsession is more on display than in the immigration system. Though a denied naturalization application can be appealed, there is minimal recourse and no judicial review when a visa application is denied due to the applicant having a criminal background. But the guise of criminality overlooks the nuance and complexity that can influence situations as well as the humanity of all people, especially immigrants. It’s also a notoriously difficult categorization to come back from, though immigrants are no more prone to criminality than those born and raised in the U.S. In a 2017 peer-reviewed paper for the NYU Law Review , Daniel I. Morales, an associate professor of law at the University of Houston who specializes in immigr…
