The Obama Administration’s November 2014 Immigration Initiatives: Questions and Answers

[Excerpt] On November 20, 2014, President Obama delivered a televised address wherein he broadly described the steps that his administration is taking to “fix” what he has repeatedly described as a “broken immigration system.” Following the President’s address, executive agencies made available intra-agency memoranda and fact sheets detailing specific actions that have already been taken, or will be taken in the future. These actions generally involve either border security, the current unlawfully present population, or future legal immigration. The announced executive actions—particularly the granting of deferred action and employment authorization to some unlawfully present aliens, discussed below (see “Unlawfully Present Population”)—have revived debate about the executive’s discretionary authority over immigration like that which followed the Administration’s June 2012 announcement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. DACA has permitted some unlawfully present aliens who were brought to the United States as children and raised here to obtain temporary relief from removal and, in many cases, employment authorization. Some have argued that DACA constitutes an abdication of the executive’s duty to enforce the laws and runs afoul of specific requirements found in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), among other things. Others, however, have maintained that the DACA initiative is a lawful exercise of the discretionary authority conferred on the executive by the Constitution and federal statute. Similar arguments will likely be made as to the November 2014 actions, which affect a significantly larger number of aliens than DACA. This report provides the answers to key legal questions related to the various immigration-related actions announced by the Obama Administration on November 20, 2014. Because the various documents outlining these actions have been available for a limited period of time, and additional information is expected to be released in the future, these answers are necessarily preliminary. It is anticipated that the report will be updated to reflect further developments

Hierarchical hyperbolicity of graphs of multicurves

We show that many graphs naturally associated to a connected, compact, orientable surface are hierarchically hyperbolic spaces in the sense of Behrstock, Hagen and Sisto. They also automatically have the coarse median property defined by Bowditch. Consequences for such graphs include a distance formula analogous to Masur and Minsky's distance formula for the mapping class group, an upper bound on the maximal dimension of quasiflats, and the existence of a quadratic isoperimetric inequality. The hierarchically hyperbolic structure also gives rise to a simple criterion for when such graphs are Gromov hyperbolic.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures. Minor changes from previous version. Addition of appendix describing a hierarchically hyperbolic structure on the arc grap

The Rush to Fit In

A week ago, I had been dead set on not rushing. I had heard the rumors and beliefs of my peers, that Greek life encouraged excessive drinking and partying, that hazing was still incredibly prevalent and demeaning, that Greek life worked only to discriminate and exclude members of the campus who refused to take part, promoted unfair gender roles, and encouraged pageantry and forced conversations between strangers. Still, the call of philanthropy, having a group of sisters, and finding a home on campus appealed to me. In the end, it felt like I was choosing between rushing with my friends or facing long weekends alone in my dorm room. So, that first morning, I grit my teeth, and went with it. [excerpt

Unlawfully Present Aliens, Higher Education, In-State Tuition, and Financial Aid: Legal Analysis

[Excerpt] State measures that would deny or provide access to public institutions of higher education, instate tuition, and financial aid to unlawfully present aliens have been challenged on various grounds. While these grounds can vary depending upon the specific statute or practice in question, the grounds most commonly asserted appear to be violations of the Equal Protection and Supremacy Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, these provisions are the focus of discussion in this report, and the following paragraphs provide an overview of the basic principles implicated in discussions of equal protection and preemption

Insourcing Functions Performed by Federal Contractors: An Overview of the Legal Issues

[Excerpt] While agencies are prohibited by federal law and policy from contracting out functions that are “inherently governmental,” other functions could potentially be contracted out. There has long been debate over both general government policies promoting the use of the private sector to perform “commercial functions” and whether specific functions should be performed by government personnel or contractors. However, since 2008, the insourcing initiatives of recent Congresses and the Obama Administration have caused particular controversy. Several lawsuits have been filed challenging agencies’ determinations to insource particular functions, and broader questions have been raised as to whether agencies’ implementation of insourcing runs afoul of civil service, ethics, or small business laws. This report provides a brief overview of key legal issues related to recent insourcing initiatives. It will be updated as developments occur

Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Enforcement: Legal Issues

This report begins by discussing the sources of federal power to regulate immigration and, particularly, the allocation of power between Congress and the President in this area. It next addresses the constitutional and other foundations for the doctrine of prosecutorial discretion, as well as the potential ways in which prosecutorial discretion may be exercised in the immigration context. It concludes by addressing potential constitutional, statutory, and administrative constraints upon the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The report does not address other aspects of discretion in immigration law, such as the discretion exercised by immigration officers in granting benefits (e.g., asylum), or by immigration judges in non-enforcement contexts (e.g., cancellation of removal)

Insourcing Functions Performed by Federal Contractors: Legal Issues

[Excerpt] While agencies are prohibited by federal law and policy from contracting out functions that are “inherently governmental,” other functions could potentially be contracted out. There has long been debate over both general government policies promoting the use of the private sector to perform “commercial functions,” and whether specific functions should be performed by government personnel or contractors. However, since 2008, the insourcing initiatives of recent Congresses and the Obama Administration have generated particular controversy. Several lawsuits have been filed challenging agencies’ determinations to insource particular functions, and broader questions have been raised as to whether agencies’ implementation of insourcing runs afoul of civil service, ethics, or small business laws. This report provides a brief overview of key legal issues related to recent insourcing initiatives. It will be updated as developments occur