Sharing Secrets: Examining Deferred Action and Transparency in Immigration Law

[Excerpt] “This Article is about deferred action and transparency in related immigration cases falling under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While scholars from other genres have written extensively on the topic of prosecutorial discretion, the subject is largely absent from immigration scholarship, with the exception of early research conducted by Leon Wildes in the late 1970s and early 2000s, and a law review article I published in 2010 outlining the origins of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and related lessons that can be drawn from administrative law and criminal law. That article ends with specific recommendations for the agency, such as codifying deferred action into a regulation and recognizing it as a formal benefit as opposed to a matter of “administrative convenience,” and streamlining the array of existing memoranda of prosecutorial discretion floating within each DHS agency. An additional recommendation included increasing oversight of prosecutorial discretion to ensure that officers and agencies that fail to exercise prosecutorial discretion by targeting and enforcing the laws against low-priority individuals are held accountable. In this Article, and building upon recommendations published in The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law, I describe the state of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action in particular by surveying the political climate, public reaction, and advocacy efforts in the last two years. I also chronicle my repeated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to DHS for information about deferred action, and the stumbling blocks I encountered during this 19-month journey. The Article will show that while deferred action is one of the very few discretionary remedies available for noncitizens with compelling equities, it currently operates as a secret program accessible only to elite lawyers and advocates. Moreover, the secrecy of the program has created the (mis)perception by some, that deferred action can be used as a tool to legalize the undocumented immigrant population or ignore congressional will. This Article explains why transparency about deferred action is important and makes related recommendations that include, but are not limited to, subjecting the program to rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act, issuing written decisions when deferred action is denied, posting information about the application process, and maintaining statistics about deferred action decisions. Without these remedies, noncitizens that possess similarly relevant equities will face unequal hardships.

A possible EAS array above the Soudan 2 detector

Multiple high energy muons, when studied with a large area detector, can be useful in the study of the composition of cosmic rays at energies approx. 10 14 eV. The Soudan II detector, primarily designed to detect nucleon decay, is located approx. 600 m deep underground and has dimensions of 16m x 8m x 5m (height), and is made up of drift tubes. The minimum muon energy needed to penetrate that depth is approximately 500 GeV. A set of simulated cosmic ray showers was set up to calculate the rate of muon associated events, using a trigger array with the number of detectors varying from 37 to 127 (the radius of acceptance varying from 50m to 100m). The number used in the calculations is given. The association rate is seen to be a strong function of the multiplicity of muons in the detector. The difference in the rates of association of proton and nuclei induced showers rises rapidly with multiplicity

Origin and peripheral distribution of the thoracic and abdominal median nerves in the fifth instar larva of the silkworm, Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae)

The origin and peripheral distribution of the median nerves of the prothoracic and sixth abdominal ganglia have been traced using methylene blue staining technique. Each median nerve (MN), after originating from the posterior part of the ganglion, bifurcates into two transverse nerves (TN) that extend laterally into the right and left halves of the hemi- segment. The TN of thoracic median nerve bears two motor branches that innervate spiracular muscles and dorsolateral muscles, while the TN of sixth abdominal ganglion bears five motor branches and two sensory branches. Its motor branches innervate three groups of muscles, namely, musculi laterales interni, musculi dorsales interni laterales and musculi dorsales interni mediales, while its sensory branches extend over the body wall in the ventrolateral and dorsolateral areas of the hemi-segment. The median nerves are connected to ganglionic nerves by median nerve connectives that facilitate intersegmental coordination. The functional role of median nerves in respiration, blood circulation and intersegmental coordination is discussed keeping in view their projections and innervations

Lecture Notes (3) Principal Stress, Plane and Angle

Lecture note

The impact of leverage on stock returns in the hospitality sector: evidence from the UK

This paper examines the relation between capital structure and abnormal returns for the UK hospitality sector by using an investment strategy based on hospitality firms’ capital structure. We find that abnormal returns are higher, 0.53 percent per annum, for medium leverage hospitality firms, and it can be increased up to 0.91 percent by investing in medium leverage and low price-to-book value firms. The findings raise an important issue for the hospitality sector as the firms in this sector are continually aiming to raise external finance to fund expansion. This is a unique situation when compared to other sectors in the economy whereby investors earn higher abnormal returns when investing in low levered firms (Muradoglu and Sivaprasad, 2012a)

Corporate Governance Practices and the Pandemic Crisis: UK Evidence

Purpose - This article aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the corporate governance practices in the United Kingdom. We adopt a case study approach and employ content analysis, using internal and external media releases as well as annual reports to analyse the impact of the pandemic on governance practices. Design/methodology/approach - The research design is qualitative in nature and adopts a case study approach. HSBC, an international bank, is used as the case study and a content analysis of internal and external information released after the COVID-19 outbreak is employed. Themes arising from the analysis are discussed and recommendations are made. Findings - Results from the thematic analysis show that firms must be resilient in difficult times, follow sustainable practices and are attentive to the well-being of their employees. Firms must address the adequacy of their IT Infrastructure and assess the IT related risks during these times. Practical implications – The pandemic crisis triggered unprecedented changes in the manner the firms are governed and managed. The recommendations made by the study have practical implications for firms who can adopt them to be make the business resilient and sustainable. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of the pandemic and analyse firms’ responses to the crisis in the corporate governance context. This study contributes to the corporate governance literature by providing insights of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Kondagunta Sivaprasad, Professor of Electrical Engineering travels to India

Professor Kondagunta Sivaprasad traveled to Chennai, India, to investigate the possibility of an undergraduate exchange