This volume consists of twelve immigration law essays that Leonard Birdsong, J.D. has written between 2008 and 2014. The first essay advises why President Obama must proceed with his promise to provide immigration relief to many of the five million undocumented non-citizens in our country by deferring deportations by executive order.
Following essays describe the progress the President’s 2012 initiative to defer deportation of up to 800 thousand non-citizens brought to the U.S. by their parents before their sixteenth birthday and allowing them work permits for up to two years; there are then a number of essays explaining the concept of asylum for non-citizens fleeing persecution in their home countries; essays exploring what is meant by certain asylum terms and an essay that provides recent statistic on asylum.
His final essays provide his observations on the working of our U.S immigration courts and how their functioning may be improved. These essays comprise his own beliefs and observations concerning immigration law based on his work as a former U.S. State Department Foreign Service officer, his career as a former immigration law practitioner and his current work as a law school professor who writes and teaches in the area of immigration and refugee law.
