Letter from the Editor-in-chief

• Publication year: 2021

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia

I am excited to share the spring 2021 issue of the AILA Law Journal. Featured in this volume are five articles focused on a humanitarian option in immigration law. These articles offer original ideas for reforming immigration law in compelling and creative ways. The substantive and writing quality of this volume's articles is truly impressive, under truly extraordinary conditions.

In her piece "From China's One-Child Policy to Central America's Gender-Based Violence Epidemic: An Argument for Expansive Application of the 'Coercive Population Control' Political Opinion Ground," Sylvia D. Miller talks about asylum claims based on political opinion with a detailed analysis for why "coercive population control" should be extended to asylum seekers fleeing intimate partner violence or rape. She uses tools of statutory interpretation to show how the statute's text could extend to any person subjected to a forced abortion or forced sterilization, beyond just Chinese claims.

In their piece "Considering Asylee Integration: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Refugee Act," Benjamin M. Levey and Rachel C. Zoghlin discuss asylee integration and the discrepancies that exist between resettled refugees and asylees as it relates to access to benefits. They examine the reasons for the gap in benefits over the past 40 years, and offer solutions for ensuring that asylees receive the same treatment as refugees.

In "Present Yet Unprotected: USCIS's Misinterpretation of the T Visa's Physical Presence Requirement and Failure to Protect Trafficking Survivors," Corie O'Rourke, Cory Sagduyu, and Katherine Soltis critique the current application of T nonimmigrant status, a remedy for qualifying victims of human trafficking that requires applicants to show they are "physically present" in the United States on account of the trafficking. Specifically, the authors argue that the "physical presence" requirement has been misinterpreted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), leaving genuine victims of trafficking undocumented and vulnerable.

In her piece "Climate Refugees Are Here: Advocacy Options for Immigration Practitioners," Christine E. Popp discusses the options available for protecting climate refugees at the administrative and executive level. Popp discusses the drivers of "climate flight," examines the limits of options like asylum, and...