ABSTRACT
The increase in immigration, combined with statutory changes, presented new administrative and judicial challenges. This chapter argues that a number of developments during the 1980s, including illegal migration, the United States' new role in the world, and fundamental changes in American constitutional and administrative law, gradually shifted immigration law away from its exclusionary history and toward a more pro-alien focus. Bearing in mind the possibility of selection effects, the chapter analyzes a large number of immigration cases, and provides statistical evidence about the kinds of claims that were brought to court during the 1980s and how those claims were decided, in order to test the "alien protection jurisprudence" hypothesis. Nevertheless, the Justice Department has recently sought to address its administrative difficulties by establishing a new system for reviewing asylum claims at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) level. The chapter indicates that aliens often prevail over the INS in asylum litigation and impact litigation.
