Immigration Articles of the Day: Two Articles by Sarah L. Hamilton-Jian on Race in Immigration Law
Children of a Lesser God: Reconceptualizing Race in Immigration Law by Sarah L. Hamilton-Jiang
Abstract
The increased public exposure to the experiences of Latinx unaccompanied children seeking entry at the United States southern border has revealed the lived reality of the nation’s pernicious immigration laws. The harrowing experiences of unaccompanied children are amplified by their interaction with a legal system plagued by a legacy of systemic racism and sustained racial caste. While immigration law currently affords minimal legal protections for these children, in application, the law continues to fall egregiously short of providing for the safety of unaccompanied children. Though critics have long attested to the legal system’s neglect of unaccompanied children, subsequent legal analysis has overlooked the intersectional role of race as it pertains to their attempts to navigate entry. This Article uses the concept of racialization to explore the legal treatment of Latinx unaccompanied children as they navigate entry to the United States. This Article demonstrates that the legal framework creates structural inequality for Latinx unaccompanied children through a concept known as “adultification.” Further, racist social and political narratives are incorporated into the law which contribute to the racialization of Latinx unaccompanied children and challenges the very vulnerability that lies at the foundation of the legal protections available for children. The Article concludes with a proposed intersectional vulnerability framework that reconceptualizes race and strengthens the rights and protections of unaccompanied children.
Racially Marginalized Migrant Women: Human Rights Abuses at the Intersection of Race, Gender and Migration by Sarah L. Hamilton-Jiang
Abstract
Racially marginalized migrant women experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination rooted in systemic racism, sexism and other systems of inequality. Discrimination occurs at all stages of migration and may include racial abuse, sexual and gender-based violence, stigmatization, limited access to health and social services, inequitable labour conditions, criminalization and detention. Exclusionary migration pathways based on race and gender, limited disaggregated data, discriminatory state laws and inadequate international protections are some of the contributing factors that erase and obscure the experiences of racially marginalized migrant women. States, international actors and civil society organizations must seek to expand their understanding of the intersection of race and gender in migration governance and implement urgent reforms to improve access to services and human rights protections for women who are marginalized based upon their race, gender and migration status.
