SMU Law Review Symposium: Immigration and the Constitution: Evolving Doctrines and Emerging Conflicts

Kevin R. Johnson

24 May 2026 — 1 min read

On October 24, 2025, the SMU Law Review hosted a symposium titled “Immigration and the Constitution: Evolving Doctrines and Emerging Conflicts.” Although the Constitution is mostly silent on immigration, the subject has become a fashpoint for some of today’s most pressing constitutional debates. Few areas of law so vividly expose the tension between national sovereignty, individual rights, and administrative discretion. Our goal in hosting this symposium was simple but ambitious: to bring people together to think carefully and compassionately about how constitutional principles are evolving alongside the realities of our immigration system today.

Here is the issue: Current Issue: Volume 79, Issue 1 (2026)

Preface

Preface Abigail Parnell 3

Articles

The Trump Administration’s Racial Dragnet: Immigration Enforcement in Los Angeles Kevin R. Johnson 7

Re-Rethinking Asian Exclusion and Color-Blind Immigration Gabriel J. Chin 35

Incapacitating the Immigration Courts Jennifer Lee Koh 51

The New Assault on Plyler v. Doe Cori Alonso-Yoder and Gabriel Sanchez 79

Second-Class Asylum, Third-Country Danger Michael Kagan 105

What Constitution? The Dual State Theory in Immigration Law & Practice Elizabeth Keyes 129

Managing Deportation: How Docket Control Replaced Substantive Relief in Immigration Courts R. Linus Chan 161

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