Objecting to the Rule of Law: Seeking Justice for Immigrants in the Case of Enforcement

• In Event: Complex Rights: Latinas/os, Citizenship, and Law

Abstract

Last year, ICE unveiled two pilot programs aimed at bringing illegal immigrants to justice. In both programs, agents relied primarily on objective legal discourses to distance themselves from questions of personal responsibility and preclude immigrants from asserting themselves as legitimate national subjects. Rhetorically, these programs exhibit an overreliance on the Rule of Law, becoming a problem for questions of immigrant justice because it effectively disables judicial judgment and social critique of the law’s abuse(s).

Author

• Danielle Fernandez, Indiana University