The Forgotten Deported: A Declaration on the Rights of Expelled and Deported Persons

56 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2019

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

This article considers a “Declaration on the Rights of Expelled and Deported Persons.” Drafted by the authors with significant input from a wide array of scholars, activists, judges, and others, this Declaration, re-printed in Appendix A, responds to what has become in recent years a major worldwide phenomenon: The deportation (also known as removal or expulsion) of large numbers of noncitizens. Our aim, first, is to describe that phenomenon and to illustrate some of its most troubling features. We then survey existing legal structures and mechanisms that seek to protect some of the rights of the deported, both during and after removal. Our focus is primarily in the United States and Europe, though we also consider aspects of international human rights law and certain protections in the Inter-American system. Though important steps have been made in such protective regimes, especially in the European Union, we conclude that major gaps remain and that a conceptualization of the deported as a definable legal class with specific, cognizable rights is neither impossible nor oxymoronic. It is thinkable, necessary, and may be the best way to respond to an array of problems that have too often escaped the attention they deserve.

Suggested Citation

Kanstroom, Daniel and Chicco, Jessica, The Forgotten Deported: A Declaration on the Rights of Expelled and Deported Persons (2015). New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (JILP), Vol. 47, No. 3, 2015, Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3476929

Daniel Kanstroom (Contact Author)

Boston College - Law School ( email )

885 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02459-1163
United States

Jessica Chicco

Boston College

140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
United States

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