Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Journal
Wisconsin Law Review
Volume
2024
First Page
465
Recommended Citation
Jayesh Rathod & Ann Schaufele,
Immigraft,
2024
Wisconsin Law Review
465
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2240
Comments
Introduction: Pursuing the American dream is a costly endeavor. From the initial journey to the United States, to navigating the complicated immigration system, to labor exploitation, to scams targeting recent arrivals, immigrants pay heavily into the formal and informal sectors. As explored in this Essay, however, their pay-out does not stop there: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also charges and retains funds in unjustified ways, resulting in tens of millions of dollars transferred from the pockets of vulnerable immigrants and their families to the sprawling immigration bureaucracy.
This Essay introduces the term immigraft to capture this phenomenon, defined as the unjust transfer of funds from individuals to the state in the context of efforts to obtain immigration benefits or relief from the state. This Essay highlights four examples of immigraft in the U.S. immigration system, describing how sub-agencies of DHS have illegally and/or unjustly retained funds in the context of biometric services fees, humanitarian parole applications filed by Afghan nationals, immigration bond for noncitizens in removal proceedings, and administrative appeals filed due to obvious agency mistakes. This Essay concludes by exploring theoretical implications of immigraft, including the normalization of extraction of value from noncitizens and its corrosive effect on the relationship among citizens, noncitizens, and the state. By way of a path forward, this Essay also offers practical recommendations to address immigraft through executive action and congressional oversight.