Alison Peck - The Accidental History of the U.S. Immigration Courts: War, Fear, and the Roots of Dysfunction

This book began with a question: After years of teaching courses in immigration law and administrative law and thinking out loud with my students about the structure and functions of the executive branch, I could not explain why the immigration courts would be located in the Department of Justice, a law enforcement agency. What began as a casual search for a satisfactory answer became a journey I had never anticipated taking. That journey took me not only to Hyde Park, Washington, Dallas, Amherst, and elsewhere, but also to another dimension, a place where past and present are contiguous, communicating, and fluid. It is a journey I hope never to complete.

Along the way, I have been assisted by many outstanding professionals, without whose work this book would not have happened. After a casual conversation about presidential history after class one morning, Jess Reed, WVU Law Class of 2021, jumped into the project mid-stream with only a year of legal training and proved to be one of the quickest, most thorough, and most astute research assistants I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Jeremy Cook, WVU Law Class of 2020, provided research support in the early stages, gamely joining me in combing through mountains of material at the National Archives. Mark Podvia, WVU Laws talented faculty services librarian, once again demonstrated his seemingly magic powers at locating every obscure source I asked for and pointing to others I had not considered. Nick Stump not only read and gave feedback on the manuscript but also ably spearheaded library acquisitions for a final proof in the middle of the extraordinarily destabilizing COVID-19 crisis.

Archivists and other staff at numerous presidential libraries and rare books collections guided my search and carefully policed my books, pencils, hands, and jackets in the diligent protection of our shared national treasures.