Immigration Law

A guide to help researchers begin finding primary law and secondary sources on Immigration law

Generally

There are a few resources that provide access to primary law. These are valuable as they compile these resources for you.

AILA Link Database
AILALink is an immigration law database by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. It contains Primary Law and Secondary Sources including Statutes, Regulations, Court and Administrative decisions, agency memos, and other publications.
This link takes you to the library record from the database, from there you can access AILALink.
Local and Remote for NSU College of Law only.
Virtual Law Library
Executive Office for Immigration Review
This Virtual library provides many resources to aid in research. But the Country Pages are invaluable resources that allow you to research conditions specific to different nations.

Finding Statutes and Regulations

Constitutional Provisions

The Naturalization Clause below specifically deals with issues of immigration law, but it is not the only constitutional provision.

Naturalization Clause
Art. 1 Sec. 8 Cl. 4 of the US Constitution allows for Congress to "establish a Uniform Rule of Naturalization"

Federal Statutes

The Federal Immigration Law statutory scheme is quite vast and robust, and it spans many titles. Title 8 is the most relevant, but others touch on tangential issues.

Title 8- Aliens and Nationality
Title 8 of the US Code is the main statutory scheme dealing with immigration issues.
Title 6- Domestic Security
Title 6 of the US Code broadly includes Homeland Security and Border Infrastructure.
Title 22- Foreign Relations
Title 22 includes 100 chapters on various aspects of foreign and international law.

Federal Regulations

The regulations below are used to implement the federal statutes at the agency level.

Title 8- Aliens and Nationality
CFR Title 8 includes the regulations of the Department of Homeland Security and the Office for Immigration Review.

Finding Cases

Generally

Case Law is different when researching immigration law, as most cases begin at the administrative level. The judicial branch can only hear cases after administrative relief has been exhausted. For cases that make it to the Court of Appeals, typically they have been issued a final order by the Board of Immigration Appeals. These cases can be found using the sources below or on AILA Link.

Immigration Law Cases
Database of all Westlaw cases on immigration law.
Access via Westlaw
Local and Remote for NSU College of Law only.
Immigration Law Cases
Database of all Lexis cases on immigration law.
Access via Lexis
Local and Remote for NSU College of Law only.

Key Numbers

West Key Number 24- Aliens, Immigration and Citizenship
This key number has dozens of subtopics from asylum to citizenship and naturalization.
Access via Westlaw
Local and Remote for NSU College of Law only.
Lexis Topic- Immigration
Subtopics include a range of topics from adjustment of status to types of US Citizenship.
Access via Lexis
Local and Remote for NSU College of Law only.