Michael Kagan is co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the William S. Boyd School of Law.On Feb. 19, Professor Kagan published an Op-Ed on Salon.com, titled “The conservative case for DACA: The intriguing legal theory you won’t hear on Fox News,” arguing that conservative critiques of public sector unions offer an important argument in favor of President Obama's executive actions on immigration. Following the injunction filed by a Texas federal judge, the government has filed an emergency appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
"No other president has made discretion such a central part of his immigration policy, in such a transparent manner,” argued Professor Kagan. “As a result, it is time to acknowledge that Obama has taken executive action on immigration into uncharted territory. That does not mean his actions are illegal. But it does mean they require new justifications. The best response to Judge Hanen is to acknowledge that, yes, one of the goals of DACA/DAPA is to take power away from front-line ICE agents. In fact, this is one of the virtues of DACA/DAPA."
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Professor Kagan has written several of the most widely cited articles in the fields of refugee and asylum law. His research on credibility assessment in asylum cases has been repeatedly relied on by federal appellate courts and, according to a 2012 commentary, has "guided most subsequent research and analysis on the topic."
