Blackwell Reference Online

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If the physicality, the brute force of law is ever clearly implicated outside of criminal law, it is in immigration. People die in the desert crossing from Mexico, among other places, to the United States. They die because the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service has increased enforcement efforts along the geographically more hospitable parts of the border ( Thompson, 2001 ). They also suffocate in shipping containers, trying to get past immigration officials ( Lavery, 2001 ). People sometimes die or disappear when they have been denied refugee status in a European state and are returned to their home state ( Harlow, 1994 , War, 1994). Some people languish in prison while they have an ambiguous legal status: immigrants convicted of crimes are often subject to deportation after having served their sentence. Law facilitates choices about movement as well as restricts them. Families form across national boundaries through pregnancy, adoption, and marriage, sometimes in order to comply with immigration laws. Children and spouses of those legally settled are often entitled to settle, though sometimes after intrusive evaluations of family relationships ( Ihenacho, 1991 ). Law is integral to immigration; without law applicable within and across national state boundaries, what we call immigration would only be the movement of people, with no legal consequences ( Coutin, ... log in or subscribe to read full text