Saturday, October 31, 2026
They Have to Leave
Recalling my work on habeas corpus cases filed in Minnesota, several cases involved Somali noncitizens with criminal convictions whose legal status was in the process of being revoked. As for asylum seekers, if their applications were denied, they have to go back, regardless of whether they’d accumulated any American criminal convictions along the way. The idea that merely seeking asylum means that you automatically get it, forever, should not be how it works.
This “worst of the worst” framing implies that immigration laws only apply to convicted felons and to no others. If you overstayed a visa, you have to leave. If you crossed the border without authorization, you have to leave. Otherwise, we have no borders.
