Essay by Professor Romero on migration, marijuana, and the law is selected for republication

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Immigration and Nationality Law Review has selected an article by Penn State Law professor Victor Romero for republication in its yearly anthology of seminal law review articles on immigration, nationality, and citizenship.

The essay is entitled “A Meditation on Moncrieffe: on Marijuana, Misdemeanants, and Migration” and was originally published in the Gonzaga Law Review in 2014. 

Romero wrote in his abstract that “the essay is a brief meditation on the immigration schizophrenia in our law and legal culture through the lens of the Supreme Court’s latest statement on immigration and crime, Moncrieffe v. Holder.”

He goes on to write: “While hailed as a ‘common sense’ decision, Moncrieffe is a rather narrow ruling that does little to change the law regarding aggravated felonies or the ways in which class and citizenship play into the enforcement of minor drug crimes and their deportation consequences. Despite broad agreement on the Court, the Moncrieffe opinion still leaves the discretion to deport minor state drug offenders in the hands of the federal immigration bureaucracy. However, if the current debate among the states regarding the legitimate uses of marijuana helps lead immigration authorities to refocus their efforts on deporting serious criminals only, then immigrant advocates may come to view Moncrieffe in a much more favorable light.”

This is the seventh of Romero’s law review articles to be selected for republication. The most recent piece selected before “Meditation on Moncrieffe” was entitled “Our Illegal Founders,” published in the Harvard Latino Law Review in 2013 and reprinted in Volume 34 of the Immigration and Nationality Law Review.

Romero’s scholarship emphasizes the law's impact on marginalized groups, focusing on the intersection of immigration policy and individual rights. An elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI), Professor Romero has published numerous books, chapters, articles, and essays, including Alienated: Immigrant Rights, the Constitution, and Equality in America.