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Resources for the Justice and Immigration Clinic

Research Tips | Background Research U.S. Government Entities & Information | NGOs and Private OrganizationsPrimary Materials | Secondary Materials | Practice Materials Other Useful Electronic Resources | Additional Print Resources  

Research Tips

  • Bookmark and Print. When you find a helpful resource, bookmark it and print out a copy for your records. Webpages come and go with surprising frequency sometimes, and you never want to be caught unable to re-locate vital information.
  • Use a Variety of Resources. The type of information you are looking for may determine what type of resource you use to find it. For legislation or case law, you’ll be searching for legal resources, but for factual information about a person or for background information on a country, you might use newspapers, directories or other non-legal sources. Don’t forget that people are resources too.
  • Keep Looking. Research can be a lengthy process, and you aren’t going to find something helpful in every resource. That doesn’t mean the information you’re looking for isn’t available, though. Sometimes the information you want isn’t what’s presented first or even fifth in a resource. Read everything rather than just skimming.
  • Some Information May Not Be Available. Unfortunately, just spending a lot of time looking for something doesn’t mean it’ll automatically be there either.
  • Determine Quality. Not all resources are as good as others. Do some research into your source too: Who wrote it? Why was it written? How timely is it? Does it address the issue objectively?

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Background Research

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U.S. Government Entities & Information

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NGOs and Private Organizations

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Primary Materials

  • Legislation
    • Major U.S. Immigration Acts
      • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, Pub. L. No. 82-414, 66 Stat. 163 (1952)
      • Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359 (1986)
      • The Immigration Marriage Fraud Act Amendments of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-639, 100 Stat. 3537 (1986)
      • The Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-649, 104 Stat. 4978 (1990)
      • Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (1996)
      • Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272 (2001)
      • Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2002)
      • Secure Fence Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-367, 120 Stat. 2368 (2006)
    • Proposed Legislation
    • Legislative History
      • United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USSCAN)(St. Paul, MN: West Pub. Co., 1953). KF48 .U5x
      • Congressional Information Services (CIS) Legislative Histories (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Information Service, 1970). KF49 .C62
      • Thomas
  • Admin Materials

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Secondary Materials

  • On Cases & Legislation
    • Bender’s Immigration and Nationality Act Service (New York, Matthew Bender, 1999). KF4806.54 .M38
    • Bender’s Immigration Case Reporter (New York: Matthew Bender, 1993). Looseleaf. KF4815 .I46 1993
    • Bender’s Immigration Regulations Service (New York: Matthew Bender, 1989). Looseleaf. KF4807
    • Immigration Law and Procedure (Newark, NJ: LexisNexis, 1966). Looseleaf. KF4819 .G6
    • United States Department of Justice, Administrative Decisions Under Immigration and Nationality Laws (Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1947). KF4812.A2 U55
  • Reports
  • Law Journals & Indexes
    • Journals
      • Columbia Human Rights Law Review
      • Georgetown International Law Review
      • Harvard Human Rights Journal
      • Immigration Briefings
      • Immigration and Nationality Law Review
      • Symposium: Immigration: Both Sides of the Fence, 84 Denver University Law Review (2007).
      • Symposium: Immigration and Civil Rights After September 11: The Impact on California, 38 U.C. Davis Law Review 599 (March 2005).
    • Indexes (available through La Verne catalog)
      • Index to Legal Periodicals and Books: 1982 – present
      • LegalTrac: 1980 – present
      • Hein Online: 2000 – present

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Practice Materials

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Other Useful Electronic Resources

  • Georgetown Law Library, Asylum Case Research
  • Georgetown Law Library, U.S. Immigration Law Research
  • GlobaLex, “International Law Research,” “Comparative Law Research, and “Foreign Law Research” research guides
  • LexisNexis:
    • News coverage varies by country on Lexis. To find articles, go to the News & Business tab (next to the Legal view tab), then select Country & Region (excluding U.S.) and search by country.
  • U.C. Hastings, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Immigration Outline
  • Westlaw:Databases: (Find by typing the database name in the “Search These Databases” Shortcut box on the left-hand side of the screen.)
    • AFP-ENG – English translations of articles from the French Press Agency
    • LATNEWS – Covering news specifically from Latin America
    • INTNEWS – Full-text of articles in English; English translation abstracts of articles in other languages.
    • WNC – A U.S. Government news service; English and translated news and information

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Additional Print Resources

  • Robert M. Bastress and Joseph D. Harbaugh, Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating(Boston: Little, Brown, 1990).
  • Gary Bellow and Bea Moulton, The Lawyering Process: Materials for Clinical Instruction in Advocacy (Mineola, New York: Foundation Press, 1978).KF282 .B4
  • David A. Binder and Paul Bergman, Fact Investigation: From Hypothesis to Proof(St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1984).
  • David A. Binder and Susan Price, Legal Interviewing and Counseling: A Client-Centered Approach(St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1977). KF311 .B5
  • Regina Germain, AILA's Asylum Primer: A Practical Guide to U.S. Asylum Law and Procedure(Washington, D.C.: American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2000). KF4836.Z9 G47 2000
  • Elspeth Guild, Immigration Law in the European (The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International, 2001). KJE6044 .G854 2001
  • Nicole W. Green, Immigration(Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002). JV6483 .G74 2002
  • Veronika Kot, The Impact of Cultural Factors on Credibility in the Asylum Context(San Francisco, CA : Produced by Father Moriarty Central American Refugee Project: Published by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 1988). Reserve KF4836 .K63 1988
  • Ira J. Kurzban, Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook(Washington, D.C.: American Immigration Law Foundation, 2006). Reserve KF4819.3 .K87 2006
  • Steven Lubet, Modern Trial Advocacy: Analysis and Practice(South Bend, IN: National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 2004). KF8915 L82 2004
  • Thomas A. Mauet, Trial Techniques(Boston: Little, Brown, 1996). KF8915 .M38 1996
  • Peter Murray, Basic Trial Advocacy (Boston: Little, Brown, 1995).
  • Victor C. Romero, Alienated: Immigrant Rights, the Constitution, and Equality in America(New York: New York University Press, 2005). KF4819 .R66 2005
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Immigration Judge Benchbook (Washington, D.C.: American Immigration Lawyers Association). KF4821 .A35 2001
  • David Weissbrodt and Laura Danielson, Immigration Law and Procedure in a Nutshell (Eagan, MN: Thomson/West, 2005). Reserve KF4819.3 .W4 2005

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Updated September 2008