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"A full-throated defense of people...who have journeyed to the United States, no matter the risks, because the alternative was unthinkable." - Cristian Farias
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“Timely insights into the vexing problem of citizenship in America.” – Kirkus Reviews
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“For those seeking to understand the traps and hidden history of immigration law.” – Library Journal
In books, newspapers, and blogs, César writes with a scholar’s insight and a storyteller’s clarity. Grounded in his experiences growing up in the borderlands of South Texas and northern México, César’s books and articles tackle the thorniest aspects of immigration law and policy. He’s published two books and has another on the way in 2024. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Guardian, and many more of the world’s most important newspapers and magazines. For more than a dozen years he published crimmigration.com, a blog about the convergence of criminal and immigration law.
This Immigration Bill Was Never Going to Fix the Border, New York Times (February 7, 2024)
How Big Data and the Surveillance State Collude to Undermine Immigrant Rights, LitHub (February 1, 2024)
All American Families Have Stories of Illegal Immigration, Time (January 30, 2024)
The Best Books About Immigration That Turn Government Policies into Human Stories, Shepherd (December 2023)
Biden is Wrong: Congress Did Not Require More Border Wall Construction, The Hill (October 19, 2023)
Migrant Detention, Corporate Profit, Human Rights Magazine (April 12, 2023)
SCOTUS Abortion Decision Also Threatens Migrants’ Right to Travel, Prism (July 27, 2022)
“Remain in Mexico” Ruling May Affect Immigration Battles, Law360 (July 6, 2022)
Justices’ Deference to Immigration Court is Concerning, Law360 (May 20, 2022)
Indefinite Migrant Detention Without Review is Kafkaesque, Law360 (February 3, 2022)
How 9/11 Changed Immigration, Washington Post (September 2, 2021)
Immigration Imprisonment is a Choice, The Inquest (July 28, 2021)
It’s Still Time to Abolish ICE, The Nation (February 26, 2021)
Biden’s Migration Policy Options, Border Criminologies (January 11, 2021)
Funding Immigrant Defense Promotes Justice, Denver Post (September 25, 2020)
Defunding the Police Would Limit Their Cooperation with ICE, Prism (August 24, 2020)
Close Immigration Prisons, New York Times (March 19, 2020)
The Political History of Locking Up Immigrants in the United States, Los Angeles Times (January 5, 2020)
Ellis Island Welcomed Thousands to America – But It Was Also a Detention Center, Time Magazine (January 1, 2020)
Abolish Immigration Prisons, New York Times (December 3, 2019)
The Immigration Crisis Archive, Public Books (October 25, 2019)
The Case for Nuance in Immigrant Stories, NACLA Reader (September 13, 2019)
Don’t Tie Immigration Law Reform to El Paso, Salon (August 20, 2019)
Locked Up Migrants and Fast-Track Deportations, The Guardian (July 30, 2019)
This Man Could Go to Jail for 20 Years for Giving Migrants Food and Water, The Guardian (May 10, 2019)
In Trump’s America, “Law and Order” Only Applies to Certain People, HuffPost (September 21, 2018)
Family Separation Was a Choice, HuffPost (July 27, 2018)
Resisting Family Separation and Family Detention in South Texas, Texas Tribune TribTalk (July 3, 2018) (with Carlos M. García)
Cruel and Immoral: America Must Close the Doors of its Immigration Prisons, The Guardian (June 17, 2018)
Abolish the ICE Prison Complex, The New Inquiry (May 16, 2018)
Keep ICE Arrests Out of Courts, New York Times (November 27, 2017)
Does it Make Sense to Target “Criminal” Undocumented Immigrants, Newsweek (August 9, 2017)
A Fighting Chance—How Immigrant Defense Funds Reduce Detentions and Deportations, Feet in 2 Worlds (July 27, 2017)
Time for Denver to Haul ICE into Court, Denver Post (June 19, 2017)
If Greg Gianforte Were an Immigrant, He’d be Deported. Not Heading to Congress, The Guardian (June 13, 2017)
Colorado Sanctuary City Bill Relies on Fallacies, Denver Post (April 21, 2017) (with Christopher N. Lasch)
Funding Lawyers for Immigrants is a Path Forward in the Age of Trump, Huffington Post (April 12, 2017)
¿Cerrará ICE las puertas de la corte? (Will ICE Close the Courthouse Doors?), La Opinión (April 5, 2017)
Beyond Rhetoric: “Sanctuary” in Practice, NACLA Reader (February 17, 2017)
Bipartisan Immigration Imprisonment, NACLA Reader (October 26, 2016)
Time to Rethink Immigration Detention, NACLA Reader (March 27, 2013)
On Immigration, Courts Sully Motto: Justice, Independence, Honor, Providence Journal (July 18, 2008)
No Human Being Is Illegal: Moving Beyond Deportation Law, Monthly Review (June 2008)
Immigration Reform Now, Piece by Piece, Z Magazine (April 3, 2008)