Publications - Michael Kagan
Books
Experiencing Professional Responsibility (with Michael P. Maslanka & Nancy Dao) (West Academic 2023).
RELATE: Refugee Law Teaching Support Initiative Manual (supported by UNHCR 2023).
The Battle to Stay in America: Immigration's Hidden Front line (University of Nevada Press, 2020).
Book Contributions
Refugees & Israel's Shifting Concept of the 'Enemy National,' in Refugees in Israel: Social and Legal Aspects (Tally Kritzman ed., 2015).
Rights, Needs and Responsibility: Challenges to Rights-Based Advocacy for Non-Palestinian Refugees' Health and Education in Lebanon, in Forced Displacement: Why Rights Matter? 159 (Lyla Mehta & Kasia Grabska eds., Palgrave Press 2008) (with Samira Trad).
Politically-Preferred Solutions and Refugee Choices: Applying the Lessons of Iraq to Palestine, in Palestinian Refugee Repatriation: Global Perspectives 250 (Michael Dumper ed., Routledge Press 2006).
Articles
Second-Class Asylum, Third-Country Danger, 79 SMU L. Rev. 105 (2026).
Civil Rights Microviolations, 94 U. Cin. L. Rev. 620 (2026) (with Alissa Cooley Yonesawa).
A Faster Way To Yes: Re-Balancing American Asylum Procedures, 13 Geo. L.J. 1001 (2025).
Mass Surrender in Immigration Court, 14 UC Irvine L. Rev. 163 (2024).
Regulatory Constitutional Law: Protecting Immigrant Free Speech without Relying on the First Amendment, 56 Ga. L. Rev. 1417 (2022).
In Defense of Deportation Defense, 56 UC Davis L. Rev. Online 1 (2022).
Nevada as an Example: State Immigration Reform in a Swing State, 22 Nev. L.J. 955 (2022).
Chevron’s Asylum: Judicial Deference in Refugee Cases, 58 Hous. L. Rev. 1119 (2021).
Chevron's Liberty Exception, 104 Iowa L. Rev. 491 (2019).
The Impact of Maleness on Judicial Decision Making: Masculinity, Chivalry, and Immigration Appeals, 7 Pol., Groups, and Identities 509 (2019) (with Rebecca Gill & Fatma Marouf).
What We Talk About When We Talk About Sanctuary Cities, 52 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 391 (2018).
Toward Universal Deportation Defense: An Optimistic View, 2018 Wisc. L. Rev. 305 (2018).
Loud and Soft Anti-Chevron Decisions, 53 Wake Forest L. Rev. 37 (2018).
Invisible Adjudication in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 106 Geo. L.J. 683 (2018) (with Rebecca Gill & Fatma Marouf).
The Public Defender’s Pin: Untangling Free Speech Regulation in the Courtroom, 112 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1245 (2018).
(Avoiding) The End of Refugee Status Determination, 9 J. Hum. Rts. Pract. 197 (2017).
Is the Chinese Exclusion Case Still Good Law? (The President is Trying to Find Out), 1 Nev. L.J. Forum 80 (2017).
Binding the Enforcers: The Administrative Law Struggle Behind Pres. Obama’s Immigration Actions, 50 U. Rich. L. Rev. 665 (2016).
Limiting Deterrence: Judicial Resistance to Detention of Asylum-Seekers in Israel and the United States, 51 Texas Int'l L. J. 191 (2016).
When Immigrants Speak: The Precarious Status of Non-Citizen Speech Under the First Amendment, 57 B.C. L. Rev. 237 (2016).
Shrinking the Post-Plenary Power Problem, 68 Fla. L. Rev. Forum 59 (2016).
Believable Victims: Asylum Credibility and the Struggle for Objectivity, 16 Geo. J. Int’l Aff. 123 (2015).
Do Immigrants Have Freedom of Speech?, 6 Cal. L. Rev. Circuit 84 (2015).
Immigration Law’s Looming Fourth Amendment Problem, 104 Geo. L. J. 125 (2015).
Immigrant Victims, Immigrant Accusers, 48 Mich. J. L. Reform 915 (2015).
The New Era of Presidential Immigration Policy, 55 Washburn L. J. 117 (2015).
Plenary Power Is Dead! Long Live Plenary Power!, 114 Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions 21 (2015).
Speaker Discrimination: The Next Frontier of Free Speech, 42 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 765 (2015).
A Taxonomy of Discretion: Refining the Legality Debate About Obama’s Executive Actions on Immigration, 92 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1083 (2015).
"Unelected Faculty:" Schuette v. Coalition and the Limits of Academic Freedom, 5 Cal. L. Rev. Circuit 286 (2014).
Must Israel Accept Syrian Refugees?, 50 Tex. Int'l L.J. F. 1 (2014).
Buying Time? False Assumptions About Abusive Appeals, 63 Cath. U. L. Rev. 679 (2014) (with Fatma Marouf & Rebecca Gill).
Justice on the Fly: The Danger of Errant Deportations, 75 Ohio St. L.J. 337 (2014) (with Fatma Marouf & Rebecca Gill).
Dubious Deference: Reassessing Appellate Standards of Review in Immigration Appeals, 5 Drexel L. Rev. 101 (2012).
The UN "Surrogate State" and the Foundation of Refugee Policy in the Middle East, 18 U.C. Davis J. of Int’l L. & Pol’y 307 (2012).
Refugee Credibility Assessment and the “Religious Imposter” Problem, 43 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 1179 (2010).
Is There Really a Protection Gap? UNRWA’s Role vis-á-vis Palestinian Refugees, 28 Refugee Surv. Q. 511 (2009).
The (Relative) Decline of Palestinian Exceptionalism and its Consequences for Refugee Studies in the Middle East, 22 J. Refugee Stud. 417 (2009).
Restitution as a Remedy for Refugee Property Claims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 19 Fla. J. Int’l L. 421 (2007).
Destructive Ambiguity: Enemy Nationals and the Legal Enabling of Ethnic Conflict in the Middle East, 38 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 263 (2007).
Legal Refugee Recognition in the Urban South: Formal v. de Facto Refugee Status, 24 Refuge, no. 1, 2007 at 11.
Frontier Justice: Legal Aid and UNHCR Refugee Status Determination in Egypt, 19 J. Refugee Stud. 45 (2006).
The Beleaguered Gatekeeper: Protection Challenges Posed by UNHCR Refugee Status Determination, 18 Int’l J. Refugee L. 1 (2006).
Is Truth in the Eye of the Beholder? Objective Credibility Assessment in Refugee Status Determination, 17 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 367 (2003).
Persecution in the Fog of War: The House of Lords’ Decision in Adan, 23 Mich. J. Int’l L. 247 (2002) (with William P. Johnson).
Other Writing
Commentary, U.S. v. Texas and the Many Shades of Prosecutorial Discretion, Yale J. Regul.: Notice & Comment (July 10, 2023).
Opinion, Jeff Sessions Doesn't Care About Children Seeking Asylum, Wash. Post, Oct. 20, 2017.
Opinion, The Truth About Sanctuary Cities, The Nevada Indep., June 14, 2017.
Opinion, What Do We Mean When We Talk About Sanctuary Cities?, The Nevada Indep., May 14, 2017.
Commentary, Teaching Immigration Law in the Age of Trump, Chron. Higher Educ., Jan. 8, 2017.
The Conservative Case for DACA: The Intriguing Legal Theory You Won’t Hear on Fox News, Salon, Feb. 19, 2015.
Decade of Exile: Syria and the Middle East’s Refugee Crisis, World Pol. Rev., June 23, 2015.
On One Hand, Obama Applauds Immigrant Activists – As a Texas Case Argues that Unauthorized Immigrants Have No First Amendment Rights, Salon, May 4, 2015.
Opinions, A Stay on Deportations, Wash. Post, Aug. 2, 2015 (with Fatma Marouf & Rebecca Gill).
Guest Blog: When UNHCR Does the State's Job: Coping with the Reality of Mandate Status Determination, UN High Commissioner for Refugees: Global Views (Dec. 11, 2014).
Guest Blog: UNHCR Faces an RSD Crisis, Reflaw.org (University of Michigan Law School) (Nov. 10, 2014).
Guest Blog: Commentary on Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio, Hamilton and Griffin on Rights (June 11, 2014).
Safe Harbor: Shoring Up the Norm of Nonrefoulement, World Pol. Rev. (3 December 2013).
Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures – A Multidisciplinary Training Manual, Hungarian Helsinki Committee (2013).
Comment, Response on LGBT Asylum and Refugee Law, NYU Law Review Opinio Juris (online) (March 29, 2012).
When Peace Seems Impossible: A Response to Hussein Ibish, The Daily Beast (21 May 2012).
We Live in a Country of UNHCR: The UN Surrogate State and Refugee Policy in the Middle East (The UN Refugee Agency: Policy Development & Evaluation Serv., Research Paper No. 201, 2011).
Shared Responsibility in a New Egypt: A Strategy for Refugee Protection, (Sept. 2011) (The American Univ. in Cairo: School of Global Affairs and Public Policy).
Nowhere to Run: Gay Palestinian Asylum-Seekers in Israel (Tel Aviv Univ. Pub. Interest Law Program 2008) (with Anat Ben-Dor).
Refugees and Obama’s American Values, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 8, 2008.
UN Reform for the Rest of Us: An Agenda for Grassroots Accountability, Foreign Pol’y Focus, Apr. 13, 2006.
Setting Standards of Ethics, Competence and Accountability for Legal Aid in the Context of UNHCR RSD (Asylum Access, Working Paper, 2006).
Do Israeli Rights Conflict with the Palestinian Right of Return? Identifying the Possible Legal Arguments (BADIL Res. Ctr. for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights, Working Paper No. 10, 2005).
Falling Through the Cracks: Legal and Practical Gaps in Palestinian Refugee Status – A Case Study of Unrecognized Refugees in Lebanon, (Legal Consultant on report by Frontiers Ass’n 2005).
Israel Tries to Tighten Immigration by Following Europe, Al Majdal, Autumn 2005, at 37.
UN Decision-Making on Refugee Status: Implications for American Asylum Policy, Immigr. Naturalization Committee Newsl., Summer 2005, at 5 (with Emily Arnold-Fernandez).
The Missing Third Leg of UN Accountability, Foreign Pol’y Focus, June 23, 2005.
At the UN, Palestinian Democracy Tests American and Israeli Limits, Electronic Intifada, May 25, 2005.
Book Review, 18 J. Refugee Stud. 241 (2005) (reviewing Guglielmo Verdirame & Barbara Harrell-Bond (with Zachary Lomo & Hannah Garry), Rights in Exile: Janus-Faced Humanitarianism (2005)).
Stop Subsidizing Occupation, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 24, 2005.
Protecting the Rights of Refugees in Africa: Beginning with the UN Gatekeeper, Pambazuka News, Nov. 11, 2004, at 182 (with Barbara Harrell-Bond).
Building Lives on the Edge of War: Sudanese Refugees in Northern Uganda Struggle in Limbo, Next Am. City, July 2004, at 28.
Promises Without Solutions: Iraqi Refugees Left in the Lurch in Lebanon, 18 Forced Migration Rev. 42 (2003) (with Bashir Osmat & Samira Trad).
Assessment of Refugee Status Determination Procedure at UNHCR’s Cairo Office 2001-2002 (Am. Univ. in Cairo: Forced Migration & Refugee Studies, Working Paper No. 1, 2002).
Encyclopedia Entries
Darfur, in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (MacMillan Reference 2d ed. 2008).
Michael Kagan on the Scholarly Commons