Immigration Law - Research Guide
by Suzanne Morrison, Branch Librarian, Fargo
Introduction | Statutes | Cases | Regs, Rules, Form | Agencies
Treatises | Law Reviews | Blogs & News | Related Resources
Federal immigration law is the gatekeeper for our country. It determines whether a person is an alien and also provides the means by which legal aliens can become a naturalized citizen with full rights of citizenship.
Congress has complete and full authority over immigration. The power of the President is limited to policies on refugees, while States have limited legislative authority regarding immigration. Unless the issue concerns the rights of aliens to constitutional protections, the courts have rarely intruded.
8 U.S. C. Chapters 12 - 14
Direct links to Code section: House of Reps, LII, GPO, Findlaw,
Westlaw: FIM-USCA, Lexis: GENFED;USCS.
18 U.S.C. Chapter 69
Direct links to Code section: House of Reps, LII, GPO, Findlaw,
Westlaw: FIM-USCA, Lexis: GENFED;USCS.
Immigration and Nationality Act
United States Code; KF61 .A2; Located in all 8th Circuit libraries.
United States Code Annotated (USCA); KF 62.5 .W45; Located in all 8th Circuit libraries .
United States Code Service (USCS); KF62 .L38; Located in all 8th Circuit libraries except Des Moines.
State Law:
Immigration Law is primarily a federal issue, but the links below are to the code for each state. Check with your local librarian for print versions of your state code.
Arkansas: Westlaw: AR-ST-ANN, Lexis: ARK;CODE
Iowa: Westlaw: IA-ST-ANN, Lexis: IA;CODE
Minnesota: Westlaw: MN-ST-ANN, Lexis: MINN;CODE
Missouri: Westlaw: MO-ST-ANN, Lexis: MO;CODE
Nebraska: Westlaw: NE-ST-ANN, Lexis: NE;CODE
North Dakota: Westlaw: ND-ST-ANN, Lexis: ND;CODE
South Dakota: Westlaw: SD-ST-ANN, Lexis: SD;CODE
Westlaw’s Federal Cases: FIM-CS, Lexis’ Federal Cases: IMMIG;CASES
Interim Decisions by United States Board of Immigration Appeals: Supt. of Documents, KF 4812 .A232. Located in Kansas City and St. Louis.
Interim Decisions: Current Service by United States Board of Immigration Appeals, KF 4812 .A2 U54. Located in St. Paul.
8 CFR - Aliens and Nationality
Direct links to CFR part/section: GPOAccess, GPO’s eCFR, LII,
Westlaw: FIM-CFR, Lexis: GENFED;CFR.
Code of Federal Regulations; KR 70 .A3; Located in all libraries. Available online : GPOAccess, GPO’s eCFR, LII, Westlaw: FIM-CFR, Lexis: GENFED;CFR .
Immigration Statutes and Regulations: From the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges.
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
Department of Homeland Security
Department of State: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Executive Office for Immigration Review
Office of Refugee Resettlement
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
The United States Information Agency
Bender’s Immigration Regulations Service, by United States Immigration and Naturalization Service; KF 4819 .B46. Located in St. Louis, Des Moines, Fargo, Kansas City, Omaha and St. Paul. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;BIREGS.
Bender’s Immigration and Nationality Act Service, by United States Immigration and Naturalization Service; KF 4806.54 .M38 Located in St. Louis, Des Moines, Fargo, Kansas City and St. Paul. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;BINANS.
Bender’s Immigration Bulletin by Matthew Bender; KF 4819 .G6. Located in St. Louis, Des Moines, Fargo, Kansas City and St. Paul. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;IMMBUL.
Handling immigration cases by Bill Ong Hing; KF 4819 .H5. Available in Kansas City.
Immigration and nationality law handbook by American Immigration Lawyers Association; KF 4819 .A2 I45. Located in Des Moines, Minneapolis and Omaha.
Immigration fundamentals: a guide to law and practice by AustinT. Fragomen; KF 4819 .F6 4th. Available in Fargo, Kansas City and St. Louis. Available on Westlaw at IM-HNDBK and Lexis at IMMIG;IMMFUN.
Immigration law and business by Austin T. Fragomen; KF 4819 .F7. Located in Des Moines and Fargo. Available on Westlaw at IM-HNDBK.
Immigration law and crimes by Dan Kesselbrenner; KF 4819 .I472. Located in Des Moines, Fargo, Minneapolis and St. Louis.
Immigration Law and defense by the Immigration Project of the National Lawyer Guild; KF 8925 .E4 I46. Located in Lincoln, Omaha and St. Louis.
Immigration law and procedure by Charles Gordon; KF 4819 .G61. Located in Des Moines, Fargo, Kansas City, St. Louis and St. Paul.
Immigration law and the family by Sarah B. Ignatius; KF 4819 .I36. Located in Des Moines. Available on Westlaw at IMLF.
Immigration law service by Anna Marie Gallagher; KF 4815 .I47. Located in St. Louis. Available on Westlaw at IMMLS2D.
Immigration Procedures Handbook by Austin T. Fragomen, Jr.; KF 4819 .I486. Located in Des Moines, Fargo, Minneapolis, Omaha, St. Louis and St. Paul. Available on Westlaw at IMPH.
Kurzban’s immigration law sourcebook: a comprehensive outline and reference tool by Ira J. Kurzban; KF 4819.3 .K87 2004. Available in St. Louis.
Steel on Immigration law by Richard D. Steel; KF 4819 .S73. Located in Des Moines, Fargo, Kansas City, Little Rock, Omaha, and St. Louis. Available on Westlaw at STEEL.
asian law journal. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;ASIAN. Available on Westlaw at
Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;COLHRT. Available on Hein.
Georgetown immigration law journal. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;GILLAWJ. Available on Westlaw at GEOILJ.
Harvard Human Rights Journal. Available on Lexis at IMMIG;HRVHR.
Human rights Quarterly . Available on Hein.
Immigration and nationality law review. Available on Hein.
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies.
Available on Lexis at lawrev; injgls; Available on Hein.
International journal of refugee law. Available on Lexis at ukjnl;ukrefu
Available on Hein.
International migration review
Journal of islamic law and culture, Available on Lexis at IMMIG;JILC. Available on Hein.
Journal of refugee studies. Available on Hein.
University of cincinnati immigration and nationality law review
Baker Donelson: Recent alerts on immigration.
Blawgrepublic: An immigration blawg that is updated hourly.
Immigration briefings. Available on Westlaw at IMMIGBRIEF. Contains full-text articles from Immigration Briefings, a companion newsletter that provides analysis of important immigration law topics.
Migrations: An immigration blawg.
Siskind’s Immigration bulletin: Published by Greg Siskind, partner at the Immigration Law Offices of Siskind Attorneys at Law. Comprehensive subject matter plus monthly newsletter available.
american immigration lawyers association: Good source for news about current federal legislation.
American immigration resources on the internet: An assortment of U.S. immigration laws, procedures, regulations and attorney information.
Amnesty International: Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
Executive Office for Immigration Review: Under the authority of the Attorney General of the United States, EOIR administers and interprets Federal immigration laws and regulations.
Immigration ASAP: Resource site for those seeking asylum.
State Department - Bureau of Consular Affairs: The State Department’s site for American citizens traveling abroad or foreign citizens traveling to the U.S. Passport and visa information plus international travel warnings are available.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Responsible for enforcing laws regulating admission of foreign-born persons to the United States. Good starting point for the immigration researcher, providing downloadable forms, decisions, reports, regulations, statistics and manuals.
United States Immigration Support: Forms for U.S. Citizenship, green cards, U.S. visas, U.S. passports and other resources.
Immigration information: Discusses the basics of immigration along with providing news, FAQ’s, and an immigration discussion forum.
Immigrationlinks.com: Includes immigration news, legal research, newsletter, discussion board and chat room.
National immigration forum: Latest editorials and news on immigration reform.
National immigration law center: Established to protect and promote the rights of low income immigrants and families.