In Defense of the Criminal Alien
In this (one-off?) special reunion episode, the hosts and attorneys Stephen Robbins (@yakimaabogado.bsky.social) and Matthew Archambeaut discuss the term 'criminal alien.'
Jul 20, 2025•44 min
REDIRECT: Immigration Law and Perspectives
REDIRECT is a weekly dive into the world of immigration law and its human consequences. Refugees and border walls, rhetoric and politics. We break it down and get to the truth.
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Episodes
Farewell
Matthew and I have decided to hang up the headphones and wanted to shove off with one final show. Thanks to all the listeners and patrons who supported us along the way. We truly appreciate it. I wish I had more time to dedicate to this space, but unfortunately we're both so busy and frankly feeling pretty burned out with work and life stuff. There are lots of good immigration podcasts out there, so give them a listen.
Jul 15, 2023•31 min
Pleadings
This week on Redirect Matthew and I are joined by Professor Michael Kagan (@MichaelGKagan) from UNLV about pleadings in immigration court. It has become accepted as part of immigration law "culture" that allegations are admitted to at the beginning of removal proceedings in order to move things along and maintain cordial relations with immigration judges and ICE prosecutors, but is this always best practice? Should practitioners approach these matters more carefully? (Spoiler alert, yes) Help ke...
Mar 20, 2023•45 min
State of the Union
This week Matthew and I discuss the recent State of the Union address. Republicans scare monger about fetanyl and house prices. Blaming your troubles on immigrants is as American as apple pie, but the rhetoric does seem to be ramping up. Is it worse than in years past, or are we suffering from recency bias? Support the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/redirect Leave us a review on itunes Or check out the merch at redirect.threadless.com
Feb 13, 2023•36 min
Immigration and Labor Rights
This week Matthew and I talk about a a recent announcement by the Biden administration that they will provide certain relief to immigrants who are exploited in the work place. The announcement can be found here . We share stories from our clients about their deplorable working conditions, and discuss the current state of T and U visas, which can be certified by the Department of Labor. Also, what song will be playing when we die and go to hell. Support the show by becoming a patron at patreon.co...
Jan 30, 2023•44 min
Resolutions
This week Matthew and I showed up and recorded something. We broke up the band and got back together in the same episode. We talked about the current state of immigration lawyering. It turns out we’re both feeling a bit burned out and exhausted. However, we’ve decided to dust off our gym shoes and get back to it with some new years resolutions. This includes regularly scheduled shows, you know, actual content. It’s a revolutionary idea. We’re also joined by friend of the show Austin Kocher to ta...
Jan 17, 2023•53 min
The DREAM Act
After the midterms democrats in the senate have vowed to take up the DREAM Act. It doesn't seem like they have the votes, which is depressing. Opposition to the DREAM Act is often wrapped up in "concerns" about "floodgates," or "border security," but these are simply ways to offuscate and avoid a serious conversation about how to help people and fix our immigration system. Give this episode a listen.
Nov 22, 2022•34 min
Carrot and Stick
Democrats don't carrot all and the republicans want to stick them in camps. This week Matthew and I talk about HSI and marriage fraud, "United for Venezuela" and the expansion of Title 42. A series of unforced errors!
Oct 24, 2022•49 min
Punk'd Politics
This week we're joined by fellow immigration attorney Matt Cameron (@matt_cam) to discuss the fall out of the Ron Desantis Martha's Vineyard "stunt." Deterrence policy is always cruel, and this was no exception. Like most rightwing jokes, it was also extraordinarily stupid. We also took a crack at the congressional republican's "Commitment to America" and it's extremely detailed four point immigration plan. Big brained ideas galore!
Sep 27, 2022•41 min
Latest Border Updates, Martha's Vineyard Lib Owning
This week Matthew and I are joined by fellow immigration attorney Taylor Levy to talk about the situation on the border. Taylor is one of the most knowledgable attorneys when it comes to what is actually happening on the U.S./Mexico border. We also asked about the recent series of bussing/private-jetting stunts carried about by republican governors. Just this week Florida Governor Ron Desantis appears to have lured a group of about 50 Venezuelan immigrants to Martha's Vineyard in an effort to ow...
Sep 17, 2022•45 min
Queen Status: Still Dead
This week Matthew and I get together to check in on the status of her Majesty and to discuss developments in our immigration practices. DACA, removal proceedings, our relationships with ICE and more.
Sep 11, 2022•37 min
The Battle for Worst
I quibbled and squabbled over scrabble and tribbles. This week we're happy to be joined by Sonia Lenegan, an immigration advocate and solicitor in the U.K. Sonia works as a legal and policy director at a charity helping asylum seekers. We wanted to see which country has the worse immigration system, and while it was a close call we ultimately gave our guest the "win."
Aug 11, 2022•43 min
Nobody is Protected
This week on Redirect: Immigration Law and Perspectives we're joined by Dr. Reece Jones, author of Nobody is Protected: How the Border Patrol Became the Most Dangerous Police Force in the United States. Dr. Jones is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Enviroment at University of Hawai‘i at Manoa . His new book about the border patrol is a must read for immigration activists and anyone trying to understand how and why we ended up in this place....
Jun 27, 2022•44 min
The Growing Surveillance State
This week we're joined by Austin Kocher to talk abou the growing surveillance aparatus being used by ICE. Austin Kocher is an Assistant Professor at @TRACReports @SyracuseU, Graduate of @OSUGeography and friend of the show.
Jun 13, 2022•47 min
LGBTQ Issues and Immigration
This week we're joined by Sarah Pitney, fellow immigration attorney extraordinaire, to discuss the intersection of LGBTQ issues and immigration. This was a great conversation and I learned a lot. Sarah Pitney is a Senior Attorney at Benach Collopy LLP. Sarah joined Benach Collopy after serving as an immigration attorney for two years Miami, Florida. They have represented clients in various proceedings on both the detained and non-detained dockets before the Immigration Courts. In addition to the...
Jun 05, 2022•34 min
Full Speed Ahead
This week Matthew and I discuss the administration's efforts to speed up the asylum application process. For a system as broken as this one, these changes amount to window dressing. But it is at least a step in the right direction?
Mar 30, 2022•35 min
ATDs
This week we're joined by Austin Kocher (@ackocher), assistant professor at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) to talk about "Alternatives to Detention." As it turns out, these technologies are rarely used as "alternatives," but rather "in addition to" detention. TRAC has some interesting data here: https://trac.syr.edu/whatsnew/email.220217.html… https://reuters.com/world/us/private-prison-company-test-us-house-arrest-program-immigrants-2022-02-16/…...
Feb 20, 2022•41 min
Marijuana and Tweeting
This week Matthew and I work our way through a couple of recent immigration stories. The owner of a marijuana dispensary has her naturalization application denied for a lack of "good moral character," an attorney tweeting about MPP hearings is asked to take down her tweets, and more.
Feb 14, 2022•40 min
Catching Up
This week Matthew and I try to play catch up. It's been just over a year with the Biden administration, and with a few exceptions things remain . . . pretty terrible? The administration continues to defend some of the worst Trump policies in court, while the agencies remain deeply scarred from the previous four years.
Jan 30, 2022•32 min
Break
We're going to be taking a little break from the podcast. A recent cancer diagnosis in the family has me stretched for time, and frankly not in the right headspace for "entertaining." Hopefully it's a short break, but we'll see. Thank you so much for all the kind words of support from over the years. It's been a real pleasure to get to know some of you and to hear how the podcast has influenced you in your thinking when it comes to immigrants. Let's talk again soon under better circumstances....
Nov 27, 2021•4 min
The Asylumist
This week we're happy to have back Jason Dzubow, fellow immigration attorney and the author of The Asylumist: How to Seek Asylum in the United States and Keep Your Sanity . Jason talks about his recent experiences with Afghan asylum seekers, practice pointers for old timers like Matthew, and more.
Nov 04, 2021•23 min
White Borders
This week we're joined by Professor Reece Jones to talk about his latest book,White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall.
Nov 01, 2021•43 min
Disarray
This week Matthew and I discuss the new DHS enforcement memo, disarray at the department, and we try out our tin foil hats for a minute.
Oct 09, 2021•45 min
AHAB
NEIGH! Yes, all horses are bastards which is why we here are Redirect are thrilled with the recent announcement by the White House that horses will no longer be used (for now) on the border (a particular stretch of the border that is). Problem solved! This week we're thrilled to be joined by Lindsay Toczylowski from ImmDef, a social justice law firm in Los Angeles, California. We try to wrap our heads around Title 42, Haitians on the border, the not-rocket-docket rocket docket, and more....
Sep 27, 2021•45 min
Absurdities and More
This week we're joined by Matthew Hoppock to talk about the Supreme Court forcing Biden to reimplement the "Migrant Protection Protocols ," A Trump era policy designed for force asylum seekers to wait out their case processing in Mexico. We also talk about a federal judge who blocked the implementation of certain Biden enforcement guidelines, leading to more absurdities all around. It turns out everything is absurd!...
Sep 11, 2021•41 min
Afghanistan
Sharifa Abbasi and Alexa August from The HMA Law Firm join us this week to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan and how it is affecting immigrants and current citizens. Matthew and I compare the struggles that are ubiquitous within the system, discuss chronic issues for immigration from Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, and discover several new and more acute challenges which have arisen since the Taliban takeover.
Aug 22, 2021•39 min
Detention Watch
This week we're joined by Silky Shah (@silkys13) from the Detention Watch Network to talk about ongoing efforts to end immigration detention. In Matthew's neck of the woods a group of lawyers have written a letter to try and keep one detained court *open,* and the New Jersey Bar Association came out against a bill that would prevent ICE from expanding their detention practices within the state. You can find out more about the Detention Watch Network here , follow them on Twitter @detentionwatch,...
Aug 07, 2021•39 min
Discretion
This week we're joined by Dara Lind (@dlind), an immigration reporter from Pro Publica who wrote a great piece about how the new Biden "prosecutorial discretion" memo is (or isn't) being implemented. You can check out her writing here .
Aug 02, 2021•40 min
Time for Reform
This week I'm joined by Jorge Baron from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to discuss the recent DACA ruling, immigration reform through reconciliation, and more.
Jul 25, 2021•31 min
Reconciliation and DACA
Matthew is on vacation this week and I'm flying solo, talking about reconciliation and the hope of immigration reform, a federal judge putting the breaks on DACA, and the cruelty of the legal immigration system.
Jul 18, 2021•19 min
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