Professor Jennifer Koh Quoted in "Trump Plans to Send Migrants to ‘Third Countries.’ Others Have Tried That" -- Washington Post

Professor Jennifer Lee Koh is quoted in the Washington Post article "Trump Plans to Send Migrants to ‘Third Countries.’ Others Have Tried That." The article considers the Trump adminstration's policy of deporting people to countries where they are not citizens, and approach that has been tried in Australia, Britain, and elsewhere.

Excerpt from "Trump Plans to Send Migrants to ‘Third Countries.’ Others Have Tried That." 

Even though immigration laws contain provisions allowing the U.S. government to deport people to third countries under some circumstances, it’s “just not something that’s been done as a matter of practice,” said Jennifer Koh, an associate professor at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law.

Under international law, the United States has a legal obligation not to send migrants to countries where they would face torture or cruel treatment — known as the principle of non- refoulement. The new U.S. policy, which requires minimal notice before such deportations, “seems like a recipe for rampant potential violations of the torture convention,” Koh said. “The administration has been pretty clear from the start” that “one of the tools to advance their immigration policy has been to inflict fear and cruelty on immigrants,” aiming for deterrence and self-deportation.

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