Matthew Boaz
Asst. Prof. of Law - University of Kentucky, J. David Rosenberg College of Law. I write on immigration, criminal law, abolition, and detention issues.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazFYI: This followed a hearing this morning. There is no order on the docket yet —>
- BREAKING: Federal judge orders the release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from immigration detention in Texas. Judge Patricia Giles said feds presented no evidence to support claimed foreign policy grounds or to show he is a Hamas supporter. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazJust hit me that the importing of white folks from South Africa and exporting of brown people is actually, literally an attempt at a great replacement
- Reposted by Matthew BoazVia "One First," me on why Stephen Miller's riff on suspending habeas corpus is not just factually and legally wrong (in multiple respects), but reflects a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration's rhetorical attacks on the courts: www.stevevladeck.com/p/148-suspen...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazMiller knows zero about law but is worth taking seriously precisely because his lack of knowledge hasn’t prevented him from amassing considerable power and shaping administration policy. His views are not merely wrong—they reflect a desire to transform our political order for the considerably worse.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazUK Law Prof. @mboaz.bsky.social has a new Op-Ed in the Louisville Courier Journal on Trump's deportation policy and its effect in Kentucky. Check it out! #UKLawProfResearch www.courier-journal.com/story/opinio...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW: In the Mahmoud Khalil case, Judge Farbiarz orders the government to give him a COMPLETE LIST of every time since 1975 it has invoked the secretary of state's power to deport someone for foreign-policy reasons—including a description of each case's facts and a copy of the official determination.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazI have my first Substack post, folks! Everything you ever wanted to know about our "Great American Immigration Thermostat"™ and why it is not as dumb as you think: www.alexnowrasteh.com/p/behold-the...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazSCOOP: ICE tried to raid Chang Chang restaurant in Dupont (Washington, D.C.) but the manager ran then off.
- 🚨🚨🚨SUBWAY RESTAURANTS, DOOR DASHERS, AND OTHER EATERIES WILL BE TARGETED BY ICE ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. migrantinsider.com/p/ice-raids-...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazThey’ve already deported someone to Rwanda! I reported on a State Dept. cable confirming it a week ago! I even shared the cable details so others could confirm!!!! I feel insane www.thehandbasket.co/p/us-rwanda-...
The Trump administration has discussed deporting migrants to Libya and Rwanda. In the case of Libya, this would include “asylum seekers apprehended at the US border.” www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/p...
- Hopefully a tipping point. The litigation seems to be a working strategy for now. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
- Happy to join @scholars.org. An incredibly supportive org for getting your scholarship out to a broader public.
- We are thrilled to welcome @mboaz.bsky.social to the network! His scholarship is concerned with the intersection of criminal law and immigration law, critical theory, abolition, and issues related to immigration proceedings. Learn more in his SSN member profile: scholars.org/scholar/matt...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazWe are thrilled to welcome @mboaz.bsky.social to the network! His scholarship is concerned with the intersection of criminal law and immigration law, critical theory, abolition, and issues related to immigration proceedings. Learn more in his SSN member profile: scholars.org/scholar/matt...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazFolks: do not do this. Just. Period. Don't.
- Important piece from Laila Hlass and Mary Yanik, immigration law profs at Tulane: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/o...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazI don't think we have ever seen, in the DHS era, so many important internal documents published so quickly as we have since March 15. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p... The press and the litigators are killing it.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazStories coming from around the country that students are having their SEVIS status randomly restored, just as randomly as it was terminated. Suggests that ICE is either reversing these terminations on a large scale or having actual human beings finally look at cases and make decisions.
- One of the happiest updates I’ve written since I started following this story. 12 students back in status and maybe more to come. Across the country, students are saying their SEVIS is back. www.dailycal.org/news/campus/...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazYou can't. And some vigilantes realize this. Someone is going to get killed, tortured, or seriously maimed by a thug cos-playing as plainclothes ICE.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazMen in plainclothes, one in a balaclava, raided the Charlottesville courthouse today. They abducted a local painter whose case (allegedly fighting with his roommate) was being dismissed, and another who was there paying fines. They took them away in unmarked vans. dailyprogress.com/news/local/c...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazICE went into the database where foreign students are tracked and deleted the record of at least 1,700 or more people because they had some minor interaction with law enforcement — speeding tickets, fishing citations, and other minor things. Judges are ruling that was illegal.
- Some good news: district court in Atlanta orders: ICE must reinstate legal status of 133 international students by 5 p.m. www.yahoo.com/news/ice-mus...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW: Mahmoud Khalil's wife gave birth to their child without him after ICE denied their request to let him be present. “This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."
- Is Joe Rogan … on to something? Hoping he can disseminate this message to those who need to hear it/ were previously unaware of this who have been shouting it from the mountaintops.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazI don't really care what the "political consequences" are of fighting for the proposition that *everyone* is entitled to due process before they are removed from the United States and sent to a Salvadoran prison. It's not really a principle if you only adhere to it when it's politically expedient.
- Reposted by Matthew Boaz"Call your representative. Call your state attorney general. Tell them you will not stand by while the government builds the power to disappear your neighbors—or you. Our rights are only real if we defend them," writes Boaz in his @newsweek.com OpEd. Learn more. ⤵️
- Reposted by Matthew BoazUK Law Prof @mboaz.bsky.social, one of the country's top immigration scholars, has written this Op-Ed for Newsweek. Check it out! #UKLawProfResearch www.newsweek.com/could-you-de...
- The 4th Circuit's decision aligns with other federal court holdings that are a bulwark against these unconstitutional policies. A reminder that reaching out to your representatives, especially in red states, can make a difference. Many of those state AGs are supporting gov't's unlawful position.
- As usual, @austinkocher.com is on to something important here - the stealth rise of 287g agreements in the last few weeks. Worth a read. austinkocher.substack.com/p/trump-is-q...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazAbrego Garcia's attorneys note that sending additional people to CECOT—as the US apparently did on Saturday—involved exactly the same tasks that the govt claims are impossible (or not subject to court order) in Abrego Garcia's case
- Reposted by Matthew BoazEither the U.S. government *is* able to exert monetary and diplomatic pressure on El Salvador sufficient to produce Abrego Garcia’s release, or it isn’t. The latter would be either a bald-faced lie or a pretty stunning concession of our national impotence. The Vice President should pick one.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazIt is legally impossible to deport citizens. This is not deportation. Removing citizens to foreign prisons, knowing to a certainty that they will be subjected to treatment that violates the U.S. constitution, doesn’t deserve any label that connotes legal legitimacy.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazFrom @benjaminwittes.bsky.social, earlier today: “At some point, the contempt becomes not merely that of the client agencies but that of the lawyers who are filing these documents. Lawyers are easier to sanction than federal agencies…” www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
- A really important and helpful analysis to read as Bukele and Trump make public statements about those who have been unlawfully removed to El Salvador. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/mixe...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazI wrote this in 2019, before the U.S. started sending people to a gulag in Central America. #PracticalEquality
- Reposted by Matthew BoazMarco Rubio just announced 10 more people were sent to be imprisoned in CECOT. They were flown there from Gitmo to be imprisoned potentially for life based not on any crime for which they were convicted, but on unproven allegations of gang membership with no due process. This is not lawful.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW: A second filing today from the DOJ tells Judge Xinis that in their view, since Mr. Abrego is in Bukele's custody, she can't order them to do anything further to bring him back since that's not what "facilitate" means. They also say the deal with Bukele is classified and/or a state secret.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazIMPORTANT: a majority of the court says district court can order exec to facilitate return. BUT the majority adds - it’s unclear if the court has authority to order government to “effectuate” return. The R Justices say that might exceed court’s power.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazThe Roberts Court, for once, did what it was supposed to do in a unanimous ruling telling Trump to try to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man the administration said they accidentally sent to an overseas gulag for life. We are in a very dangerous moment. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
- Reposted by Matthew Boaz"If the government can disappear any people it wishes, dump them in a Salvadoran dungeon and prevent any court in this country from providing relief, we all should be very, very afraid."
- Reposted by Matthew BoazToday I 1) met with students about status 2) met with colleagues about protecting students 3) am at a know your rights meeting about traveling safe. I didn't write. I didn't read. The hidden cost is the tremendous expenditure of heart & time we'll never get back...
- This is a positive development.
- Update from the Mahmoud Khalil case; at his first immigration court hearing, it appears that the government didn’t even have any evidence ready and the judge is giving them until Friday to submit it or she will terminate the case. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazI'm sure like many immigration lawyers, I am getting lots of anxious "simple" questions from people right now. I'm generally not answering them. I strenuously recommend all non-citizens to go to a good immigration lawyer for a COMPREHENSIVE consultation. There are no simple questions right now.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazInteresting choice of words in the government’s SCOTUS application, which refers to Abrego Garcia as an “enemy alien.” The government has claimed that Garcia was removed under the Immigration and Nationality Act, **not** the Alien Enemies Act. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazAlso, it’s like: why are we back to treating all immigration matters as if they are about bilateral relations and we don’t have any human rights obligations? It’s like erasing these conventions and human beings.
- Not even an acknowledgement of a violated non-refoulement obligation under the Refugee Convention, which is certainly as significant to our foreign policy than asking El Salvador to return him. Insanity. www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/p...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazIf the Supreme Court decides that the government can "erroneously" disappear you off the street to a foreign torture prison, and that federal courts have no power to do anything about it, that is, in a meaningful way, Pretty Much It www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazJudge Ho: "Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions."
- BREAKING: Judge Dale Ho dismisses the case against Eric Adams with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. DOJ sought to have it dismissed without prejudice — essentially, holding it over Adams's head. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
- Here’s a clever idea.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazIs now a good time to say that people convicted of crimes deserve rights, due process, and not to be deported, let alone to a third country slave prison
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW: @aclu.org obtained ICE's "Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide," confirming all it takes to be sent to rot in prison in El Salvador is being Venezuelan and 1) having a tattoo an ICE officer says is a "gang tattoo" and 2) displaying "logos," "symbols" or clothes an ICE officer says are gang signs.
- Some of my colleagues and I provide a bit of clarity about how the process works, what is new, and what has always been the case with immigration enforcement. You might be surprised!
- UK Law Prof @mboaz.bsky.social continues to show his nationwide expertise on the latest immigration issues, this time being cited by Politifact. Check it out! #UKLawProfResearch www.politifact.com/article/2025...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazYou truly could not make it up. You could not.
- Reposted by Matthew Boaz[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW: The DC Circuit has DENIED the Trump administration's request to stay Judge Boasberg's halt on the use of the Alien Enemies Act! The decision is 2-1, with Trump appointee Judge Walker dissenting on jurisdictional grounds, arguing the lawsuit should have been brought in Texas.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazThis guy gets it
- Reposted by Matthew BoazExplainer ⬇️
- Reposted by Matthew BoazNEW! Sworn declarations filed last night confirm the Trump admin sent INNOCENT people to rot in prison El Salvador, including a professional soccer player jailed and tortured by the Maduro regime, who entered this country LEGALLY to seek asylum, and who has NO CRIMINAL RECORD in either country.
- Reposted by Matthew BoazFurther signs that CBP officers are becoming increasingly emboldened to make arbitrary decisions.
- Le Monde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to US after a search of his phone & computer revealed messages critical of Trump's science cuts, "which [says CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated
- Reposted by Matthew BoazUK Law Prof @mboaz.bsky.social was quoted in The Wall Street Journal about issues for green card holders and recent deportations. #UKLawProfResearch www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
- I've regularly speaking with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal this week. They've just published a helpful explanation for noncitizens regarding interactions with ICE and travel abroad: www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazTotally agree with this. Flying a person to a third country that they may never have been to, directly into a prison where they are going to be forced to do hard labor, is not a deportation; it's something else entirely.
- @washingtonpost.com They were not DEPORTED. Deported means sending them back to their country of origin. These people were sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, without any due process or any analysis as to whether they feared harm in El Salvador!
- Reposted by Matthew BoazA US-born citizen was walking near Chicago in January. ICE snatched him off the street, handcuffed him, threw into a van. His wallet, which contained his ID, was confiscated. He was detained for 10 hours before being released without a record of what occurred. immigrantjustice.org/sites/defaul...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazFamily Detention: What You Need to Know About Its Past, Present, & Future Family detention ended after years of lawsuits, medical warnings, and public outrage. It’s back—despite clear evidence that it’s harmful, costly, and ineffective. Get the full story. austinkocher.substack.com/p/family-det...
- Reposted by Matthew BoazThe Department of Justice was created in 1870 with an explicit mission to protect civil rights and enforce the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. The DOJ went after the Klan hard, securing thousands of indictments and 600+ convictions within the first year alone. How about restoring *that* focus?
