Aoki Center Blog

Wednesday, September 23, 2026
04:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m.

The Aoki Center invites you to join University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law's Center for Inclusion and Diversity and Office of Student Services for a special screening of the documentary "A Job in the Shade: The Emily Vasquez Story" in recognition of Latinx Heritage Month.

At the end of each Supreme Court Term, I compile the Court's immigration rulings. Click here for a review of the immigration decisions from the 2024 Term. Sorry for the length of this post but it was a busy 2025 Term in terms of immigration.

The Aoki Center joined the California Unity Bar Association in filing an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs-appellees in Vasquez Perdomo v. Mullin. The June 17 brief argues, “The Trump administration has employed roving patrols relying on race in the name of immigration enforcement and detained people in inhumane conditions without access to counsel. The action violates the law, undermines our democracy, and must be enjoined.”

Aoki Center Director Kevin R. Johnson contributed “The Trump Administration’s Racial Dragnet: Immigration Enforcement in Los Angeles” to SMU Law Review’s 2025 Symposium: Immigration and the Constitution: Evolving Doctrines and Emerging Conficts.

USA Today cited the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies in its June 18 story, “Families fear what’s next in Trump birthright citizenship case” by Trevor Hughes. The article describes the pending Supreme Court decision on Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. 

Titled “The City Is Native Land,” this episode centers on Indigenous presence, belonging, continuity, and care within urban spaces across California.

Hosted by Victorio L. Shaw (Hoopa), the episode invites listeners to reconsider cities not as neutral spaces, but as layered Indigenous homelands shaped by memory, responsibility, survival, and relationship to land.