NAVIGATING UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION COURTS THROUGH SHADOWING ASYLUM SEEKERS

This paper is an institutional ethnography of the asylum-seeking process in the U.S. immigration courts. While most hearings are open to the public, the "public" is rarely present at immigration courts. Consequently, the process to observe these legal proceedings is insufficiently understood. In this paper, I reflect on the practice of shadowing migrants as a type of institutional ethnography based on interviews and observations following migrants' interactions with courtroom actors. I completed 15 observations of hearings across three immigration courts located within the Fifth Federal Circuit. This paper addresses the complexity of researching vulnerable populations. Using feminist geopolitics and feminist geolegalities approaches, I analyze the relationships and interactions that develop between courtroom actors and migrants. Based on my observations, I conclude by discussing acts of humaneness from empathetic gestures between attorney's and migrants to lenient decisions meted by judges within the larger geopolitical structure of narrow avenues to obtain asylum. Keywords: asylum, institutional ethnography, feminist geolegalities.