The Right to Travel: Breaking Down the Thousand Petty Fortresses of State Self-Deportation Laws

Part I of this Article discusses the limitation of the pre-emption doctrine on state self-deportation laws. Part II discusses a short history of the Supreme Court’s application of the right to travel. Part III explains why the lack of federal authorization or immigrant status does not exclude people from the right to travel’s protection. Part IV discusses how the right to travel relates to citizenship and how the undocumented may exercise what has been described as a privilege or immunity of citizenship.

Finally, Part V examines how the current state-based “self-deportation” immigration laws violate the right to travel.