Michael Kagan

Director, UNLV Immigration Clinic
Professor of Law
Expertise: Immigration Law, International Human Rights Law, Administrative Law

Biography

Michael Kagan, director of the UNLV Immigration Clinic, teaches administrative law, professional responsibility, international human rights and immigration law.  In both his research and his clinical teaching, Kagan focuses on the tension between immigration law and civil rights.

Kagan has been published by numerous top law reviews and journals and wrote several of the most widely cited articles in the fields of international refugee and asylum law, which have been relied on by courts in multiple countries.  Kagan’s research on credibility assessment in asylum cases “guided most subsequent research and analysis on the topic,” according to a 2012 commentary. He is frequently interviewed on immigration issues by local, national and global news media, and is a frequent Op-Ed writer, with his work appearing in The Washington PostSalon.comThe Daily BeastWorld Politics Review, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Before coming to UNLV's Boyd School of Law, Kagan spent 10 years building legal aid programs for refugees throughout the Middle East and Asia, and lived in London, Cairo, Beirut and Jerusalem. He held teaching positions at Tel Aviv University and the American University in Cairo. His role in expanding refugee legal aid in the global south was profiled in Zachary Kaufman’s Social Entrepreneurship in the Age of Atrocities (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012).

Education

  • J.D., University of Michigan Law School
  • B.A., Northwestern University

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Michael Kagan In The News

TIME Magazine
Donald Trump promised mass deportation, campaigning against undocumented immigrants as a scapegoat for Americans’ economic woes, crime concerns, and more. But since taking office, the President has expressed openness to deporting not just undocumented immigrants but U.S. citizens too.
Al Jazeera America
US President Donald Trump and officials from his administration have hinted that they might consider revoking the US citizenship of Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate.
K.S.N.V. T.V. News 3
Amid ongoing ICE raids nationwide, understanding your rights during encounters with immigration authorities is crucial, said Michael Kagan, a professor of law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and director of the UNLV Immigration Clinic.
U.S.A. Today
The White House is doubling down on President Trump’s signature campaign promise and escalating efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, targeting Democrat-run cities and heightening tensions with powerful liberal governors from California to New York.

Articles Featuring Michael Kagan

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Campus News | May 1, 2025

A collection of colorful headlines featuring UNLV staff and students.

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Campus News | April 3, 2025

The students and faculty of UNLV are springing into headlines around the country.

spring flowers
Campus News | March 6, 2025

The rosiest headlines and highlights featuring the students and faculty of UNLV.