The 2016 Drexel Law Review Symposium will feature leading experts on immigration law and policy who will critically reassess three laws enacted by Congress in 1996: the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. These statutes ushered in sweeping changes to immigration law. The legislation dramatically expanded the ground for deporting noncitizens and mandated greater use of detention, while curtailing procedural safeguards, eliminating avenues for discretionary relief from removal, and creating barriers for refugees seeking safety on a humanitarian basis. Many noncitizens also were rendered ineligible for public benefits. As a result, immigration control has grown into an enormous enterprise, with the United States now expelling unprecedented numbers of noncitizens each year. With immigration again the subject of election-year controversy and with social movements and immigrant communities forcefully advocating reform, the 2016 Drexel Law Review Symposium will critically reassess this experiment in "comprehensive immigration severity." Leading experts will examine the origins and operation of those laws and their broader legacy and significance. Speakers will also discuss visions and strategies for reform and the challenges that advocates face in pursuing those reforms.