"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, Music, Politics, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals PAUL WICKHAM SCHMIDT and DR. ALICIA TRICHE, expert brief writer, practical scholar, emeritus Editor-in-Chief of The Green Card (FBA), and 2022 Federal Bar Association Immigration Section Lawyer of the Year. She is a/k/a “Delta Ondine,” a blues-based alt-rock singer-songwriter, who performs regularly in Memphis, where she hosts her own Blues Brunch series, and will soon be recording her first full, professional album. Stay tuned! 🎶 To see our complete professional bios, just click on the link below.
Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase Jeffrey S. Chase Blog Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
From Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” S. Chase:
Hi all: The Supreme Court issued its decision today in Monsalvo-Velazquez v. Bondi, in which our Round Table filed an amicus brief at the request of Petitioner’s counsel.
I’m happy to report that in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Gorsuch (attached), the Court agreed with the position that when the deadline for voluntary departure falls on a weekend or holiday, the period for VD extends to the next business day.
We had explained in our brief that this reading is consistent with long-settled practices in the immigration courts.
Congrats to all, and much thanks to attorneys Collin White and Scott Angstreich of the law firm of Kellogg Hansen for representing us on the brief..
For our new members, this is the fifth time that the Round Table has filed a brief in a winning Supreme Court case. The others are:
Niz-Chavez v. Garland, holding that the INA’s “stop time” rule for cancellation of removal may only be triggered by the filing of an NTA that is a single document, containing all the necessary information (this decision made many thousands eligible for cancellation of removal);
Nasrallah v. Barr, allowing CAT applicants to seek judicial review of factual challenges to a CAT order notwithstanding the limitations created by sections 1252(a)(2)(C) and (D) of the Act;
Wilkinson v. Garland, holding that hardship determinations in cancellation B cases are mixed questions of fact and law, and are therefore reviewable by circuit courts; and
Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, which held that where the BIA commits error in its decision, a respondent need not first seek reopening by the Board in order to exhaust its remedies before seeking judicial review.
The BIA’s use of wrong standard to deny life-saving relief really, really stinks! PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons
Excerpt:
This Circuit has long recognized the clearly erroneous standard, articulating it memorably as requiring the appellate body to find that the factual findings are “wrong with the force of a five-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.” Cox Enters., Inc. v. News-Journal Corp., 794 F.3d 1259, 1272 n.92 (11th Cir. 2015) (quoting Parts & Elec. Motors, Inc. v. Sterling Elec. Inc., 866 F.2d 228, 233 (7th Cir. 1988)). Rather than follow this approach, in the case at bar the Board instead treated the immigration judge’s findings like fresh sushi-grade tuna, ready to be cut and served as the BIA wished.
“There’s so much crying from Republicans that racism is over and it’s done,” Leguizamo said in October. “Well, try being a Latin person one day in America and see what racism does to you, with them destroying the DEI programs and affirmative action. It’s so undermining of creating a better and stronger country.”
Immigrant storytelling through compelling, well-conducted, skillfully organized direct examination is one of the skills NDPA faculty litigators have been teaching at various seminars and workshops, like the upcoming Immigration Court Trial Litigation College sponsored by Pen & Sword ✒️🗡️ scheduled for later this month in Kansas City. Many thanks to our “Dean” of the Trial College, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, for making it happen. Life can imitate art, and the “real-life drama of the Immigration Court” — where human lives and our nation‘s future are at stake every day — is more compelling than any TV legal series!
A Helping Hand.jpg Image depicts a child coming to the aid of another in need. Once we have climbed it is essential for the sake of humanity that we help others do the same. It is knowing that we all could use, and have used, a helping hand. Safiyyah Scoggins – PVisions1111 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 White Nationalist Xenophobes have abandoned Traditional Judeo-Christian values in favor of neo-fascism.But, the rest of us should hold true to our “better angels.”
Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase writes:
Hi all: Attached is our just-filed amicus brief in support of the Unaccompanied Children Program.
Once again, this was a real team effort. Major thanks to Ashley Tabaddor, for lending her expertise and powerful anecdotes on very short notice. Also thanks to Sue Roy, the eagle-eyed editing of Helen Sichel, and Denise Slavin for your contributions.
We never stand so tall as when we file an amicus brief to help unaccompanied children.
Hon. Jennie Giambastiani U.S. Immigration Judge (retired) Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges PHOTO: Linkedin
The Trump administration is stripping funding for legal representation from tens of thousands of children who are unaccompanied migrants in the United States, a move immigration lawyers warn violates their legal rights and will leave minors vulnerable to abuse.
“Picture yourself thrown into a detention center in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, where you don’t understand that country’s complex legal system, only to be told that now you must fend for yourself, assert your rights and seek whatever protections that country might offer you,” Jennie Giambastiani, a retired immigration judge, said Tuesday during a call organized by the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.
“Now picture yourself as a child in that situation,” she added.
Government-funded attorneys changed that dynamic, Giambastiani said, because they worked hard “to make sure that the children understood the proceedings and could present their claims in court.” Most unaccompanied children can’t afford to hire their own legal representation.
Without those lawyers, Giambastiani said separately, the immigration courts would be thrown into “chaos”: “The judge won’t have any sense that this child understands why [they’re] there in court.”
Thanks for speaking out for American justice, my friend and colleague! Expect more soon from our Round Table ⚔️🛡️ on this outrageous breach of due process, good government, and common sense!
Kansas City folks! It’s that time! The Annual Immigration Court Trial Advocacy College convenes in just over a month. Come play a witness and help train the next class of fearless immigration trial lawyers! Share with your networks please! 🙏🏽
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See you in Kansas City in April, along with my wonderful faculty friends and colleagues at the Annual Immigraton Court Trial Advocacy College. Never has effective advocacy been more important!
Wendy Young President, Kids In Need of Defense (“KIND”)
Reacting to this outrageous breach of the law and morality, Wendy Young, the President of Kids in Need of Defense (“KIND”) said:
“The administration’s devastating decision to strip vital legal services away from unaccompanied children runs counter to its stated desire to protect kids, some as young as toddlers, against trafficking, exploitation, and other abuses that make them easy prey for those who would do them harm. The critical legal programs eliminated today have long-standing bipartisan support from Congress, not only because they protect children from danger, but because they also improve efficiencies in the immigration system by ensuring legal counsel for unaccompanied children who otherwise must navigate a complex court proceeding alone. This includes facilitating private-sector pro bono legal services that KIND oversees with almost 900 law firms, corporations, law schools, and bar associations at no cost to the government. The value of these contributions from KIND’s pro bono partners is approximately $1 billion, a significant contribution at a time when the federal government is claiming to seek cost savings. Elimination of the services in this contract, which are mandated by law, makes it all but impossible for many unaccompanied children to appear for their immigration court hearings or otherwise remain in touch with immigration agencies. It severs key lines of communication and coordination between vulnerable unaccompanied children and the institutions in place to ensure their protection.
“While today’s development is unconscionable, Congress can act to restore these key protections. For years, bipartisan spending bills have dedicated resources to this important work. Doing so has never been more important than now. Congress has full authority on its own to remedy the crisis the administration’s actions will yield – authority it should exercise decisively. KIND calls upon the House of Representatives and Senate to work in a bipartisan fashion to mandate robust funding in the FY 2026 federal appropriations package to the Office of Refugee Resettlement for complete restoration of unaccompanied children’s legal services, including full legal representation. The safety of thousands of children depends on it.”
Many thanks to our wonderful pro bono friends at Akin Gump!
Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase Jeffrey S. Chase Blog Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration JudgesKnightess of the Round TableLeading the charge for due process! Adina Appelbaum Director, Immigration Impact Lab Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Charter Member, NDPA PHOTO: “30 Under 30” from Forbes
“Eyore In Distress” Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up”
The Trump administration has also reportedly taken aim at Biden appointees serving on the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)—the body charged with reviewing immigration judges’ decisions—by reducing the number of members from 28 to 15. As of January, the BIA’s backlog reached a decade-high record of more than 127,000 pending cases, an almost eightfold increase compared to 2015.
Paul Schmidt, a retired immigration judge and one-time BIA chairman, traced a parallel between the Trump administration’s “purge” and a George W. Bush-era move to “streamline” the BIA. Back then, Attorney General John Ashcroft slashed the members perceived as pro-immigrant. The Department of Justice later found itself at the center of a scandal over senior officials’ efforts to hire judges based on their political and ideological affiliations.
Similar politicization could be happening now. Prior to her unceremonious termination, Doyle had been flagged on a “DHS Bureaucrat Watchlist” by the American Accountability Foundation, a right-wing group backed by the Heritage Foundation. Last year, the organization announced an initiative called “Project Sovereignty 2025” to expose “high-ranking civil servants within DHS and DOJ who are likely to thwart an incoming conservative administration’s immigration agenda.”
The website describes Doyle, who previously served as head prosecutor with
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), as an “immigration activist lawyer” with a “known history as a critic of DHS” and a “lifelong commitment to open borders and mass migration.” (It cites Doyle’s involvement, while in private practice, in a lawsuitagainst the first Trump administration’s infamous ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries as evidence of her supposed ideological bias.)
“Significant time and resources went into hiring all of us and the group had a diverse background including a number of former OPLA prosecutors,” Doyle, whose hiring process took 14 months between multiple rounds of interviews and an extensive background check, wrote in a LinkedIn post, “but what we all had in common is that we were hired—through a neutral system I will point out—during the Biden administration. This firing was political.”
Schmidt, the former BIA chairman, predicts all of this is just the start: “I think the worst is yet to come.”
Kerry Doyle ESQ Former Principal Legal Advisor, ICE, DHS Official USG Photo
Isabela Dias Staff Writer, Immigration & Social Issues Mother Jones PHOTO: Twitter
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Not only does the kakistocracy treat immigrants unfairly, cruelly, and with disrespect, they inflict the same mistreatment on some of their own employees — many dedicated civil servants with expertise and honorable service.🤮
As noted by Isabela, GOP Administrations have a history of politicized hiring at EOIR and questionable personnel maneuvers going back several decades!
By sharp contrast, AG Merrick Garland actually honored all 17 of the “pipeline” IJ appointments made by his GOP predecessor AG Bill Barr under flawed selection procedures that favored those with prosecutorial or government service, some glaringly lacking immigration expertise, while discouraging or passing over better-qualified applicants with actual experience and expertise representing asylum seekers and other immigrants in his weaponized, DHS enforcement-oriented “Immigration Courts.” I was one of the many observers who harshly criticized Garland’s ill-advised and timid accession to his GOP predecessor’s questionable selections. See, e.g., https://immigrationcourtside.com/2021/05/05/%f0%9f%a4%ae%f0%9f%91%8e%f0%9f%8f%bbshocking-betrayal-justice-garland-disses-progressive-experts-with-secret-appointments-of-17-unqualified-immigration-judges-n/
While Garland did eventually make some good appointments of well-qualified jurists, overall his record on judicial appointments at EOIR was “middling at best” — certainly not the strong, effective makeover with subject matter experts unswervingly committed to due process, fundamental fairness, and best practices so desperately needed at EOIR! As a result, ridiculously inconsistent decision-making, mundane precedents, and entrenched anti-asylum, anti-immigrant attitudes at EOIR remained at endemic levels throughout the Biden Administration!🤯🤬
When it comes to EOIR and enlightened, consistent, due-process- focused immigration policies, Dems are often their own worst enemies — a disgraceful trend that infuriatingly continues even today!🤬
“Eyore In Distress” Once A Symbol of Fairness, Due Process, & Best Practices, Now Gone “Belly Up”St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall Creative Commons 2.0
Reprinted with permission:
Statement from 7 terminated Assistant Chief Immigration Judges (ACIJs):
*Please note – pronouns are nonbinary below only to maintain anonymity.
The terminated ACIJs are 5 females and 2 males, all age 41 or older. 2 are military veterans. 2 are racial minorities. Together, the 7 terminated ACIJs have over 105 years of public service that ended abruptly with an email sent Friday afternoon, Valentine’s Day.
1. Facts related to termination:
– Friday afternoon we all received by e-mail a PDF letter terminating us with no notice and no cause for the termination.
2. Summary of our experience: Combined, the 7 ACIJs led 18 immigration courts, and supervised approximately 135 immigration judges and 418 support staff. One was working on opening a new immigration court with 4 judges. Their termination leaves roughly 25% of the nation’s immigration courts without leadership or additional judges to preside while the immigration case backlog grows to over 3.6 million cases.
– At least one ACIJ was sent the termination email during the middle of a merits hearing (asylum case) over which they were presiding.
– 4 of the ACIJs were backups for each other’s courts, so at least 4 courts are without any clear leadership.
Collectively, we are devastated at the loss of our ability to continue in our jobs serving the public and serving EOIR’s mission to “adjudicate immigration cases by fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly interpreting and administering the Nation’s immigration laws.”
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Rather than a “model of due process and fundamental fairness,” under this Administration EOIR is becoming a “parody of justice.” Obviously, getting rid of high-performing, experienced judges who were also in leadership positions, particularly in the face of a backlog approaching 4 million cases, has nothing to do with “efficiency” and everything to do with weaponization of the Immigration Courts against individuals seeking to vindicate their legal rights under our laws and our Constitution!
Thanks to this group for your service, and Due Process Forever!
Dree Collopy, Esquire NDPA Superhero PHOTO: Washington College of Law
Dree writes:
Greetings Family and Friends,
I hope that you are all doing well. I am writing to share a personal update. After nearly two decades in private practice and owning and operating my own firm, I have sold my ownership interest in my firm, Benach Collopy, to my wonderful partner Ava Benach, who remains a close friend.
Selling my ownership of the firm I worked so hard to build was a difficult decision that has been about two years in the making, and I was sad to leave my colleagues and clients. However, given the relentless attack on refugees and asylum seekers in this country and around the world, I decided that it was time to transition from “on the ground” work and the arduous administrative tasks of running a law firm to bigger picture legal strategy and impact work. Now more than ever, people seeking protection in the United States need zealous, passionate advocates, who I am excited to train, and smarter, creative legal arguments and policy strategies that I am excited to help develop.
So what am I up to now? I am currently teaching Asylum and Refugee Law at American University Washington College of Law and have joined their renowned program on human rights and humanitarian law. I am also continuing my scholarship on U.S. asylum and refugee law and policy, and finally have more time to devote to my book, which helps other lawyers more effectively represent asylum seekers.
As a final update, I have also joined Grossman Young & Hammond, an internationally renowned immigration firm run by my close friend and long-time colleague in the immigration field, Sandra Grossman. As Of Counsel at GYH, I continue to develop strategy in complex cases, assist immigrant and refugee rights organizations with their advocacy efforts, and train other lawyers around the country in an effort to build and strengthen our “due process army.” For more on this, see GYH’s press release here. Please continue to send anyone in need of top notch immigration lawyering my way.
Moving forward, you may reach me at collopy@american.eduor dcollopy@grossmanyoung.com, here at my Gmail, or on my cell phone at 515-988-1044. And of course, if you’re interested in keeping up with me and the work I’m doing, please connect with me on LinkedIn and give me and GYH a follow on social media.
I look forward to being in touch!
Dree
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Many congrats, Dree, to you, Ava, Sandra, Washington College of Law, and all involved! Good luck in your new career challenges!
