Senior Reporter, Immigration
Law360
CQ NEWS
Groups to AG: Immigration courts need new leaders, hiring review
May 19, 2021 – 4:30 p.m. By Suzanne Monyak, CQ
Dozens of human and civil rights organizations called on Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday to overhaul leadership and review hiring decisions at the U.S. immigration court system, raising concerns of politicized hiring under the prior administration.
In a letter obtained by CQ Roll Call, the 70 organizations accused the Trump administration of transforming the immigration courts, housed within the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, “into a conveyor belt for deportation” and of “systematically hiring personnel to carry out President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.”
Under the previous administration, EOIR promoted a number of immigration judges with high asylum denial rates, as well as judges with a history of misconduct complaints.
“Critical and urgent personnel changes are needed to rehabilitate the radically transformed immigration court system that continues to cause irreparable harm and suffering for immigrants and their families,” wrote the organizations, which include the American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Immigration Law Center, Human Rights First and others.
In addition to reviewing personnel decisions made under the Trump administration, the advocates urged Garland to “immediately install new leadership to all key posts” and “diversify the immigration judge corps” by hiring more judges with nonprofit backgrounds.
The organizations faulted the Biden administration for following through with the recent hires of 17 immigration judges, announced earlier this month, most of them with backgrounds as criminal prosecutors and Department of Homeland Security lawyers.
“Despite the Biden-Harris administration’s stated commitment to restoring fairness and balance to the immigration courts, the DOJ continues to rely on Trump-era policies and hiring practices that bias the immigration court system towards prosecution,” the groups wrote.
Garland, confirmed to the helm of the Justice Department in March, inherited a slew of policy changes to the immigration court system implemented under the Trump administration, including policies aimed at speeding up case adjudication and tightening asylum eligibility.
CQ Roll Call reported in 2019 that EOIR leaders revised hiring procedures to make it easier to permanently install certain immigration judges to the Board of Immigration Appeals, the courts’ appellate board that has the power to issue precedential rulings shaping immigration law.
DOJ leadership under the former administration also successfully petitioned to dismantle the immigration judges’ union, which critics say further undermines judges’ discretion over their own caseloads.
A group of senators announced last fall that the Government Accountability Office launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s management of the immigration courts, including its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, the Justice Department’s inspector general released a report faulting EOIR for poor communication and a lack of transparency when notifying lawyers and employees about pandemic-related court closures and exposure.
Garland, a former appeals court judge, has yet to rescind most of those changes, fueling calls from lawmakers and advocates to step in.
Last week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote Garland requesting he rescind two decisions issued by former Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William Barr that make it harder for domestic abuse survivors, and individuals targeted by gangs or others as a result of their family ties, to qualify for asylum.
“This is out of step with our nation’s reputation as a safe haven for those fleeing persecution,” Feinstein wrote.
In January, top Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee also called on Garland to “take all necessary actions” to protect the immigration judges’ union from decertification.
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Law360 also provided coverage of this issue. https://www.law360.com/articles/1386538/advocates-seek-to-erase-trump-s-immigration-court-legacy
Also, expect a blast from our Round Table soon about the ongoing due process outrage at EOIR and Garland’s failure to address it!
Next firestorm on the horizon for Garland’s inept, tone-deaf immigration team: Anger and outrage stemming from failure to rescind Barr’s illegal and disgraceful “decertification” of IJ Union — the NAIJ. More “Day 1 Stuff” still awaiting action by Garland as the justice system deteriorates under his feet!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a retired member of the NAIJ.
Holy cow! It’s not like lots of progressives didn’t tell the Biden Transition Team, Garland, and anyone else who would listen that radical, progressive Immigration Court reform needed to be a “Day 1” priority at Justice to avoid further disaster.
Moreover, as recently pointed out by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (Berkeley Law) and Professor Michele Goodwin (UC Irvine Law) virtually every aspect of the Trump regime’s attack on American democracy began with and went through the immigration system.https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2021/05/immigration-article-of-the-day-michele-goodwin-erwin-chemerinsky-trump-administration-immigration-ra.html
Compromising due process in Immigration Court and weaponizing EOIR were the keys to the Trump regime’s constitutional deconstruction effort. Consequently, it’s insane for Garland or any other member of the Biden Administration to think that economic equality, voting rights, racial justice, eradication of hate crime, job creation or any other major objective will be attained without new progressive leadership and aggressive progressive due process reforms in Immigration Court. Won’t happen!
You can’t promote social justice while running Stephen Miller’s Star Chambers at EOIR with judges hand-selected by “Billy the Bigot Barr” under flawed procedures.
Star Chamber Style. Try as he might, Judge Garland won’t be able promote social justice, racial justice, or indeed any other type of “Justice @ Justice” while running this operation at EOIR with judges hand selected by “Gonzo” Sessions and “Billy the Bigot Barr.” Awarding 17 prime judgeships that should have to gone to progressive experts to flawed “Billy the Bigot” Barr picks might be the single biggest blunder by any Biden Cabinet Member to date. Talk about “unforced error!”
🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!
PWS
05-20-21