⚖️ WINOGRAD WHOMPS 🥊 GARLAND’S EOIR AGAIN, THIS TIME ON “PARTICULARLY SERIOUS CRIME” (“PSC”)! — Annor v. Garland — Following Precedents, Analyzing Correct Statute Proves Elusive For Garland’s Dysfunctional Courts! 🏴‍☠️ — “Because the BIA analyzed the wrong statute 🤯 at the first step of its analysis, and omitted the most important factor 🤯🤯 at the second, we vacate the BIA’s decision and remand to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

From the CAIR Coalition on Linkedin:

Today, we’re celebrating the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Annor v. Garland. The court ruled that immigration judges must follow proper analytical steps in determining whether noncitizens have been convicted of a particularly serious crime (PSC).

 

This is an important decision because anyone convicted of a PSC is ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal, so PSC determinations have life-or-death consequences for immigrants facing persecution if they are deported to their home countries.

 

“Today, the Fourth Circuit spoke clearly: the immigration court system must treat PSC determinations with the care they deserve,” stated Immigration Impact Lab Senior Attorney Peter Alfredson, who worked on the amicus brief alongside Lab Deputy Program Director Samantha Hsieh.

 

CAIR Coalition submitted an amicus brief, also signed by RAICES, in support of Mr. Annor, who was represented by Ben Winograd of the Immigrant & Refugee Appellate Center, LLC.

Here’s the decision (PANEL: HEYTENS and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge): https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/231281.P.pdf

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Come on, man! How is this a competent adjudication by the BIA? It isn’t! So, why is it happening time and again under Garland?

“[T]he immigration court system must treat PSC determinations with the care they deserve!” Absolutely! But, it’s not happening in Garland’s “any reason to deny/defend garbage” DOJ! At least it’s not happening systemically under Garland! 

Rather than correcting IJ errors and insisting that the legal rights of migrants be respected and protected, the BIA too often has been a big part of the problem! Sloppiness, lack of expertise, “any reason to deny,” “reject don’t protect” have all become hallmarks of Garland’s dysfunctional system!

Contrary to GOP White Nationalist restrictionist blather, accepted by many spineless Dem politicos and the media, and enabled by Garland, this system should be identifying, screening, facilitating representation, expediting protection (not rejection), and arranging reception and resettlement, NOT engaging in more mindless “deterrence” and “uber enforcement.” 

Garland’s abject failure to insist on due process and stand up for the legal and human rights of asylum seekers and other migrants has undermined our democracy! There is a huge “over-denial“ problem in our asylum adjudication system that skews the entire “debate!”

Our nation, our politicos, and our media are simply too gutless and morally vapid to admit that there are many, many more individuals arriving at our borders who should qualify for some sort of legal protection under a fair and legitimate screening and adjudication system! 

Best comment, from Dan Kowalski @ LexisNexis: “Something is seriously wrong at DOJ when a seasoned IJ and BIA member make these kinds of mistakes, and when OIL attorneys defend such errors in court.  Crimmigration should not be so hard that it takes a team of litigation superstars to achieve a just result!”

You betcha, Dan! “Something is seriously wrong at DOJ” is an understatement! Dan, Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase, and I are among the many who have been saying that since the Obama Administration. It’s painfully obvious that Garland isn’t the answer (nor is Mayorkas), and that NDPA superstars like Ben and others should be in charge of the human rights legal and adjudication bureaucracies at DOJ and DHS in a Dem Administration! 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-18-24