👩🏾‍⚖️🙏 HON. ROSALIND K. MALLOY (1942-2024), U.S. Immigration Judge

Hon. Rosalind K. Malloy
Honorable Rosalind K.Malloy (1942-2024)
U.S. Immigration Judge
PHOTO: the obituary app.com

https://osheafuneral.com/tribute/details/6700/The-Honorable-Rosalind-Malloy/obituary.html

In Memory of The Honorable Rosalind K. Malloy 1942 – 2024

Obituary

The Honorable Rosalind K. Malloy, of Marlton, NJ, passed away on February 7, 2024, at the age of 81. Loving daughter of the late Daniel and Annie. Cherished sister of Dr. Tyrone Malloy, and predeceased by Ann, Daniel, Joyce, and Marcus. Adored by many nieces and nephews. Judge Malloy was appointed as an Immigration Judge in December 1998. Prior to her appointment to the Immigration Court in Philadelphia, Judge Malloy served as an Immigration Judge at the Immigration Court in Los Angeles from December 1998 to December 2001. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 from Hunter College, City University of New York; a Master of Arts degree in 1971 and a Masters of Education degree in 1975, both from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a Juris Doctorate in 1979 from Rutgers University. Judge Malloy was an assistant district counsel with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York from 1995 to 1998. From 1993 to 1994, she served as a hearing officer with the Georgia Department of Corrections in Atlanta, Georgia. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York from 1984 to 1989. Previously, Judge Malloy served as a teacher/guidance counselor with the New York City Board of Education and she taught biology at John F. Kennedy High School, Bronx, NY for 15 years. She was a Peace Corps. volunteer in Nigeria for several years. Judge Malloy is a member of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia Bars. Cremation Private.

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Although I ran into Judge Malloy at various events during my EOIR career, and reviewed her decisions while I was a BIA Appellate Judge, I never had the pleasure of working with her or really getting to know her on a personal level.

But, based on the outpouring of heartfelt comments from those who knew her, gathered on our “Round Table Communications Network” (“RTCN”), established and maintained by Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase, she was a beloved and valued friend and colleague to all around her during her distinguished legal and judicial career. 

I think this quote from retired Judge Bruce J. Einhorn best captures the feelings of those knew her well:

Thanks for sharing. This is very sad news. I had the privilege of serving as a judge with Ros in LA. She was a fair, decisive, humane, and witty jurist, and a wonderful colleague.  May her memory be a blessing.

A moving and fitting tribute to a life of achievement well-lived in law and society. 

Rest in Peace!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

02-11-24

⚖️🗽🛡⚔️ ROUND TABLE MEMBERS JUDGE JOAN CHURCHILL & JUDGE STEVEN MORLEY EXTOLL NEED FOR INDEPENDENT ARTICLE I IMMIGRATION COURT AT ABA EVENT! — 150 Legal Organizations Stress Urgency, As EOIR Continues Downward Spiral & Backlog Mushrooms 🍄 Out Of Control!

Judge Joan Churchill
Honorable Joan Churchill
Retired U.S. Immigration Judge
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
Judge Steven Morley
Judge (Ret.) Steven Morley
Of Counsel,Landau, Hess, Simon, Choi & Doebley
Philadelphia, PA
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
PHOTO: Linkedin

 https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2023/03/immigration-courts-independent/

ABA News

March 27, 2023 JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

Ex-judges: Immigration courts should be independent

Two retired immigration judges urged Congress to create an independent immigration court system, removing the courts from under the U.S. Justice Department, where they currently reside.

Panelists on a recent ABA webinar argued that immigration judges are not truly independent as long as they answer to the U.S. attorney general.

The former judges made their call at a panel discussion March 17 — “Adjudicatory Independence: Are Immigration Judges a Warning or a Model?” — organized by the American Bar Association Judicial Division. They and other panelists argued that immigration judges are not truly independent as long as they answer to the U.S. attorney general, who can overturn their decisions, fire them and create new immigration policies that they must follow.

Steven Morley, a retired immigration judge in Philadelphia, talked about a case he handled in 2018, called the Matter of Castro-Tum, which he considered a red flag for judicial independence.

The case involved an unaccompanied minor who illegally entered the United States, was detained by authorities, then released to relatives in the United States pending a hearing to force him to leave the county. Hearing notices were sent to the relatives’ address, but the boy did not appear. Finally, after four postponements, Morley administratively closed — or indefinitely suspended — the case, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security could not show it had a reliable address to notify the boy of his hearing.

At that point, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions referred the case to himself and overturned the judge’s decision. Sessions ruled that immigration judges do not have the authority to administratively close cases as Morley did. The new policy made it harder for immigration judges across the country to indefinitely suspend cases. This caused an uproar among immigration judges and advocates.

Three years later, in 2021, Merrick Garland — a new attorney general in a new administration — overturned Sessions’ action.

Such actions undermine the independence of immigration judges, Morley said. “The flaws in the system allow this to happen, and we should always be concerned for the integrity of the court system.”

Morley said attorneys general under President Donald Trump referred immigration cases to themselves to overturn judges’ decisions 17 times in four years, a large number compared to previous administrations. “This is no way to run immigration policy, to have ping-ponging back and forth of policy, from one attorney general to another attorney general.”

Joan Churchill, a retired immigration judge in Northern Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., also emphasized the importance of maintaining due process in immigration courts, particularly hearing notices to defendants. “Adequate notice of the hearing is on everybody’s list as a requirement of due process,” she said.

Churchill noted that the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision a few years ago, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, found that notices in immigration court often were not constitutionally adequate. “Justice Gorsuch said any notices that did not include the time and place of the hearing — which many of them did not; they just said time and place to be determined — those were not adequate notice of the hearing and therefore the cases were defective.”

In 2010, the ABA House of Delegates adopted a policy supporting the creation of an independent Article I system of immigration courts. More than 150 organizations support this position, including the National Association of Immigration Judges and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Churchill said.

The program was co-sponsored by the ABA Commission on Immigration, ABA International Law Section, National Association of Women Judges, ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice Section.

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Thanks, Joan and Steve for forwarding this report and for doing such an outstanding job of highlighting the compelling, urgent need for this long-overdue reform. 

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-29-23

⚖️👩🏽‍⚖️👨🏼‍⚖️⚔️🛡LATEST ROUND TABLE AMICUS BRIEF FOCUSES ON GENDER-BASED PSG! — Chavez-Chilel v. A.G., 3rd Cir., Petition For Rehearing

Hon. Susan G. Roy
Hon. Susan G. Roy
Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC
Princeton Junction, NJ
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
Jeffrey S. Chase
Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase
Jeffrey S. Chase Blog
Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

 

 

Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase reports:

The attached is the final “as filed” version of our latest brief in Chavez-Chilel v. Garland, in support of the motion for rehearing/rehearing en banc.  This one is very “all in the family,” as Sue Roy is our counsel, Sue and I drafted the brief, and decisions from Miriam Hayward and Charles Honeyman are attached as exhibits.

There is also an amicus brief by law school professors, and joining NJ attorney Ted Murphy as petitioner’s counsel is Paul Hughes, who argued Kisor v. Willkie before the Supreme Court (as well a Nasrallah v. Barr, a Supreme Court victory in which we were amici).

Best, Jeff

Chavez-chilel RT amicus FINAL

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Thanks to our wonderful colleague Judge Sue Roy for taking the lead on this!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

03-31-22

MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE @ LA TIMES:  Conscientious Immigration Judges Continue To Jump Ship As Regime Turns Immigration “Courts” Into DHS Deportation Offices, Where Due Process & Humanity Die Under A White Nationalist Agenda

Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Houston Bureau Chief
LA Times
Hon. Charles Honeyman
Honorable Charles Honeyman
Retired U.S. Immigration Judge
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

 

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=b5c81c57-52fe-4cd7-a092-fc7c8da23f05&v=sdk

 

HOUSTON — Immigration Judge Charles Honeyman was nearing retirement, but he vowed not to leave while Donald Trump was president and risk being replaced by an ideologue with an anti-immigration agenda.

He pushed back against the administration the best he could. He continued to grant asylum to victims of domestic violence even after the Justice Department said that was not a valid reason to. And he tried to ignore demands to speed through cases without giving them the consideration he believed the law required.

But as the pressure from Washington increased, Honeyman started having stomach pains and thinking, “There are a lot of cases I’m going to have to deny that I’ll feel sick over.”

This month, after 24 years on the bench, the 70-year-old judge called it quits.

Dozens of other judges concerned about their independence have done the same, according to the union that represents them and interviews with several who left.

“We’ve seen stuff which is unprecedented — people leaving the bench soon after they were appointed,” said A. Ashley Tabaddor, an immigration judge in Los Angeles and president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges union.

“Judges are going to other federal agencies and retiring as soon as possible. They just don’t want to deal with it. It’s become unbearable.”

Especially worrying to many is a quota system that the Trump administration imposed in 2018 requiring each judge to close at least 700 cases annually, monitoring their progress with a dashboard display installed on their computers.

Tabaddor called the system “a factory model” that puts “pressures on the judges to push the cases through.”

Jeffrey Chase, who served as an immigration judge in New York City until 2007, founded a group of former immigration judges in 2017 that has grown to 40 members.

“They say they would have gladly worked another five or 10 years, but they just reached a point under this administration where they can’t,” he said. “It used to be there were pressures, but you were an independent judge left to decide the cases.”

The precise number of judges who have quit under duress is unclear. Kathryn Mattingly, a spokeswoman for the courts, said a total of 45 left their positions in the fiscal year that ended last September, but she declined to provide a breakdown of how many of those were deaths, planned retirements or promotions to the immigration appeals board.

More information may become available Wednesday, when a House judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to hear testimony on the state of judicial independence and due process in the country’s 68 immigration courts.

The Trump administration has been adding new judges faster than old ones are leaving. Between 2016 and last year, the total number of judges climbed from 289 to 442.

That increase as well as the quota system and other measures are part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to reduce a massive backlog that tripled during the Obama presidency and then grew worse as large numbers of Central Americans arrived at the U.S. border.

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security filed 443,000 cases seeking deportations and immigrants made a record 200,000 asylum applications — both records. More than a million cases remain unresolved.

Still, James McHenry, director of the immigration courts, told the Senate Homeland Security committee in November that the new rules have started to turn around a court system that had been hobbled by neglect and inefficiency.

On average, immigration judges met the quota last year while the number of complaints against judges decreased for the second year in a row, he said.

“These results unequivocally prove that immigration judges have the integrity and competence required to resolve cases in the timely and impartial manner that is required by law,” McHenry testified.

But many judges came to see the new guidelines as a way for the Trump administration to carry out its agenda of increasing deportations and denying asylum claims, which the president has asserted are largely fraudulent.

Those judges say it is impossible to work under the new system and still guarantee migrants their due process rights.

“There are many of us who just feel we can’t be part of a system that’s just so fundamentally unfair,” said Ilyce Shugall, who quit her job as an immigration judge in San Francisco last March and now directs the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Assn. of San Francisco. “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution.”

The Trump administration was “using the court as a weapon against immigrants,” she said.

Rebecca Jamil, who was also a judge in San Francisco before quitting in 2018, called it a “nearly impossible job.”

She said the judge appointed to replace her left after less than a year.

The judges union has taken up the cause, fighting to end the quota system and make immigration courts independent from the Justice Department.

In response, Justice officials petitioned the Federal Labor Relations Authority last August to decertify the union, arguing judges are managers and therefore not entitled to union protections. The board is expected to issue a decision later this year.

The conflict intensified after the union filed a formal complaint about a Justice Department newsletter that included a link to a white nationalist website that waged anti-Semitic attacks on judges.

Honeyman, who is Jewish, makes no secret of the empathy he felt for the asylum seekers who appeared in his courtroom in Philadelphia and during temporary assignments to courts in Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas.

His grandparents had come from Eastern Europe through New York’s Ellis Island. “I always thought, ‘But for some quirk of the immigration system, I would be on the other side’ ” of the bench, he said.

He granted asylum more often than many other judges. Between 2014 and 2019, immigration judges across the country denied about 60% of asylum claims, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Honeyman denied 35% of claims in his courtroom.

Reflecting on his career in a speech at his retirement party this month, Honeyman said he had been inspired by the cases he heard, including that of a Central American girl who wrote to thank him for granting her asylum. She had graduated from college and was applying to law school “so that she could give back to the America that had saved her life.”

Honeyman said he decided to leave the bench because of “the escalating attack over the past few years on the very notion that we are a court in any meaningful sense.”

“All of these factors and forces I regret tipped the balance for me,” he said. “It was time for Courtroom 1 at the Philadelphia immigration court to go dark.”

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The idea that things are “turning around” in a positive way for the beleaguered and weaponized “courts” is, of course, pure regime propaganda. The system, is totally out of control.

The Administration eliminated sensible “prosecutorial discretion” guidelines for DHS that prioritized cases in the manner of all other law enforcement agencies in America. DOJ politicos also stripped Immigration Judges of their well-established authority to manage dockets thorough “administrative closure” and restricted their ability to grant reasonable continuances (likely unconstitutional).

At a time when the world is still producing record numbers of refugees, the regime has artificially suppressed the asylum grant rate by issuing unethical and legally wrong politically generated precedents, blocking access to counsel, using intentionally coercive detention, and pressuring judges to “produce or else” which roughly translates into “deny and deport.” “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” (“ADR”)  is the order of the day. This toxic brand of ADR (not to be confused with “alternative disputes resolution”) is an insanely wasteful bureaucratic practice whereby “ready to try cases,” many pending for years, are shuffled off to the end of dockets that are many years out, often without advance notice to the parties, to accommodate Immigration Judge details, reassignments, and other “new priorities of the day.”

So totally out of control and mismanaged is today’s weaponized “court system” that the independent TRAC Immigration at  Syracuse University recently estimated that it would take approximately another 400 Immigration Judges, in addition to the approximately 465 already on duty, just for the courts to “break even” on the unrestricted and irresponsible flow of incoming cases from DHS enforcement. https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/591/

In other words, to stop creating more backlog. And that would be without further retirements or resignations – something that clearly is not going to happen. Even under those circumstances, the courts would merely be “breaking even.” Eliminating the “backlog” in a fair and legal manner would take additional judges and years, if not generations, if the courts continue to operate as a dysfunctional branch of DOJ dedicated to biased enforcement at the expense of due process, fundamental fairness, and responsible, professional management.

It’s likely that Wednesday‘s House hearings will further document the institutional unfairness and dysfunction of the current “courts” and the urgent, overwhelming need for an independent Article I Immigration court to be established by Congress. But, that reform might not come soon enough for the lives of many of the vulnerable individuals stuck in this “legal hellhole” and the sanity of many of the judges still on the bench.

Due Process Forever!

 

PWS

01-27-20

MORE FROM WASHPOST ON SESSIONS’S ATTACKS ON INDEPENDENCE OF US IMMIGRATION JUDGES!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/immigration-judges-worried-trump-is-seeking-to-cut-them-out-fight-back/2018/08/09/3d7e915a-9bd7-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html?utm_term=.6b3ca4d6ec23

Antonio Olivo reports for WashPost:

The union for the nation’s immigration judges is fighting a government decision to strip a Philadelphia judge of his authority over 87 cases, arguing that the move sidelines judicial independence as President Trump seeks to ramp up deportations.

Immigration judges work under the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, though they have independent authority to determine whether the thousands of undocumented immigrants who come before them every year can remain in the United States through asylum or some other form of relief.

In a labor grievance filed this week, the National Association of Immigration Judges says the office undercut that authority when it removed Judge Steven A. Morley from overseeing juvenile cases that he had either continued or placed on temporary hold amid questions over whether federal prosecutors had adequately notified the subjects to appear in court.

The Justice Department said in a statement Thursday that “there is reason to believe” Morley violated federal law and department policy in those cases, but it did not offer any specifics. The statement said an investigation is ongoing.

Trump alarmed immigration judges in June by tweeting that anyone caught at the border, presumably including those seeking asylum, should be deported without a trial.

“When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came,” the president wrote.

In its grievance, the judges’ union focused on a case involving Reynaldo Castro-Tum, a Guatemalan national who arrived in 2014 as a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor.

Castro-Tum’s current whereabouts are unknown, and he had not responded to recent court summonses. Morley temporarily closed his case in 2016, ordering the Justice Department to ensure that Castro-Tum was receiving the notices. He did the same with other similar cases.

Prosecutors appealed Morley’s decision, and the case eventually came to the attention of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who chose to review it in January.

Sessions concluded that Morley was wrong to close Castro-Tum’s case and ordered it resolved within two weeks.

Amiena Khan, a New York-based immigration judge who is the union’s vice president, said the intervention further raised suspicions that the administration is looking to circumvent the judicial process and move to deport people faster amid a backlog of some 600,000 cases.

“This is another transparent way, surprisingly transparent in this instance, for the agency to come in and re-create the ideology of this whole process more towards a law enforcement ideology,” Khan said.

The system “is based on our ability to look at the facts and adjudicate the claim before us to our best ability and then render a decision,” Khan said. “Not being told by someone else how to rule.”

The union, which represents 350 judges, argues that Morely should get his caseload back. It is asking the Justice Department to assure all immigration judges that their independent authority won’t be undermined.

Immigrant advocates say the dispute highlights a fundamental flaw in immigration courts, where the judges work under the same department that is tasked with prosecuting cases. Several legal groups have renewed a push for federal legislation to overhaul the system so judges can operate more independently, either through a different branch of the Justice Department or as a separate tribunal court.

“We’re very concerned the immigration judges are simply being turned into law enforcement officers,” said Laura Lynch, senior policy counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which launched a national campaign this month to lobby members of Congress to support such legislation.

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When he isn’t busy praising hate groups, covering for police violence against the African-American community, disenfranchising minority voters, promoting the establishment of religion, using bogus stats to fabricate a connection between immigrants and violent crime, abusing brown-skinned children, forcing transgender kids to pee in their pants, thumbing his nose at Federal Judges and their orders, briefing his attorneys on how to mislead courts, mounting unconstitutional attacks on cities, ignoring environmental laws, dissing Dreamers, shilling for racist legislation, deconstructing our refugee, asylum, and legal immigration systems, filling court dockets with minor misdemeanants to the exclusion of felons, imposing deportation quotas, shafting brown-skinned refugee victims of domestic violence, huddling with fellow neo-Nazi Stephen Miller, blocking migrants from getting abortions, or hiding under his desk from Trump, one of Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions’s favorite pastimes is interfering with the independence of U.S. Immigration Judges while purposely jacking up the backlog in the U.S. Immigration Courts.

It remains to be seen whether our country can survive this one-man Constitutional wrecking crew and his reign of indecency and intellectual dishonesty.

PWS

08-09-18

BREAKING FROM TAL: WANT PROOF THAT THE U.S. IMMIGRATION COURTS AREN’T “COURTS” AT ALL & THAT DUE PROCESS FOR MIGRANTS IS A FRAUD IN THEM? — DOJ TAKES ACTION AGAINST U.S. IMMIGRATION JUDGE FOR ALLEGEDLY CRITICIZING SESSIONS!

Immigration judge removed from cases after perceived criticism of Sessions

By Tal Kopan

The Justice Department plans to take dozens of cases away from an immigration judge who has delayed deportation orders, in part for perceived criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the union representing immigration judges said Wednesday.

CNN reported Tuesday that the Justice Department replaced Philadelphia Immigration Judge Steven Morley with an assistant chief immigration judge last month to hear a single case on his docket, which resulted in a young undocumented immigrant, Reynaldo Castro-Tum, being ordered deported.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jack Weil told Morley that comments in the Castro-Tum case were perceived as “criticism” of the Board of Immigration Appeals and attorney general’s decisions and that they were “unprofessional,” according to the grievance filed by the National Association of Immigration Judges. The cases all involve young undocumented immigrants and whether they got adequate notice from the government about hearings at which they failed to appear. Weil also told Morley that he himself should have either ordered Castro-Tum deported or terminated the case altogether.

It’s the most public fight yet between the union that represents the nation’s roughly 350 immigration judges and Sessions, who has intently focused on the immigration courts under his purview. The immigration judges have long bemoaned their structure under the Justice Department, but have taken particular issue with many of the moves pursued by the Trump administration that they say interfere with their ability to conduct fair and impartial court proceedings.

Unlike federal judges, immigration judges are employees of the Justice Department and the attorney general has the authority to hire them, manage their performance measures and even rule on cases with binding authority over how the judges must decide similar issues.

The judge’s union says DOJ broke the collective bargaining agreement by violating Morley’s independent decision-making authority.

Morley denied those comments were unprofessional and reiterated he made the proper decisions in the case based on the facts and due process, the grievance said.

“He’s being targeted for what is perceived to be criticism of the attorney general when it is in fact just a judge doing his job, raising concerns about due process,” Judge Ashley Tabaddor said Wednesday on behalf of the National Association of Immigration Judges.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/politics/immigration-judges-justice-department-grievance/index.html

 

Also ICYMI – my story on today’s hearing in Texas on DACA: http://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/politics/daca-hearing-texas/index.html

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Obviously, telling a judge how he “should” have decided a case is a job for the BIA, not the Assistant Chief Immigration Judge. That’s what appeals are for — to correct errors in a trial judge’s handling of a case. Can you imagine a Chief U.S. District Judge telling a colleague how he “should” have decided a case and removing cases because the judge didn’t handle the case as he wanted it done?

And certainly, judges are free to criticize or disagree in their decisions with decisions by superior judges and public officials as long as they ultimately follow the law and precedent. During my tenure as Chair of the BIA, we took a few “zingers” from Immigration Judges who didn’t agree with our decisions or what we ordered them to do. I always told staff to just concentrate on the merits and getting the result right without getting sidetracked by the sideshow. Also, as a trial judge, I applied a number of precedents where I had dissented as a BIA Member without necessarily agreeing that my former colleagues were correct — just acknowledging that they “had the votes” and I was obliged to apply the precedent.

If Congress won’t do its job and remove the Immigration Courts from the Executive Branch, it’s time for the Article IIIs to step in and put an end to this pathetic parody of justice. To steal a line from yesterday’s Washington Post, Session’s outlandish antics could easily be taken from a description of Stalin’s Gulag or a court system in a failing Third World dictatorship. Thank goodness that there are some courageous judges in this system, like Judge Steven Morley, willing to take seriously their oaths of office and to uphold the Constitution, even when it becomes “career threatening” (which, of course, in a functional judicial system — unlike EOIR — it shouldn’t).

Thanks again to Tal for “giving us the scoop” on this one.

PWS

08-08-18