Equal Protection – Page 25 – immigrationcourtside.com

⚖️ 👨🏻‍⚖️ THE LEVIN REPORT: AS FEALTY TO GOP’S OUT OF TOUCH EXTREME RIGHT AGENDA ROBS SUPREMES OF CREDIBILITY, ALITO BLAMES JUSTICE KAGAN FOR STATING THE OBVIOUS!

Bess Levin writes:

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As recent polls have shown, Americans’ confidence in the Supreme Court is at an all-time low, which presumably has something to do with the decision by the Court’s conservatives to inflict their medieval ideas about bodily autonomy on the country and end the national right to an abortion in June. Might it also have something to do with one of the justice’s spouses reportedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election and another securing his lifetime appointment without actually being properly vetted by the FBI? Yes, sure. But the biggie is no doubt the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (No, really: You don’t have to be a constitutional law expert to figure this out, seeing as a majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most instances.)

Justice Elena Kagan—who happens to be one of the few people on the Court who doesn’t believe half of the population should be treated like second-class citizens—recently pointed this out. At a July judicial conference in Big Sky, Montana, she told an audience: “If, over time, the Court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that is a dangerous thing for democracy.” Earlier this month, while speaking on a panel at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, she declared that a court is legitimate “when it’s acting like a court,” and that it’s a problem when justices attempt to impose their personal preferences on society. And last week, she made similar remarks at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, saying that throughout the Court’s history, “The very worst moments have been times when judges have even essentially reflected one party’s or one ideology’s set of views in their legal decisions. The thing that builds up reservoirs of public confidence is the Court acting like a court and not acting like an extension of the political process.”

Kagan’s comments don’t appear to be sitting very well with certain male justices. As Chief Justice John Roberts told a judicial conference in Colorado Springs, “Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the Court.” But it was Samuel Alito’s response that was the most creepy, given the very clear problem he has has with women.

In a comment to The Wall Street Journal, the archconservative said: “It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the Court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line.” In other words, he wants Elena Kagan to shut her liberal mouth, which is not only some anti-free-speech bullshit but a convenient way for him to ignore the fact that he shares a large portion of the blame for the widely held view that the Court has no integrity.

Unfortunately, Alito’s comment to the Journal shouldn’t surprise many people who’ve kept up with his work. Not only did he author the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in June, but he gleefully noted that his inspiration for doing so was a 17th-century English jurist who supported marital rape and had women executed for witchcraft. Later, after a 10-year-old rape victim was denied an abortion in her home state, Alito was doing comedy routines about taking away a pregnant person’s right to choose.

Of course, let’s not forget the other justice who’s done his part to erode confidence in the Supreme Court

. . . .

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Trial By Ordeal — Alito’s brand of “justice” harkens back to glorious days of yore when all-male judges had a range of methods for dealing with uppity women who thought they were entitled to control their own bodies and lives! — Woman Being “Tried By Ordeal”
17th Century Woodcut
Public Realm
Source: Ancient Origins Website
https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/trial-ordeal-life-or-death-method-judgement-004160

Read the rest of The Levin Report and subscribe at the above links.

Yesterday, new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was invested. As I’ve observed before, after the niceties and handshakes, her right wing extremist GOP colleagues will return to their chambers and continue to plot ways to bend and distort the law to dehumanize, disenfranchise, and demean Justice Brown Jackson, others like her, and all of the genuine American values she represents.

Lawrence Tribe’s tweeted critique of Alito’s disingenuous nonsense (see, full article) is “spot on:” “It’s politically agenda-driven decisions that cross the line by eroding the Court’s legitimacy.”

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-01-22

🆘 SOS FROM ROUND TABLE’S 🛡 ⚔️ JUDGE SUE ROY: COMPLETE DUE ROCESS MELTDOWN @ EOIR NEWARK, AS GARLAND’S LEADERSHIP CONTINUES TO FAIL! ☠️☠️ — Garland Has Managed To Bring AILA & ICE Together In Outrage Over His Dangerous, Gross Mismanagement Of The Immigration Courts!🤯

Hon. Susan G. Roy
Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC
Princeton Junction, NJ
Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges

My colleague Sue writes:

Hi,

First, can someone please share with the RT as a whole? I can’t do it from where I am at the moment.

Second, yes, believe it or not, Newark EOIR is implementing a “policy” (if you can call it that, since it hasn’t been written anywhere) starting Monday, October 3, 2022, that ALL DHS and Respondents’ attorneys must appear IN PERSON for almost EVERY case, including master calendar hearings. Their stated reason? “Webex bandwidth issues.” This is the Court that started Webex. This is the Court that caused the death of at least one person (and in fact 4 people ultimately died) and the severe illness of many more, because of its court policies at the beginning of the pandemic. And Newark EOIR’s completely unsafe and short-sighted policy just last year is what generated the lawsuit filed by AILA-NJ against EOIR.

The OPLA attorneys’ union and AILA-NJ have issued a JOINT press release (which is attached) after a joint letter to David Neal unfortunately did not resolve the issue. The NJ State Bar Association has also submitted a letter to Director Neal. (Also attached).

In fact, the Newark EOIR policy flies in the face of the DM issued by Director Neal himself regarding the use of WebEx throughout the nation’s immigration courts.

Some Newark IJs have already begun denying ALL WebEx motions for both DHS and Respondents’ attorneys, regardless of the reason behind the motion (such as, undergoing chemotherapy; receiving treatment for heart conditions; or having oral argument scheduled before the U.S. Court of Appeals on the same day, just to give some examples).

In any event, feel free to share widely and publicly. The Chair of AILA-NJ this year is Jason Camilo, who I have cc’d on this email just so he is aware.

Happy Friday!

Sue

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Here’s the joint letter letter from AILA & ICE:

PROSECUTORS AND ATTORNEYS

CALL FOR CONTINUATION OF VIRTUAL HEARINGS AND OPPOSE CHANGE IN POLICY IN NEWARK IMMIGRATION COURT

New Jersey – Both AILA NJ and AFGE Local 511 (ICE Professionals Union) call on the Newark Immigration Court, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), to continue to allow virtual hearings for all attorneys and immigrants, in all cases, without exception. These attorneys are opposed to the recently- announced policy of the Newark Immigration Court requiring all attorneys to either return in person to hearings beginning on October 3, 2022 or to seek waiver of in-person appearance for good cause. Public safety requires virtual hearings, especially for routine preliminary hearings that generate large groups of people in small courtrooms.

This new policy goes far beyond the policies of all other New Jersey court systems, from municipal courts, State courts, and federal courts, and puts everyone at risk—prosecutors, attorneys, court staff, immigrants, and the public at large. Federal and New Jersey State Courts are still operating almost entirely virtually, with exceptions only for criminal jury trials and some other specific proceedings. “EOIR’s new policy of making everyone return to the courtroom in person is dangerous and unjustified,” says Jason Scott Camilo, Chair of AILA NJ. Newark EOIR is not just requiring in-person appearances for contested individual hearings; it is requiring attorneys to appear in person at master calendar hearings as well, which can involve 50-60 cases per judge, per courtroom, every morning and afternoon. Thus, literally hundreds of people will once again be forced into small, unventilated courtrooms and narrow hallways every single day.

Sadly, this is not the first time Newark EOIR has tried to force prosecutors, attorneys, and the public into the courtroom during the pandemic. Numerous people contracted COVID-19 as a result of attending immigration court proceedings in March 2020. One well-respected AILA NJ member passed away as a result, and several people became seriously ill. Other federal workers at the same federal building have also succumbed to the disease. This is in addition to those who suffered and still suffer from long COVID complications.

Despite this, Newark EOIR compelled people back into courtrooms in July 2020. New Jersey immigration attorneys and the New Jersey Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association, (AILA NJ), sued EOIR on July 31, 2020 in Federal District Court, New Jersey,

seeking protection from EOIR!s first attempt compelling attorneys to appear in person during the pandemic. Due to this suit, Newark EOIR committed to providing attorneys with remote videoconferencing for the duration of the pandemic and to troubleshoot and address any glitches or interruptions in its use. All Immigration Courts nationwide soon adopted internet based hearings as the default for cases.

Since August 2020, prosecutors, attorneys, and immigrants have been appearing remotely, and, according to polling conducted by AILA NJ, the vast majority of internet-based hearings are proceeding without issue. Secretary Becerra of the United States Health & Human Services recently announced the continuation of the nationwide public health emergency on July 15, 2022. More than 34,000 New Jerseyans have died from COVID-19; over 2,500 people a day are still falling ill in New Jersey alone.

Acknowledging the benefits of internet-based hearings, David L. Neal, Director of EOIR, issued guidance on August 11, 2022, indicating that “all immigration courts have the capacity to hold such hearings…,” that “internet-based hearings have proven a valuable safety measure during the pandemic, as immigration judges can conduct such hearings without requiring groups of people to congregate in a courtroom…,” and that “EOIR anticipates that, going forward, internet-based hearings will remain essential to EOIR’s operations.”

“In fact, EOIR has been holding stakeholder meetings across the country to explain the continued benefits of utilizing Webex in immigration court proceedings. Why, then, would Newark EOIR, which was the first immigration court in the nation to use the WebEx system, suddenly choose to abandon it? Logically and logistically, this makes no sense,” explained Jason Scott Camilo.

Virtual hearings provide other benefits as well. Virtual hearings allow the courts to efficiently process more cases safely. Private attorneys and pro bono organizations are able to represent immigrants more effectively, having the ability to beam into various courtrooms in different locations in a single day.

According to AFGE Local 511, virtual court appearances enable prosecutors to minimize their exposure to hundreds of people in crowded courtrooms every day, while having more time to allocate their limited resources towards resolving cases outside the courtroom in motion practice and in consultation with opposing counsel. OPLA offices are understaffed, and virtual courtrooms enable telework, which in turn permits them to better manage their out of court duties, which primarily consist of efforts to reduce the immigration court backlog. “It makes no sense to hinder government attorneys attempting to assist EOIR in resolving cases ,” said AFGE Local 511’s Executive Vice President, Ginnine Fried, who is assigned to the Newark office.

Newark EOIR’s newly-announced policy requiring attorneys to appear in person or request a waiver is in direct opposition to the resolution of the federal lawsuit, is in direct opposition to the policy of the EOIR Director and, if implemented on October 3, 2022 as planned, will imperil the

health and safety of all who will be forced to appear in person. No other court in the state has taken such radical action. AILA NJ attorneys and AFGE Local 511 attorneys agree there is no valid public policy reason to implement this drastic change, and numerous public policy reasons to continue with virtual immigration court hearings: public safety, increased court efficiency, and uniformity. Standing united, these opposing sides are beseeching the Newark EOIR to let safety prevail and to preserve the health of those Americans working to preserve a fair and equitable Immigration system.

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Here’s the text of a letter to Director Neal from the NJ State Bar:

September 29, 2022

Sent via email to david.neal@usdoj.gov

Director David L. Neal

Executive Office for Immigration Review U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Director Neal:

NEW JERSEY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION

JERALYN L. LAWRENCE, PRESIDENT Lawrence Law LLC 776 Mountain Boulevard, Suite 202 Watchung, NJ 07069 908-645-1000 • FAX: 908-645-1001 jlawrence@lawlawfirm.com

On behalf of the New Jersey State Bar Association, which includes immigration attorneys among its 16,000 attorney members, I write to seek reconsideration of the policy change the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) has scheduled to implement in Newark, NJ, on Oct. 3, 2022. After more than two years of successful Webex Master Calendar hearings, EOIR will again require immigration attorneys to appear in person. While vague Webex bandwidth issues have been cited as the impetus for the change, there has been no stated reason why EIOR will not default to the prior practice of holding Master Calendar hearings telephonically. To be sure, there are legitimate concerns about the ability to judge credibility or simultaneous interpretation in certain telephonic immigration hearings, but those issues are not in play here as EOIR has waived clients’ appearance in Master Calendar hearings. Reverting to the pre-pandemic, inflexible court appearance requirements is both unnecessary, in light of back-up telephonic hearing capabilities, and presents costly time and monetary burdens to attorneys and respondents.

I. EOIR HAS SUCCESSFULLY HELD WEBEX HEARINGS SINCE THE HEIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN 2020.

EOIR Newark began Webex hearings in summer 2020 because of litigation filed by New Jersey immigration attorneys in the New Jersey chapter of Association of Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) on July 31, 2020, in the District Court of New Jersey, Newark Vicinage. That suit sought protection from EOIR Newark’s order compelling attorneys to appear in person during the pandemic. As a result of this litigation, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge David Cheng (ACIJ Cheng) of the New Jersey Immigration Court, and on behalf of EOIR Newark, committed to providing attorneys with remote videoconferencing for the duration of the pandemic. As part of the parties’ stipulation for dismissal, the parties agreed to the following:

New Jersey Law Center • One Constitution Square • New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1520 732-249-5000 • FAX: 732-249-2815 • EMAIL: president@njsba.com • njsba.com

WHEREAS, PM 21-03 further provides that, “[o]nce WebEx compatibility is available at an immigration court, for the duration of the declared national emergency related to COVID-19, either party may file a motion for the alien or the representative for either party to appear at a hearing by VTC through WebEx rather than in person,” see id.; and

WHEREAS, PM 21-03 further provides that motions to appear at a hearing by VTC through WebEx for any party or party attorney/representative, like motions for telephone appearances, are “subject to the discretion of the immigration judge, any applicable law and any applicable requirements of the ICPM [Immigration Court Practice Manual], a standing order, or a local operating procedure,” see PM 21-03 at p. 4.

See Stipulation for Dismissal, Docket 44, dated Feb. 16, 2021 (Docket No. 2:20-cv-09748- JMV-JBC) (emphasis added), attached hereto as Exhibit A.

In the wake of that consent order, EOIR Newark joined all other state and federal courts in New Jersey in operating virtually during the pandemic. In practice, and pursuant to ACIJ Cheng’s Standing Order dated June 19, 2020, all Master Calendar hearings were held telephonically, without the need for a motion, and all respondents’ appearances were waived if an attorney appeared on their behalf. See Standing Order dated June 19, 2020, attached hereto as Exhibit B. This Standing Order was rescinded pursuant to ACIJ Cheng’s Standing Order on Dec. 28, 2021, effective Jan. 10, 2022, at which time Master Calendar hearings changed from being held telephonically to being held via Webex. As it was before, these were without the need for a motion, and all respondents’ appearances continued to be waived if an attorney appeared on their behalf. See Standing Order dated Dec. 28, 2021, attached hereto as Exhibit C.

Even today, many court operations across New Jersey continue to be virtual. To name a few, state municipal matters are being managed remotely, except for DUIs and trials, and in Superior Court, non-consequential hearings such as preliminary appearances and status conferences continue to be held remotely.1 The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey extended its standing order on Aug. 8, 2022, regarding virtual hearings for criminal proceedings.2

Additionally, EOIR itself has acknowledged the benefits of internet-based hearings, for which Newark was a national leader in its overall success as a pilot program jurisdiction. On Aug. 11, 2022, EOIR issued Director’s Memorandum 22-07.3 That stated, “all immigration courts have the capacity to hold such hearings…,” and “internet-based hearings have proven a valuable safety measure during the pandemic, as immigration judges can conduct such hearings without requiring groups of people to congregate in a courtroom…” The memo cites the benefits of internet-based hearings, including that “Respondents and counsel appearing remotely are

1 See njcourts.gov/public/covid19_one-stop.html#court_hearings, last accessed Sept. 27, 2022.

2 See njd.uscourts.gov/sites/njd/files/CARESActSOSixthExt.ofSO2021-03.pdf, last accessed Sept. 27, 2022. 3 See justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1525691/download, last accessed Sept 27, 2022.

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relieved from traveling to court.” Finally, the memo said that “EOIR anticipates that, going forward, internet-based hearings will remain essential to EOIR’s operations.”

II. EOIR NEWARK INTENDS TO SUSPEND STANDARD WEBEX HEARINGS ON OCT. 3, 2022, WITHOUT PROPER NOTICE TO THE BAR, INCLUDING NJSBA.

Notwithstanding the above, the EOIR seeks to disband the standard for Webex hearings without proper notice to New Jersey attorneys and their clients who will be substantially and disproportionately affected by this sudden policy shift. The NJSBA only learned of this policy through its affiliate AILA NJ members when the committee chair for AILA NJ announced the new policy to its members by email on Aug. 30, 2022. The email was supplemented on Aug. 31, 2022, and again Sept. 8, 2022. The below paragraphs, taken from our AILA NJ colleagues’ letter to EOIR leadership, contain the entirety of the new policy, which was communicated via the emails referenced above.

From the Aug. 30, 2022 Email from EOIR Committee Chair:

The standing order for Webex hearings is revoked and in person appearances required as of 10/3/22. This of course is subject to exceptions and variations as follows:

1. Webex hearings will continue for all cases heard by Judge Ranasinghe and Judge Jeannopolous

2. Judge Pierro and Judge Chen will have in person master calendars and Webex merits hearings.

3. Judges Rubin, Rastegar, Riefkohl, Finston, Wilson and Lane will have in person hearings master and merits.

4. Represented respondents’ appearances are waived for master calendars like they are now on Webex masters, but not for merits hearings. This includes cases where an attorney is already on record or making his/her first appearance. Atty shows up, the respondent does not have to appear. If you are hired at the last minute and can’t make it, the respondent has to appear.

5. This does not apply to Elizabeth hearings as the facility does not admit visitors, all remote hearings.

6. If it is Judge Shirole or Pope and the hearing notice is for Newark, (DD Case), in person at Newark. Any doubts about Shirole call Elizabeth. Pope will all be in person.

7. You can still file a motion for a Webex hearing for good cause but it MUST be filed 15 days or before. If it is not granted you have to

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appear. I am told the reason for this is the Webex bandwidth is incapable of handling the level of internet traffic that has developed. The system is crashing constantly. More and more attorneys are using it with technical issues constantly. So the “good cause” issue will be a major consideration in granting or denying motions for Webex calendars.

From August 31, 2022 Email from EOIR Committee Chair:

1. DHS has to appear in person and they will be required to file motions for Webex.

2. I failed to include ACIJ Cheng and IJ Mullican among the list of judges where in person appearances are required.

From September 8, 2022 Email from EOIR Committee Chair:

ACIJ Cheng has rephrased the “good cause” language requirement for a Webex motion. He chooses to phrase it as “there has to be a reason”.

See AILA New Jersey letter dated Sept. 23, 2022, attached hereto as Exhibit D.

III. THE NEW POLICY FAILS TO PROVIDE PROPER NOTICE TO NEW JERSEY ATTORNEYS AND IT IS IN CONFLICT WITH PRINCIPLES OF EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE, DUE PROCESS AND FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS.

EOIR Newark failed to circulate a general notice to the entire bar of the policy change and thereby limited the ability of all practitioners to learn of the change in a timely fashion.

Indeed,

unless immigration attorneys are members of AILA NJ, which some, but not all NJSBA Immigration Law Section members are, they might still be unaware of this abrupt change in policy, which will prejudice them and their clients. To date, EOIR Newark has not published a formal standing order to officially announce it. This lack of notice will hinder equal access to the justice system for countless respondents whose attorneys are not aware of the sweeping changes

made to the practice. As our AILA NJ colleagues adeptly stated, notice of these changes should come directly from EOIR Newark in the form of a standing order, notice to the bar, website update, or other written statement. Further, the new policy is confusing and complicated in its

implementation.

This new policy also denies equal access to justice because of the effect it will have on attorneys’ fees. The fees for appearing at Master Calendar hearings in person, rather than virtually, will be markedly more expensive, and needlessly so, for immigration clients. Although clients’ appearance would be waived, the time attorneys spend to appear in person will be exponentially greater than that spent at a Webex appearance. In immigration removal proceedings, where respondents have no right to court-appointed counsel, many clients will find it cost prohibitive to pay an attorney for protracted appearances at Master Calendar hearings in Newark. An additional

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consequence may be that seasoned immigration attorneys would limit the removal defense cases

they accept that require needless Newark appearances.

Consistency in agency practices is a hallmark of due process and fundamental fairness. Respondents and attorneys should be able to rely on established policies and practices and conform their behavior accordingly. To be clear, changes should be announced with reasonable notice and ample breadth to the entire legal community. EOIR Newark’s decision to change course without prior, reasonable notice will have serious economic and practical consequences to immigration attorneys and their clients.

IV. THE NEW POLICY WILL BE UNNECESSARILY BURDENSOME AND WILL RESULT IN ADDITIONAL BACKLOGS AND INEFFICIENCIES THROUGHOUT THE IMMIGRATION COURT SYSTEM.

The new EOIR Newark policy will burden immigration attorneys by immediately requiring them to appear in person in Newark for Master Calendar hearings while their clients’ appearances remain waived. A Master Calendar hearing in Immigration Court is the equivalent to a status conference in most other litigation-based practice areas. They are administrative, taking approximately five to 15 minutes to complete. This will place a heavy burden on immigration attorneys across New Jersey all of whom will again be required to be physically present on the 12th Floor of EOIR Newark, which is New Jersey’s sole immigration court, by 8:30 a.m. on any given weekday for a hearing that will likely last fewer than 15 minutes. This change will be a hardship for attorneys from the south, such as an attorney from Cape May who would have to travel 148 miles to Newark, as well as those from the north, such as an attorney from Montague

who would have to travel 59 miles to Newark, all for a brief hearing.

A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the legal community’s embrace of technology. Attorneys and courts alike learned, adopted, and then mastered a more efficient process to effectively practice law. There is no reason to revert to antiquated, unnecessary practices. Health concerns aside, appearing for Master Calendar hearings via Webex has proven to be a much more efficient process that reallocates attorneys’ time into their files and clients’ valuable financial resources. If Webex is experiencing bandwidth issues, telephonic Master

Calendar hearings should be the back-up policy for attorneys rather than in person Master Calendar hearings. Immigration attorneys rely on Webex hearings to manage their practices, caseloads and clients’ schedules and expectations. Immigration attorneys have relied on the belief that EOIR Newark’s Master Calendar hearings would be handled in a remote fashion and have entered into retainer agreements with clients with fee estimates that do not contemplate in- person appearances, have scheduled their calendars, and accepted other court hearing dates, upon that belief. This new policy, which is being implemented in a haphazard manner, creates numerous conflicts, requiring voluminous motion practice to correct. The new policy would upend these successfully established practices on which attorneys, their staff, and their clients

have come to rely over the last two years.

The new policy states that motions to appear via Webex will be entertained, but that they must enumerate a “reason for the request.” Requiring a motion requesting a virtual hearing on every Master Calendar hearing, where an attorney may have dozens in any given week, is an

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overwhelming and unnecessary burden. Additionally, the court, and its already backlogged docket, will be flooded with motions for virtual hearings. The most likely reality is that a majority of attorney motions requesting Webex appearances would be undecided by the date of the appearance. That would lead to a stressful situation each week in which immigration attorneys cannot properly plan their schedules and calendars because they do not know whether or how the immigration judge has ruled on their motion, and whether an in-person appearance will be necessary. Additionally, calling EOIR Newark to ascertain an immigration judge’s decision on a pending Webex motion is, and will continue to be, an unreliable practice strategy. Court staff are already far too busy with court administration to field dozens of additional calls

from immigration attorneys each day relating to these issues.

EOIR should continue to permit immigration attorneys to appear for Master Calendar hearings via Webex as standard policy, without a motion. Although EOIR Newark has cited bandwidth concerns as an impetus for the sudden return to in person hearings, it has failed to set forth any basis for not defaulting to the process of holding Master Calendar hearings telephonically nor any substantive reasoning to support the policy that an attorney’s in-person appearance at a Master Calendar hearing is vital to the judicial process. Indeed, prior to the Dec. 21, 2021, EOIR Newark standing order to conduct Master Calendar hearings by Webex, all Master Calendar hearings were handled successfully via telephone, with the respondent’s appearance waived. If bandwidth upgrades are a concern, EOIR Newark should temporarily reinstate that practice and hold Master Calendar hearings with immigration attorneys via telephone until Webex bandwidth

issues are rectified.

Once again, the NJSBA urges this court to permit hearings for all Master Calendar hearings to be held telephonically or via Webex, without the need for a motion. When we learn and implement a better process, we should embrace that spirit of innovation and creative problem solving rather than revert to antiquated processes. We look forward to working with EOIR Newark to find solutions that allow the court to efficiently accomplish its work and best serve the litigants who appear before it.

Very truly yours,

Jeralyn L. Lawrence, Esq.

President, New Jersey State Bar Association

Cc: Hon. David Cheng, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, EOIR Newark (sent via email to david.cheng@dhs.gov)

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One of my reliable sources in the DMV area says that DHS is predicting the same awful “bandwidth” mess at the newly opened “Sterling Immigration Court.” How does a judicial system open “new courts” and mass reschedule cases without checking out basics like “bandwidth capacity” in advance? Total, inexcusable incompetence!

Sadly, this is not a surprise to those of us who have been blasting Garland’s horrible failure to make the glaringly obvious (to all but him) systemic, structural, and personnel changes to restore at least a modicum of due process in his failed “court system” — America’s worst courts, as I have been saying over and over.

When are Dems in Congress finally going to provide some meaningful oversight and force Garland to answer tough questions about his “due process disgrace” @ EOIR? Senator Booker and Senator Menendez, where are you?

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-30-22

EYORE — “Eyore In Distress”
Poor Eyore can’t catch a break — and, neither can the prosecutors, private attorneys, and individuals subjected to Garland’s botched “management” of EOIR — “America’s Worst Courts!”

🗽👍HUMANITY WINS: FOOD, SHELTER, REPRESENTATION, TEAMWORK, OVERCOME DeSANTIS’S & ABBOTT’S CRUEL SHENANIGANS! — DeSantis created “a picture of a carefully orchestrated, taxpayer-funded operation with little apparent concern for the interests of the migrants caught in the middle.”

Beth Reinhard
Investigative Reporter
Washington Post
PHOTO: WashPost Website

Maria Sacchetti
Immigration Reporter, Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/25/desantis-perla-migrant-flight-marthas-vineyard/

This WashPost article by Beth Reinhard, Maria Sacchetti, and Molly Hennessy-Fiske sets forth in detail how the courage and perserverance of asylum seekers, the humanity and initiative of the local community in Martha’s Vineyard, timely assistance by the Massachusetts Government, and heroic efforts by pro bono lawyers, came together to “redirect” the cruelty behind nativist GOP Govs’ idiotic political stunt.

. . . .

Nearly two weeks later, though, Jose is one of dozens of migrants who now question Perla’s efforts to entice them onto a flight that unexpectedly ended on the wealthy island of Martha’s Vineyard — a political operation engineered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to gin up outrage over the United States’ border crisis.

Much remains unknown about the effort. While DeSantis has embraced his role in staging the flight, arguing that it protected Florida from “negative ramifications” of a border crossing surge, his office has been less clear about the purpose of nearly $1.6 million paid to a contractor, according to state records, and the role of state officials in developing the plan.

But Post interviews with several migrants directly recruited by Perla, as well as court documents and state records, paint a picture of a carefully orchestrated, taxpayer-funded operation with little apparent concern for the interests of the migrants caught in the middle. Florida officials began researching Texas’s migrant situation weeks before the flights, and a contractor with ties to the DeSantis administration later handled the efforts. Some migrants, meanwhile, say they were misled into signing documents after being lured into the trip with food and hotel stays.

. . . .

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Read the complete article at the link.

Imagine what could be accomplished if Texas and Florida officials actually worked to HELP resettle individuals in an orderly and reasonable manner that recognized their humanity and respected and facilitated their legal rights to apply for asylum and other protections in the US? What if the Biden Administration actually brought in a team of qualified experts to lead and operate our existing refugee and asylum systems fairly and effectively instead of using stale approaches and personnel who simply lack the skills, vision, and courage to get the job done?

Fortunately, the asylum seekers, NGOs, and state and local officials, and ordinary citizens in welcoming American communities have stepped up to get the job done notwithstanding the glaring failures and counterproductive efforts of the previously-mentioned groups!

The preposterous attempt by DeSantis to link “sanctuary” with asylum seekers! Loosely speaking, “sanctuary jurisdictions” are those that have declined to voluntarily cooperate with certain ICE enforcement activities, primarily directed at so-called “civil” immigration enforcement.

But, the Venezuelan asylum seekers “orbited” to Martha’s Vineyard had all been examined by DHS and released to pursue their legal requests for asylum in the US! Indeed, most probably turned themselves in to DHS Enforcement after being forced to cross illegally to present claims that the U.S. Government (with the connivence of GOP state Attorneys General and biased right wing Federal Judges) has refused to accept at legal ports of entry as they are supposed to do under our laws.

These individuals are NOT “wanted” by ICE enforcement. There is no connection whatsoever between any “sanctuary jurisdiction’s” decision not to cooperate with ICE enforcement in rounding up certain individuals for possible deportation and legal asylum seekers from Venezuela (or any other country) pursuing their claims, beyond the fact that sanctuary jurisdictions value human dignity and are more welcoming to migrants of all types and statuses when called upon to provide assistance to them.

Venezuelan asylum seekers are part of the larger forced exodus of 6-7 million Venezuelans escaping the repression of the Maduro regime. 95% of these forced migrants have found refuge in countries OTHER than the U.S. Colombia is the largest destination country with at least 1.7 million Venezuelans, many times more than the U.S.

The vast majority of Venezuelans have found refugee in countries far poorer and less able to resettle them than the U.S. The idea that “sanctuary policies” of Martha’s Vineyard or any other U.S. jurisdiction is driving Venezuelan asylum seekers is beyond absurd. Indeed, it now appears that the Venezuelan asylum seekers “orbited” to Martha’s vineyard as part of the DeSantis scheme neither knew where it was nor had any idea they were being sent there until they were well on their way!

Indeed, the decision to send these individuals to an island with neither a DHS Office nor an Immigration Court (as opposed to, say, resettling them in Boston with advance notice), and with few “own site” pro bono lawyers, actually undermined their ability to comply with legal requirements and squandered resources that could and should have been put into getting timely and fair adjudications of their legal asylum applications. But, even in the face of GOP-led efforts to create maximum chaos, these legal asylum seekers and their supporters are committed to making our legal system work — against all odds!

Finally, congrats to Molly Hennessy-Fiske, long time LA Times immigration reporter who has now joined the team at WashPost!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-26-22

😎🗽 PROF. ERIN BARBATO @ UW LAW WITH SOME GOOD NEWS!

Professor Erin Barbato
Director, Immigrant Justice Clinic
UW Law
Photo source: UW Law

Good morning Judge Schmidt,

I hope this email finds you well. It is already getting chilly in Wisconsin but fall is one of my favorite seasons here. In case you are interested, this is a little piece that Newsy put together about a lovely family and Ngwa, an asylum seeker from Cameroon, who became part of their family. How a Cameroonian Immigrant Was Granted Asylum in the U.S. (VIDEO) (newsy.com) I do believe there are other families like this across the country willing to welcome people. The political use of humans seeking refuge is horrifying these days.

Thank you for all you do! I appreciate you.

Erin M. Barbato
Director Immigrant Justice Clinic
University of Wisconsin Law School
975 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
(608)262-2276
She/Her/Hers

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is built on the ancestral land of the Ho-Chunk Nation. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. We respect the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.

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View the video at the above link! Thanks, Erin, my friend for sending this in and for all that your and your wonderful students do for humanity and for Due Process in America! Many thanks to the Swandbys and other great American families for standing by refugees in need and being role models for the best in America at a time when so many of our politicians and their followers are “modeling bad behavior and lack of fundamental values!”

It’s always good to keep in mind that many Americans do have sound values and welcome asylum seekers and other immigrants, rather than using their situation to engineer political farces at the expense of vulnerable humans who have come here seeing legal refuge and are allowed to be in the US while pursuing their claims. As I have pointed out many times, any government official truly interested in addressing migration issues would prioritize spending money for 1) representation of asylum seekers, 2) orderly relocation to places where support systems are available and asylum claims are more likely to be fairly an timely adjudicated. But, that would take a thoughtful, cooperative, governing for the common good approach rather than wasteful political stunts.

Voters in both Florida and Texas will have a chance to remove their “stuntmen” in November. Unfortunately, however, it’s not clear that will happen.

We also shouldn’t let the Biden administration “off the hook” for: 1) failing to put in place a reasonable program for resettling asylum seekers away from stressed border communities; 2) the abject failure of the Immigration Court’s asylum adjudication process which is driving much of the haphazard response to legal asylum seekers; 3) the failure to achieve meaningful reforms, training, and appropriate staffing of the USCIS Asylum Offices (even assuming that the “new asylum regulations” were the answer, the implementation has been inexcusable, inept, and ineffective, just as many experts predicted); 4) the gross failure to establish a robust, generous, realistic refugee admission system for the Western Hemisphere to process refugees for admission before they are forced to come to our borders; and 5) their overall failure of leadership on refugee and asylum issues in both the national and international arenas.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-25-22

CATHERINE RAMPELL @ WASHPOST — The GOP’s “Performative Cruelty” Is Bad Policy!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/19/immigrants-marthas-vineyard-desantis-performative/

. . . .

Not to mention that even the Trump administration (the Trump administration!) found that refugees and asylees are a net positive for public budgets over the long run. That is, despite typically arriving penniless, these immigrants ultimately pay more in taxes than they receive in government benefits.

Michele L. Norris: What Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis don’t understand about America

Contra DeSantis’s insinuations about immigrant moochers, these are people who want to work and become economically self-sufficient. That’s presumably why DeSantis’s own henchmen promised fictitious jobs to lure the asylum seekers onto flights.

. . . .

If Republican officials actually wanted to reduce the number of people coming to the border without advance permission, there are plenty of things these politicians could do. They could push for expansion of guest-worker visas, for instance. Or more funding for the refugee admissions program. Or really any other legal, orderly pathway to come to the United States.

After all, the main reason there is such a crush at the border — and why the asylum system in general is so overwhelmed — is that right now this is one of the very few legal ways to get to America.

Yes, I said legal: The families being hoodwinked and shipped around the country like chattel on chartered buses and flights are here lawfully, based on what’s been publicly reported. They turned themselves in upon crossing the border precisely so that they can apply for asylum, as is their legal right. The federal government has screened them, and granted them humanitarian parole while they pursue their asylum cases in court.

It’s not an ideal system. Or an especially fast one. It would be much better to fix the rest of our broken legal immigration system so that those other, more orderly pathways are available. Especially the pathways that offer quicker access to work permits, given America’s current massive labor shortages.

It’s true that Democrats have also put forth relatively little effort to fix these problems. In some cases Democrats seem fearful of appearing too pro-immigrant, having apparently bought into the GOP lore that deep down Americans are xenophobes. But even what little Democrats have tried to do they generally can’t do without 60 Senate votes. Which Democrats don’t have.

Democrats need Republicans to cooperate on immigration reform, and Republicans won’t. Even when those reforms are coupled with investments in border security that Republicans claim to want. The GOP would rather keep around a dragon they can perpetually promise to slay one day — and better yet, to taunt and torture for a while, in public, first.

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Read Catherine’s complete article at the link. Interesting that Catherine understands so much so well, while those in the Biden Administration charged with immigration and human rights policy are so clueless, timid, and inept!

In the meantime, the Dems have done little to make the current laws relating to refugees and asylum work. The much-hyped “asylum rule changes” at DHS have had little, if any, discernible positive impact. EOIR is a national disgrace — continuing the “death spiral” that accelerated during the Trump kakistocracy. The refugee system remains in shambles. The proposed 15,000 allocation of refugee admissions for FY 2023 to Latin American and the Caribbean is an insult and a “signal” to other receiving nations in the area that we are not serious about addressing the problem. There is no rational resettlement program for asylum seekers crossing the border, thus providing an unnecessary opening for the “performative cruelty” of clowns like DeSantis and Abbott.

None of these things are “rocket science” or “budget busters.” They just require knowledgeable leadership, values, and the courage to act on them. Apparently, faced with the cruelty and desecration of values by the “MAGA GOP,” the Dems think that “all they have to do is show up, smile, and mumble platitudes” to seem like the only choice for Americans who believe in democracy. Maybe — but I wouldn’t count on it!

I think that Catherine “hit the nail on the head” with this assessment of the spineless policy officials driving refugee and asylum policies in the Biden Administration: “In some cases Democrats seem fearful of appearing too pro-immigrant, having apparently bought into the GOP lore that deep down Americans are xenophobes.” Cowardice on immigrants, immigrants’ rights, and racial justice has become an endemic problem in the Democratic Party.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS
09-22-22

🤯 OUTRAGE BOILS OVER AT MERRICK GARLAND’S “MILLERESQUE” WAR ON DUE PROCESS AT EOIR & HIS GROTESQUE MISMANAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION COURTS! — Garland Might Be A Greater Threat To Our Democracy Than DeSantis and Abbott!

The latest report on Garland’s accelerating disaster @ EOIR from Jason Dzubow, “The Asylumist:”

https://www.asylumist.com/2022/09/21/due-process-disaster-in-immigration-court/

Due Process Disaster in Immigration Court

It is not easy to convey the magnitude of the ongoing disaster at EOIR, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the office that oversees our nation’s Immigration Courts. Simply stated, the agency is rescheduling and advancing hundreds–maybe thousands–of cases without notifying attorneys, checking whether we are available to attend the hearings or checking whether we have the capacity to complete the cases.

On its face, this appears to be a mere scheduling problem. But in effect, it is a vicious and unprecedented assault on immigrants, their attorneys, and due process of law.

“Advancing hearings with no notice and no time to prepare? Why didn’t I think of that?!”

For me at least, the problem started small. A few cases were rescheduled and advanced without anyone at the Immigration Court bothering to inquire about my availability: Your case that was scheduled for two years in the future has been advanced and is now set for two months in the future. I was angry and upset, but I did not want to let my clients down. So I set other work obligations aside. I set family time aside. I put off doctors appointments. And I completed the cases, which were approved. I hoped that these cases were anomalies and that EOIR would stop this unfair and abusive practice. But that was not to be.

Instead, EOIR has dramatically expanded its effort to reschedule cases, often without providing sufficient notice–or any notice–to get the work done for our clients. As best as we can tell, the problem is occurring in California, Colorado, Maryland, and Virginia. I myself have had about a dozen cases rescheduled and advanced (so far). These cases had been scheduled for 2023 or 2024, and suddenly, they are now set for the fall of 2022. Other attorneys have had 20, 30 or more cases advanced, including some that were double booked. One lawyer reported having seven cases scheduled for the same week and 47 cases set for one month. Another lawyer purportedly told a judge that if she had one more case scheduled within the next six months, she would commit suicide.

Here, I want to break down what is happening, so noncitizens in Immigration Court can at least have some idea about EOIR’s disruptive practices.

First, when I say that EOIR is not providing notice of the hearings, that is not entirely accurate. They are not sending us a notice or contacting us in advance. Instead, they are posting the new hearing dates on our portal. What does this mean? Each attorney has access to a portal page with a calendar. We can scroll through the calendar one month at a time. Days with hearings are highlighted, and we can click on those days to see what is scheduled. When I review my calendar, I often find new hearings that were not previously on the schedule. The only way to know whether a new hearing has been scheduled is to scroll through our portals month-by-month and compare what’s there with our existing calendar–a burdensome process that leaves plenty of room to overlook a date. Needless to say, every time I sign on to the portal, I feel a nauseous sense of dread about what I might find.

Once we discover the new date, we need to review the file, contact the client, and determine whether we can complete the case. This all takes time. If we cannot complete the case, or we do not have an attorney available on the scheduled date, we need to ask for a continuance. Of course, clients who have been waiting years for a decision usually want to keep the earlier hearing date. They do not understand why we cannot complete the work or why we are not available that day. Their perspective is perfectly reasonable, but they only have one case, where lawyers have many and we are daily being ambushed by EOIR with additional work. All this can result in conflicts between clients (who want their cases heard) and lawyers (who need time to get the work done). It also makes it difficult to serve our other clients, who must be pushed aside to accommodate the new work randomly being dumped on us.

Even if the client agrees to request a continuance, that does not solve the problem. Motions to continue can be denied. Even when they are granted, the judges tend to reset the date for only a few weeks in the future, which is often not enough time to properly complete the work. Other times, judges simply do not rule on the motion, so we are left to prepare the case, not knowing whether it will go forward or not.

Also, while we sometimes discover a new date that is a few months in the future (and so in theory, we might have time to do the work), other times, the new date is only a few weeks in the future. Since the evidence, witness list, and legal brief are due at least 15 days before the hearing, and since even a “simple” asylum case takes 20 or 30 hours to prepare, this is not nearly enough time. Worse, some cases are randomly advanced and placed on the docket after the evidence is due, and so by the time we have “notice” of the case, our evidence is already late.

Adding insult to injury, another common problem is that cases are still being cancelled at the last minute. And so we drop everything to prepare a case, only to have it postponed once all the work is done. Since this is all utterly unpredictable, it is impossible to prioritize our work or advise our clients.

Again, if this were only a few cases, attorneys could set aside other work and get the job done. But lawyers who do immigration law tend to have many cases, and we are seeing dozens and dozens of cases advanced with no notice. This is such a blatant and obvious abuse of due process that it is impossible to believe it is accidental. I might have expected this policy from the Trump Administration, which was hell-bent on restricting immigration by any means necessary. But as it turns out, President Biden’s EOIR is far worse than President Trump’s. Indeed, the current level of callousness would make even Stephen Miller blush.

The solution to these problems is so basic that it should not need to be said, but here it is anyway: EOIR should stop advancing and rescheduling cases without notice and without consideration for whether we have time to complete the work. Unless something changes, we can expect many noncitizens to be unfairly denied protection, immigration attorneys will leave the profession (or worse), and EOIR will become illegitimate. Let us hope that sanity and decency will soon return to the Immigration Courts.

*****************

Ever wonder why Dems struggle to govern and often lose elections they should win? This is a pretty good example of how the Biden Administration, through cowardice, ignorance, arrogance, and failure to prioritize racial justice and immigrant justice are “shooting themselves in the foot, over and over!”

They are going into midterms where every vote counts. They need “all hands on board” in the human rights community to help bail them out of the gross failures of the White House, Garland, and Mayorkas to reestablish a fair, efficient, and properly robust system for legally admitting refugees and processing asylum claims at the borders and the interior. This, in turn, has empowered disingenuous nativists like DeSantis and Abbott to “play games with human lives.”

But, the Biden Administration “strategy” is to do everything possible to offend and drive a wedge between them and some of their most loyal and important groups of supporters — the immigration, human rights, and racial justice communities. (Make no mistake: The ongoing disaster at Garland’s EOIR disproportionally targets individuals of color.)

Garland seems to be impervious to his self-inflicted disaster at EOIR. I think that advocates are going to have to sue to bring his “Stephen Miller Lite” travesty of justice at EOIR to a grinding halt. Those are resources that could and should be used to help asylum seekers “orbited” around the country by DeSantis and Abbott.

I, for one, have been saying for a long time that Garland’s unfathomably horrible performance at EOIR is a threat to our entire justice system and to the future of our nation. Sadly, every day, Garland proves me right!

The real shame: It was all so preventable with just a modicum of competence and backbone from our failing AG!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever! Merrick Garland’s deadly Clown Courts 🤡, Never!

PWS

09-21-22

⚖️🗽LITSA PAPPAS @ BOSTON NEWS 25 INTERVIEWS ME ON WELCOMING RELOCATED ASYLUM SEEKERS! — They Are Entitled To Pursue Asylum In The US – Helping Them Achieve Fair Outcomes (Which Should Be Asylum Grants In Most Cases) Should Be Highest Priority For Americans & Biden Administration!

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/immigration-expert-outlines-next-steps-marthas-vineyard-migrants/KCQVZY342VDXFL4PDKFRO2J5S4/

Immigration expert outlines next steps for Martha’s Vineyard migrants

By Litsa Pappas, Boston 25 News

September 18, 2022 at 10:23 pm EDT

0:23

/

2:33

Unmute

Immigrations expert outlines next steps for Martha’s Vineyard migrants

Governor Baker has activated 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to assist in relief efforts for the nearly 50 migrants who came here last week.

Those migrants are now staying at Joint Base Cape Cod after they were flown into Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday.

“There’s no doubt about the fact that it was a political move, not a move calculated to make the system work or to help people,” said Paul Wickham Schmidt, a retired U.S. Immigration judge and adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Schmidt says it was surprising to see dozens of migrants dropped off on Martha’s Vineyard last week without any notice.

“With advanced notice, I think they could have done an even better job and probably with more focus on helping the individuals and less focus on what’s happening here,” said Schmidt.

People living on Martha’s Vineyard jumped into action to provide food and shelter for the immigrants from Venezuela, and now this weekend, they’ve been moved to dorms set up at Joint Base Cape Cod, where MEMA is trying to keep families together while providing not only beds and food, but also services from health care to legal support.

“Getting somebody who can take a personal interest and can make sure people can check in where they’re supposed to,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt says now, the migrants will need lawyers to help them check into an ICE office, Immigration court and an asylum office – all of which didn’t exist on Martha’s Vineyard.

Even though the last few days have been confusing, Schmidt believes the migrants will get the help they need as they get closer to Boston.

“This could have some silver linings because I think the people aren’t in Texas, which is sort of an asylum-free zone, where the judges deny almost every asylum case and there’s obviously a hostile local attitude,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt says immigration courts in Massachusetts are more likely to grant asylum cases than in Texas or Florida.

State leaders say they appreciate all the donations and support coming in for the migrants, but at this point they can’t accept any donations at Joint Base Cape Cod.

If you’d like to donate to the relief efforts, you should send an email to the Massachusetts Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters at MAVOAD@gmail.com.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2022 Cox Media Group

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Click on the link at the top to get the video of Litsa’s complete report including her interview with me.

Here are several other recent articles supporting my observation that, despite the cruel intent of nativist grandstanders like DeSantis and Abbott, this should and must be an opportunity for our nation to put its best foot forward. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjXi6qHvKP6AhWzGFkFHSJBDksQFnoECBEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fideas%2Farchive%2F2022%2F09%2Fdesantis-marthas-vineyard-busing-stunt-blue-cities%2F671476%2F&usg=AOvVaw3XTXVr6SfOSalmoJycAEVK; https://t.co/E5wHdRAzLW

As the latter article from Paul Waldman @ WashPost points out, the GOP has no answers whatsoever about how to reform the U.S. immigration system. Dems have some proposals, but lack qualified, expert dynamic leadership on the issue.

Even without legislation, there are lots of things the Biden Administration could have done by now to fix the broken asylum and refugee systems and make them functional, using current law! The biggest missed opportunity is painfully obvious to all expert observers: Fix the broken Immigration Courts starting with the Trump holdover BIA which is still a serious and unconscionable drag on our entire legal system!

For example, given the size and importance of the Venezuelan refugee flow, and the mass of available documentation about the truly horrible human rights conditions under the Maduro regime in Venezuela, there should be many BIA precedents guiding practitioners and judges on how to prepare and grant asylum to Venezuelan asylum seekers. This would encourage and facilitate DHS, the private/NGO bar, and Immigration Judges in rapidly moving Venezuelan asylum grants through the system in a timely fashion.

Instead, there are no favorable Venezuelan asylum precedents that I know of. Moreover, almost all the recently BIA precedents on asylum are crabbed, legally deficient, often factually misleading, sometimes anti-historical, “prompts” on how to manipulate the law to improperly deny needed protection. They send grossly improper signals to already under-trained Immigration Judges that “any reason to deny asylum” is the BIA’s “comfort zone.”

There is an old saying that “elections have consequences.” But, apparently, when Dems win and Merrick Garland is the Attorney General, not so much.

Immigrants are good for America. Those granted asylum are a critical, often overlooked and and seriously underappreciated, group of legal immigrants. And, there are plenty of places that would welcome more hard-working individuals to their communities. https://www.pressherald.com/2022/09/18/immigrants-may-hold-a-key-to-solving-maines-labor-shortage/; https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/us/texas-migrants-bus-rides.html.

Yes, the asylum system is screwed up. But, with or without the help of the Biden Administration, people of good will, NGOs, and advocacy groups can band together to insure that those many who deserve asylum get it in a timely fashion. https://default.salsalabs.org/T1a970eba-b28b-4499-860c-84201811af84/e9c83407-de3b-4bcf-a318-704cbcd599a2

Unfortunately, given the disorder and dysfunction promoted by Garland’s Immigration Courts’ biased and defective handling of asylum cases — essentially “working overtime” to manufacture bogus reasons to deny “slam dunk” asylum grants and providing defective guidance — and the disturbing lack of competent leadership on immigration and human rights by the Biden Administration, that’s going to take litigation in the Article IIIs. Getting individuals out of “Asylum Free Zones” operating in violation of sound legal standards for adjudicating asylum cases, primarily in the 5th and 11th Circuits, will be a huge “plus.”

Keep the focus on the “good guys” who need our help! That’s the best way of taking it to the cowardly grandstanders using humans as pawn and “photo ops.” It’s also the best way of dealing with clueless Dems, like Garland, who empower the “DeSantis’s of the world” by failing to fix our failing legal refugee and asylum systems and to vigorously stand up for the legal and human rights of those needing and deserving protection!

There is a “great story” to tell about the contributions of those granted asylum and other immigrants to America. If Garland and “tone deaf” Dems are afraid to tell it, it’s up to the rest of us to do the work for them!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-20-21

🤯🥵☠️TEFLON MERRICK? — AS CIRCUITS CONTINUE TO RIP GARLAND EOIR’S SYSTEMIC DENIALS OF DUE PROCESS, HIS GROSS MISMANAGEMENT OF EOIR IS CREATING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AMONG THOSE TRYING TO “PRACTICE” BEFORE HIS EVER-DETERIORATING, DEADLY, “CLOWN SHOW” 🤡MASQUERADING AS A “COURT”

Alfred E. Neumann — Was Merrick Garland AWOL during required training on legal and judicial ethics? Judging from how he runs “America’s worst court system” — where due process, fundamental fairness, and best practices go to die — we have to assume that that he thinks he has “risen above” the need to comply with ethical requirements!
PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons

I can’t even keep up with the ludicrously bad EOIR decisions being “outed” by the Circuits and, worse yet, mindlessly (and probably unethically) defended by the DOJ’s OIL. Here’s just one afternoon’s “haul:” https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/211163.U.pdf (4th Cir., failure to follow precedent, improper one-judge appellate decision); https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d0d1a22c-4e59-4b4d-9439-92e57e7339ec/2/doc/20-3476_opn.pdf#xml=https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d0d1a22c-4e59-4b4d-9439-92e57e7339ec/2/hilite/ (2d Cir., improper denial of continuance, “Round Table” case); https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/212259p.pdf (denying fair access to counsel, denial of continuance).

These are very graphic examples of Garland’s inexcusable failure to end the “haste makes waste, anything goes culture” @ EOIR — encouraged by Sessions and Barr but completely unaddressed by Garland! And, I guarantee this is just “the tip of the iceberg.” For every one of these outrageous errors caught by a Circuit, dozens are probably wrongfully denied relief and illegally ordered deported in Garland’s dysfunctional, due process denying, deportation assembly line!

But, beyond that, Garland’s failure to “clean house” at EOIR and hire qualified, expert, professional leaders, judges, and administrators is an ongoing national disgrace — one that is eating away the foundations of our justice system.

Here’s a “real life snapshot” from my “Morning Mailbox:”

I got 15 individual hearing notices in two days for October 2022. Right now the firm has 47 [Individual Hearings] in October for 4 attorneys to handle. A lot of the hearings we never even got notice for, we just randomly have been checking the portal and that’s how we are finding out. Once we do find out we are always about a month or less away from the hearing date. We are going to try to file motions to continue but who really knows what they are going to do about it. Also, I had an [Individual Hearing] with Judge _________ the other day, and he said that Respondents’ attorneys are having a hard time. He said he had a master that he had to schedule for an [Individual Hearing], and the Respondent’s counsel told him if he scheduled her Individual Hearing within the next 6 months she was going to commit suicide. He seemed really concerned for the attorneys. Hopefully this calms down, because the hearings are piling on and quite honestly no one has the manpower to do all of the [Individual Hearings] in especially such short notice.

This is insane, inexcusable, and totally uncalled for! Aimless Docket Reshuffling gone wild!

In what real “court” system is a judge “required” to schedule a hearing that he knows is beyond the ability of the lawyer to handle at the appointed time. That’s an ethical violation! Who is behind this mess? If the “buck stops at the top,” why isn’t Garland under under investigation for “operating a system” that clearly violates judicial and professional ethics?

Q: What happens when comedy 🎭morphs into tragedy☠️?

A: Merrick Garland’s EOIR

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-16-22

🏴‍☠️🤯👎🏽 CRUMBLING INSTITUTIONS: OF COURSE THE OUT OF TOUCH, POLITICIZED SUPREMES’ GOP MAJORITY IS SHEDDING LEGITIMACY AS THEY IMPLEMENT AN EXTREME FAR-RIGHT POLITICAL AGENDA WITHOUT LEGAL BASIS! — C.J. Roberts’s Incredibly Lame Claim Otherwise Proves It!

Every time a GOP politico or media sycophant preferences remarks with “I’m not a racist,” you know that some outrageous racist statement is about to follow. What they are doing is dishonestly attempting to preemptively “shift the blame and focus” to those who call out their vile, dishonest conduct!

Over the weekend, Chief Justice John Roberts, drifted down a similar discredited path of disingenuous “preemptive denial.” In a ludicrously tone deaf statement that echoed Tricky Dick’s “I’m not a crook” speech, Roberts lamely attempted to defend the legitimacy of his Court’s stripping of fundamental human rights from women. In doing so, he basically reinforced critics’ points about the Court’s illegitimate, extralegal, right-wing, political war on individual and human rights with a good bit of misogyny thrown in!

Richard Nixon — Nixon’s “I’m not a crook speech” convinced many that he was, indeed, a crook. Roberts’s “My Court isn’t illegitimate just because it advances a far-right political agenda speech” is heading in the same direction!
PHOTO: Twitter

Never mind that the Court basically aligned itself with authoritarian theocrats promoting “forced birth” and overt subjugation of a woman’s fundamental right to decide whether or not to reproduce. Indeed, advancing that minority political agenda was the fundamental reason why Roberts and his GOP crew are on the Court in the first place! To pretend otherwise is off the wall!

There are some strong moral, societal, economic, and medical arguments to be made about why women should or should not choose to have children. Under the First Amendment, both those who favor abortion and those who oppose it have always been free to argue their points.

But, the idea that these choices should be removed from those directly concerned and placed in the hands of political and religious authorities is preposterous. Lacking convincing arguments to persuade all women facing that choice to their side, the far right theocracy did a preemptive strike! And, their “wholly-owned Justices” went along!

Needless to say, Roberts’s insultingly disingenuous defense of the indefensible did not fare well with informed critics.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, now an MSNBC analyist, On Meet the Press:

On Sunday, McCaskill – an MSNBC political analyst – tore into Roberts for taking the country backward and recalled that the jurists who signed onto Alito’s originalist rationalization misled the public during their respective Senate confirmation hearings.

“He’s so so out of touch. I mean really, this interview shows why the numbers for the Supreme Court are so bad. For him to say something like that, he just doesn’t get it. You don’t take away a right that’s been around for 50 years and you don’t have a party go to extremes of trying to make sure rape victims have to have forced birth,” McCaskill said.

“You don’t do that and not have it splash back on the Supreme Court,” she continued. “And they all said they respected precedent when they were confirmed. I heard them. America heard them. Clearly, they didn’t, and you can feel me getting angry at John Roberts right now because he knows better when he says that stuff.”

Professor (and former prosecutor) Joyce White Vance, Professor Leah Litman, Professor Stephen I. Vladeck, Political Scientist Norman Ornstein:

https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/claire-mccaskill-john-roberts-roe/

“Roberts’s failure to understand why the court has lost credibility with so many Americans smacks of ‘Let them eat cake,’ ” Joyce White Vance, a former prosecutor and a distinguished professor of the practice of law at the University of Alabama law school, told me. “The Supreme Court has a proud history of defending our rights, not taking them away. The Roberts court will go down in history as the first one” to strip away people’s rights.

University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman said: “I would be embarrassed to say something that naive and divorced from reality if I had said it as a first-year law student. For the chief justice to say it is just an insult to the intellect of everyone who knows anything about the court, American democracy and politics.”

. . .

If Roberts and the conservative bloc were to engage in just a tiny amount of self-reflection, they would understand that their own actions have brought them to this point. Law professor Stephen I. Vladeck, of the University of Texas school of law, asked me rhetorically: “If the court’s legitimacy doesn’t come from public acceptance of the principled nature of its decision-making, where does it come from?”

While Roberts might not have written the most egregious opinions, he has joined in them, from the abortion ruling in Dobbs, to the prayer-in-schools ruling in Bremerton, to a Brnovich decision on voting rights, written by Alito, that “blatantly ignored the plain language of the law and rewrote it to fit his partisan and ideological views,” as political scientist Norman Ornstein told me. Moreover, Ornstein said, it is Roberts who has “ignored Clarence Thomas’s blatant conflicts of interest and continues to oppose applying the judicial code of ethics to the Supreme Court, even as its credibility plummets.”

He concluded: “John G. Roberts Jr. is far from the worst justice undermining the fundamental legitimacy of the court, but he is surely culpable.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/12/roberts-criticism-supreme-court-whining/

Jennifer Rubin, WashPost opinion writer:

The court has failed to regulate itself and instead has abused its power. None of the six right-wing justices acknowledge, nor do they signal they want to halt, the conduct that has lost the public’s confidence.

So it’s up to Congress and the president to shore up the court’s credibility. Allocating more seats to correct the damage done by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s court-packing, imposing term limits on all justices and enacting a mandatory code of ethics would be good places to start.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/12/roberts-criticism-supreme-court-whining/

Eric Lutz in Vanity Fair:

But it’s not just the outcome, which decimated a right Americans had held for five decades and put a variety of other privacy rights in jeopardy. It’s the way that decision — and others on guns, climate change, and religion — recently came to pass.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/john-roberts-defends-supreme-court-against-legitimacy-questions

*******************************

In this case, Roberts would have done better to confine himself to “calling balls and strikes.” Sadly, he and his GOP colleagues have gotten out from behind the plate and taken the field in their “Federalist Society” uniforms. He’s going to have to learn to live with objections and catcalls from those in the stands who see what’s really going on here and are understandably upset about the Court’s overreach, substandard legal performance, lack of accountability, absence of self-awareness, and, yes, lack of legitimacy.

Better judges for a better, fairer America — from the Immigration Courts to the Supremes!

By the way, we can’t change the Supremes overnight. But, Biden, Harris, & Garland COULD have reformed, repaired, and legitimized the Immigration Courts, including the BIA, that they control. That they have failed to do so is the biggest “unforced error” of the Biden Administration — one that will haunt Democrats and Americans for ages!

Every day Garland’s parody of a court system, still largely bearing the unmistakable stamp of White Nationalists Sessions, Barr and Miller, continues to run roughshod over individual rights, often in life or death cases, while degrading the judicial process. Misogyny and racism are also on full display, as a disproportionate brunt of their unprofessional, wrong-headed, result-oriented “any reason to deny” decision-making falls on refugee women of color (and often on their accompanying children).

There is a very direct connection between “DHS agents in robes” in our Immigration Courts and “right-wing politicos in robes” at the Supremes. Part of the idea is to “normalize” injustice directed at “the other” — just so long as YOUR life isn’t directly affected, who cares? It’s also known as “Dred Scottification.” It’s the “polar opposite” of Dr. Martin Luther King’s observation that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If Dems don’t “connect the dots,” they might not be able to save our democracy!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-12-22.

GARY SAMPLINER @ WASHPOST — The DMV Can Turn Abbott’s White Nationalist Stunt Into A “Win – Win!” — It Requires A Durable Approach! — Don’t Expect It To Come From The Biden Administration!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/09/dc-grateful-texas-migrants/?utm_campaign=wp_afternoon_buzz&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_buzz&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F37e0c1d%2F631b9b1ff3d9003c58ca5081%2F598a8acf9bbc0f6826fe4cb8%2F50%2F67%2F631b9b1ff3d9003c58ca5081&wp_cu=565797071f2aa4e140538667638665f9%7CC0D6D8DF75AF4203E0430100007FC096

Opinion by Gary Sampliner

September 9, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. ET

Gary Sampliner is a director of JAMAAT (Jews and Muslims and Allies Acting Together) and a member of the Bethesda Jewish Congregation, which with Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church and the Maqaame Ibrahim Islamic Center is working to assist arriving migrants and asylum seekers. JAMAAT is a member organization of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.

Gratitude might not be the reaction Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was expecting when he began sending frequent busloads of migrants and asylum seekers to the greater D.C. area. But gratitude, warmth and a renewed sense of collective responsibility are the responses I have seen as D.C.-area organizations and faith communities (and, most recently, its government) have stepped up to welcome and support newcomers.

With Abbott’s bus initiative — a costly venture likely to be funded in large part by Texas taxpayers — we’ve seen an apparent strategy to inflict maximum pain on our region and score political points, using vulnerable people as weapons aimed at pressuring the Biden administration into taking more drastic measures to seal our nation’s southern border.

But, despite the deeply cynical nature of Abbott’s plans, we might actually owe him a debt of gratitude.

We know that providing transportation is one part of establishing a dignified reception system for people seeking safety, and we’ve witnessed repeatedly the long-term payoffs to our communities and nation when we offer support to those in need of refuge.

The D.C. area has been generous in welcoming migrants fleeing persecution. With community and government support, Virginia has been the third-highest recipient of recent Afghan refugees to the United States, and Maryland is not far behind. My own synagogue and the church and mosque with whom we share our building have been active in helping welcome Afghan refugees to the area since 2017. The Jewish-Muslim community organization I help to direct has been working to get other interfaith partnerships involved in similar efforts.

Afghan arrivals are not the only ones receiving a warm reception. With the help of some heroic community and faith groups — many of which are part of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network — our area has mobilized quickly to welcome the migrants being bused here from the southern border. These tremendous efforts have demonstrated, yet again, the area’s commitment to extending welcome and hospitality to those in need.

As with the public-private, multisector approach used in Afghan and other refugee resettlements, we need all hands on deck to welcome new arrivals to the area. We need as many available resources as possible, including the support of local, state and federal governments, faith groups, nonprofit organizations and community volunteers.

It is heartening to see D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) now stepping up to the challenge and opportunity posed by the arriving migrants. On Thursday, she announced the establishment of an Office of Migrant Services, with an initial allocation of $10 million, to meet the needs of the migrants who are moving elsewhere or intending to reside here. As an official “Welcoming City,” D.C. government assistance should be an essential element of the response to welcome migrants to our region — especially considering that, as a majority of the D.C. Council has told Bowser, D.C. is expected to have a surplus of around $500 million in fiscal 2022 — even though D.C. has good reason to request Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement to help satisfy the overriding federal responsibility over immigration matters.

But the need for private and community support for the incoming migrants remains critical for their successful integration into our community. Though my organizations’ work with the Afghan community continues, we’ve begun to provide various types of assistance to the newcomers being bused here. We are pleased to see and strongly encourage fellow faith communities and groups around the area to join us in this important work of welcome and are pleased when they do. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the best of who we are in the face of unprecedented levels of forced dislocations worldwide.

The bottom line is this: If we want to continue to live up to our values, many more of us need to step up to assist the new arrivals. And if we can meet this challenge, we will set an example for the rest of our country to follow.

******************

One frequent mistake is to view this situation as “an emergency” or “temporary.” That leads to “short-term thinking” — throw some money at it, energize volunteers, and “hold the fort” until the so-called “crisis” subsides.

Problem is, money runs out, volunteers burn out or get called to pitch in on other issues, and the media turns its attention elsewhere. But, refugees and asylees will continue to come.

And, the better we treat our new arrivals, the more who will develop ties here and choose the DMV as their U.S. residence. While nativists like Abbott view this as a “crisis” and an “invasion,” I agree with Gary that it’s a great opportunity for us and these migrants. We’ve lived the DMV area for almost 50 years. Most of the growth and prosperity over that time can be linked, directly or indirectly, to recent immigrants, both with and without documents!

In many ways, the situations in other countries that drive migration are worse than at any time since the end of the Cold War. And, it’s not getting better, at least in the short run. Meanwhile, our legal refugee and asylum systems remain a shambles, despite the Biden Administration’s promise to do better than the Trump White Nationalist kakistocracy.

For example, one of the largest, probably the largest, flow of refugees in the Western Hemisphere is from Venezuela. And, contrary to the restrictionist blather, the vast majority of the six million who have fled Venezuela are NOT in the U.S. Colombia has received at least 1.8 million, where the U.S. has fewer than 350,000.

But, there is no immediate prospect that most Venezuelans will return or stop coming. Nor is there any chance that countries like Colombia are going to “up their share” so that the U.S. can take fewer!

Yet, the Biden Administration has failed to provide consistent, helpful, guidance on Venezuelan asylum at either DHS or DOJ. An improved and better BIA, with expert judges committed to a proper application of asylum law, should have issued appropriate precedents that could have been a basis for getting tens of thousands of grantable Venezuelan asylum cases off the endless backlogs and on the road to green cards.

But, Garland continues to mismanage asylum law at all levels. He employs unfocused politicos, unqualified Trump-era bureaucrats, and judges who got or retained their jobs under Sessions or Barr because of their actual or perceived willingness to unlawfully deny asylum. Nor has DHS implemented any semblance of the necessary, realistic, robust overseas refugee program for Venezuela, Haiti, and the Northern Triangle!

Mayorkas has “beefed up” the TPS program for Venezuela. But, by its own terms, that’s not a long-term solution. They extended TPS for Haitians while denying recent arrivals their legal rights to seek asylum and inexplicably returning thousands to the dangerous, failed state without any process at all. It’s a farce — but one with ugly racial overtones and a horrible message! To say that Biden’s refugee and asylum programs are screwed up would be an understatement!

Refugee flows, including asylum, are both inevitable and continuing. They are an important, beneficial, and essential component of legal immigration.

Those seeking legal refuge can be forced largely into the underground system, as Trump tried to do; largely admitted in an orderly legal fashion as progressive experts urge; or there can be a haphazard “combination of the two” which is what we have now!

Undoubtedly, refugees and asylees are good from America. They will get jobs, make contributions, and have families of U.S. citizens. The tax base and U.S. institutions will benefit. But, that’s the “long view.”

In the short run, migrants need food, affordable housing, orientation, and education. Kids will need more teachers with specialized skills in a time of nationwide teacher shortage and politicized demonization of educators and administrators. School populations will increase. That takes money. Taxpayers and the politicians answerable to them are notoriously focused on the now, rather than the whenever.

So, the pressing issue is how to institutionalize, regularize, and fund successful migrant resettlement. In other words, how do we get from here to there in the absence of effective government leadership, planning, and funding – often on multiple levels?

I wish I had the answers. But, I don’t. We have to hope that Gary and others like him outside the dysfunctional government structure do! Because, ready or not, migration will continue! See, e.g., https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/09/10/🇺🇸🗽👍🏼-immigrant-nation-teas-truth-wisdom-americans-views-on-immigrants-and-immigration-are-overwhelmingly-positive/.

Meanwhile, Texans might want to give the financial shenanigans of their corrupt, inept, so-called Governor a closer look! According to NBC, he’s spending an average of $1,400+ for each individual bussed from the border to DC. A commercial coach ticket is $200-300! https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/abbotts-border-buses-cost-1400-per-rider-taxpayers-could-be-stuck-with-bills/2993548/

Texans will have a chance to replace Abbott with a real Governor, Democrat Beto O’Rourke in November.

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-11-22

⚖️THE GIBSON REPORT — 09-96-22 — Compiled By Elizabeth Gibson, Managing Attorney, NIJC — CAIR Seeks Examples Of “IJs using [boilerplate] and engaging in little/no actual legal analysis in a particular case.” — NIJC Looking For “PD Stories” — Many Helpful Practice Advisories & Alerts!

Weekly Briefing

This briefing is designed as a quick-reference aggregation of developments in immigration law, practice, and policy that you can scan for anything you missed over the last week. The contents of the news, links, and events do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Immigrant Justice Center. If you have items that you would like considered for inclusion, please email them to egibson@heartlandalliance.org.

CONTENTS (jump to section)

◦NEWS

◦LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

◦RESOURCES

◦EVENTS

NEWS

Biden Administration Has Admitted One Million Migrants to Await Hearings

NYT: Under a pandemic-driven public health rule, migrants have been turned away at the U.S. border 1.7 million times since Mr. Biden took office, a figure that includes some people who have attempted to cross multiple times. But the United States has allowed others to stay temporarily for a range of reasons, including because Mexico or their own countries will not take them back. Nearly 300,000 of those who have been allowed in — including many heads of families — have been outfitted with tracking devices so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can keep tabs on their whereabouts while they await their day in court. See also ‘Tale of two borders’: Mexicans not seen at busy crossings.

‘Human crisis’: Chicago seeks help as Texas buses over migrants

AlJazeera: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently told reporters that about 125 migrants have arrived in the city on board buses from Texas, including 50 people who arrived on Sunday alone, most of them families. See also Texas spends more than $12 million to bus migrants to Washington, DC, and New York; Chicago welcomes immigrants bused out of Texas with open arms.

No longer young, ‘dreamers’ uneasily watch a legal challenge

WaPo: The oldest recipients were in their early 30s when DACA began and are in their early 40s today. At the same time, fewer people turning 16 can meet a requirement to have been in the United States continuously since June 2007.

Dozens of migrant children reported missing in Houston, raising alarms

Reuters: The agency found that since late last year, 57 unaccompanied migrant kids had been reported missing in Houston, the HHS official, and two additional sources familiar with the situation, said. Included in the count were nine kids who ran away from HHS shelters in the Houston area, the official said.

Venezuela’s refugee crisis similar to Ukraine’s in scale, but not aid

WaPo: The exodus from Venezuela has grown to the point that its refugee numbers are now close to those displaced by the conflict in Ukraine — but the European crisis has drawn disproportionately more financial support, according to an advocacy group. See also Ecuador begins regularization process for thousands of Venezuelan migrants.

California may be 1st to ban solo confinement for immigrants

CA: California would be the first U.S. state to ban solitary confinement in private civil detention centers used for immigrants who are under threat of deportation, under a bill that advanced Tuesday.

Feds Say Biz Lined Pockets With Migrant Kids’ Shelter Funds

Law 360: Federal prosecutors accused a Texas contractor of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was intended to be used for housing unaccompanied migrant children.

Afghan Resettlement Efforts Will Now Prioritize US Family Ties

Law 360: The Biden administration will focus on bringing over Afghans who have U.S. families in the next stage of its effort to relocate those fearing for their lives under the Taliban’s rule, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.

LITIGATION & AGENCY UPDATES

American Samoa Gov’t Argues Against Birthright Citizenship

Law 360: The American Samoa government told the U.S. Supreme Court Monday that imposing birthright citizenship on American Samoans would deprive them of the right to decide their status, going against American Samoa-born individuals who earlier appealed to the high court.

1st Circ. Calls Removal Statute ‘Hard-Hearted’ In Affirming BIA

Law 360: The First Circuit was bound Wednesday to stand by an immigration appeals board decision that ordered a Guatemalan man removed from the country despite the hardship it would cause his children, saying the call was in line with the “hard-hearted” and “stringent statutory requirement.”

1st Circ. Says Fuzzy Memory Of Assault Doesn’t Bar Asylum

Law 360: The Board of Immigration Appeals was wrong when it refused to consider a psychological report explaining why an El Salvadoran teen seeking asylum had trouble remembering the details of sexual assaults that occurred when she was a child, a split First Circuit has ruled.

CA3 On Credibility, CAT: Njoka V. Garland (unpub)

LexisNexis: [U]nder the law of this circuit, an adverse credibility finding is “not determinative” of a claim for CAT protection…The Board was thus obliged to also consider Njoka’s independent evidence in the context of his claim for CAT protection.

CA9 On INTERPOL Red Notice, CAT: Gonzalez-Castillo V. Garland

LexisNexis: This court has long interpreted “serious reasons to believe,” the standard set by the statute for the serious nonpolitical crime bar, as equivalent to probable cause. In this case, the INTERPOL Red Notice cannot, by itself, establish probable cause.

Another CA5 Pereira / Niz-Chavez Remand: Parada V. Garland – Now Published!

LexisNexis: [T]he BIA’s decision to deny Parada’s motion to reopen was based on a legally erroneous interpretation of the statutes governing Notices to Appear and the stop-time rule. The Supreme Court has since reinforced the holding of Pereira and held—again— that to trigger the stop-time rule, a Notice to Appear must come in the form of “a single document containing all the information an individual needs to know about his removal hearing.”

CA9: BIA Must Consider New Evidence For Immigration Credibility

Law 360: The Ninth Circuit revived a Sikh man’s second attempt at obtaining asylum in the United States, finding that the Board of Immigration Appeals should have considered new information he presented in his later bid about the dangers of living as a Sikh in India.

9th Circ. Rules Ariz. Drug Convictions Trigger Deportations

Law 360: A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled that Arizona’s drug possession laws can support federal immigration removal orders despite banning a broader list of substances than the federal drug schedule because the Grand Canyon State requires juries to determine the specific drug type involved in each conviction.

Calif. Judge Imposes New Rules For Migrant Youth Placement

Law 360: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement must notify young detained migrants and their counsel when it decides against releasing them to their parents or relatives and provide reasons for withholding release, a California federal judge has ordered.

ICE Inks $4.8M Deal With Migrant Teens In Detention Litigation

Law 360: U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement has agreed to pay $4.8 million to resolve a class action claiming the government routinely failed to consider safer options before transferring teens to adult detention facilities after they turned 18, according to a proposed settlement filed Thursday in D.C. federal court.

Judge Recommends Immigrant Class Cert. In NY Detainer Suit

Law 360: Immigrants suing New York’s Suffolk County and its sheriff’s office over their practice of holding people past their release date by request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have won over a federal judge, who recommended their proposed class be certified.

Iranian Diversity Visa Applicants Say They Were Skipped Over

Law 360: Two California chapters of a national Muslim civil liberties group and 159 Iranian diversity visa applicants have sued the Biden administration in federal court, claiming they have been “skipped over” and “unreasonably delayed” in the processing of their applications “for no explicable reason.”

USCIS Extends and Expands Employment Authorization for Individuals Covered by DED for Liberia

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today published a Federal Register notice for the extension and expansion of eligibility for Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians and explaining how eligible Liberians may apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).

USCIS Resumes Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program Operations

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is resuming operations under the Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) program, beginning with pending CFRP program applications.

USCIS Updates Guidance Related to Religious Workers

USCIS: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to reorganize and expand on existing guidance related to special immigrant and nonimmigrant religious workers.

EOIR to Open Sterling Immigration Court

EOIR: The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced it will open a new immigration court in Sterling, Virginia, on Oct. 3, 2022. The Sterling Immigration Court will include 19 immigration judges. It will be the second immigration court to open in the National Capital Region this calendar year.

Call for Examples: IJ Use of Boilerplate

CAIR: Peter Alfredson from CAIR Coalition’s Immigration Impact Lab is seeking examples of problems related to how IJs are using boilerplate addenda/statements of law in oral decisions. Please contact him at peter@caircoalition.org with any specific issues you’ve experienced with the addenda, including, but not limited to: IJs referring to the addenda but never actually providing them; addenda misrepresenting the law in a prejudicial way; and IJs using the addenda and engaging in little/no actual legal analysis in a particular case.

Call for Examples: PD stories (US v Texas)

NIJC: If you have examples of prosecutorial discretion you are willing to share (anonymously to your client if you wish), please fill out this form: Amicus Stories. Also: if you are a nonprofit and would be interested in signing on as an amici, please fill out this form: Joining Amici. In particular, we are thinking of cases that fit into the following categories: Grants or Denials under the Mayorkas Memo of PD for the purpose of seeking some non-EOIR benefit, such as: Eligibility for U visa, Eligibility for adjustment of status, Eligibility for SIJS. Grants or Denials under the Mayorkas Memo of PD based on particular humanitarian or unique considerations: Military service (self or family), Undercover or confidential informant situation, Family separation. DACA / DREAMers, MPP, Old convictions / rehabilitation. Stories (even if they predate the Mayorkas Memo) involving: Circumstances where individuals who would have been subject to 236(c) were not placed in removal proceedings, and the person was able to pursue relief with USCIS because no proceedings were ever initiated. Circumstances where individuals who could have been subject to reinstatement of a prior removal order did not have that order reinstated and were able to do things like pursue a U or T visa before USCIS, without being detained or placed in removal proceedings.

RESOURCES

AILA: Practice Alert: Biden Administration’s Asylum Processing Rule Is Now in Effect in the Courts and Asylum Offices of Seven Destination Cities

AILA: Practice Alert: USCIS Publishes Final DACA Regulation; Fifth Circuit Ruling on Legality of DACA Remains Pending

AILA: Practice Alert: ICE Provides OPLA Field Office Contact Email Addresses

CLINIC: USCIS Announced Permanent Change to Signature Policy

CLINIC: BIA Clarifies the Nature of Time and Date Requirements in NTAs

CLINIC: Department of State (DOS) Updates

CRS: The Law of Immigration Detention: A Brief Introduction

CRS: Are Temporary Protected Status Recipients Eligible to Adjust Status?

DHS: Southwest Border Enforcement Report

DHS: Asylum Processing Rule Cohort Reports

ILRC: What is the DACA Rule and How Does it Impact Me?

ILRC Recent USCIS Policy Manual Additions Clarifying Guidance on the Unlawful Presence Bars

ILRC: CA Public Benefits for Noncitizens

NLG: Community FAQ: Status of Prosecutorial Discretion Under the Biden Administration

NLG: Template Prosecutorial Discretion Request: Joint Motion to Reopen based on Due Process Concerns

NLG: Template Prosecutorial Discretion Request: Joint Motion to Reopen an in Absentia Removal Order and Dismiss or, in the alternative, a Joint Motion to Reopen

NLG: Practice Advisory: Gathering Criminal Records for Immigration Matters

NLG: Explainer: Biden Administration on Policing Two Years In

USCIS: The CIS Ombudsman’s Webinar: Overview of USCIS Online Accounts for Attorneys and Representatives

USCIS: TRIG Guidance (updated 8/29/22)

EVENTS

9/7/22 EOIR to Hold National Stakeholder Meeting Regarding Internet-Based Hearings

9/7/22 Understanding FOIAs with DHS

9/7/22 Mediating Immigration Petitions for Review in the Seventh Circuit

9/8/22-9/29/22 Webinar Series: Dealing With Denials

9/8/22-9/9/22 ABA Bench & Bar Academy: Your Best Trial Practice

9/8/22 Post-Conviction Relief: “If I Could Turn Back Time!”

9/8/22 Trial Advocacy Skills – Working with Expert Witnesses in Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and Convention Against Torture Claims

9/8/22 USCIS Engagement: Cameroon Temporary Protected Status Designation

9/8/22 How Demographic Change Is Shaping the Future of Immigration

9/9/22 Understanding the Regulatory Practice

9/13/22 PLI: Representing Children in Immigration Matters 2022: Effective Advocacy and Best Practices

9/14/22 Representing U Visa Clients with Complex Issue

9/14/22 Partial to Full Accreditation Initiative 2022

9/15/22 Monthly NIPNLG Removal Defense Webinar: Credibility and Impeachment

9/15/22 Advanced Mandamus Trends

9/20/22 19th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

9/20/22 Nonprofit and For-Profit Entity Intersection 2022: Achieving Charitable Goals Through Innovative and Nontraditional Mechanisms

9/21/22 Breaking Down the Record in a Ninth Circuit Petition for Review

9/21/22-9/22/22 Refresher and Practice Tips: Legal Remedies for Immigrant Survivors

9/22/22 Maximizing Second Chances: Filing Appeals, Motions, and Practicing before the BIA

9/23/22 Politics and Purpose Movement Lawyering Workshop

9/28/22 AILA: Microsoft Word Tricks That Will Change Your Life

9/29/22 Consular Processing Roundup for Families and Survivors

10/1/22-10/8/22 Spanish for Lawyers in Allende, Mexico

10/6/22 2022 Fall Immigration Skills Conference

10/6/22-10/19/22 CLINIC: Immigration Practice Skills Course

10/7/22-10/28/22 Understanding and Preparing Waivers

10/12/22 Prosecutorial Discretion Updates

10/12/22-10/13/22 NLG: Immigration Defense Strategies

10/18/22 VAWA Updates – USCIS Policy Changes and Practice Tips

10/19/22 U Visa: I-929 Process & Issues

10/20/22 Understanding Unlawful Presence and I-601/I-601A

10/27/22 2022 Convening On Advancing Universal Representation

10/29/22 4th Annual NIJC 5k for Immigrant Justice

11/2/22 TPS Updates

11/3/22 Drugs and Naturalization

11/8/22 SIJS-based Adjustment of Status with Delinquency or Crimes

11/16/22 Introduction to Conditional Permanent Residence and Filing the I-751

11/17/22 NLG: Updates on Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds (TRIG) with guest speaker, Jay Gairson

11/29/22 Building an Asylum Claim

12/6/22 Emerging Strategies for Prolonged Detention

12/7/22 Parole in Immigration

12/13/22 The Effects of Absences on Naturalization

12/14/22 Hot Topics in Asylum Law

12/15/22 NLG: Obtaining Criminal Records with guest speaker, Gabriela Kahrl

01/19/22 NLG: Top Ethical Issues Facing Legal Representatives in Removal Hearings with guest speaker, Retired Immigration Judge Dana Marks

To sign up for additional NIJC newsletters, visit: https://immigrantjustice.org/subscribe.

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Elizabeth Gibson (Pronouns: she/her/ella)

Managing Attorney for Capacity Building and Mentorship

National Immigrant Justice Center

A HEARTLAND ALLIANCE Program

224 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60604
T: (312) 660-1688| F: (312) 660-1688| E: egibson@heartlandalliance.org

www.immigrantjustice.org | Facebook | Twitter

*******************

Thanks, Elizabeth!

Lack of analysis, prejudged cases, overt anti-immigrant bias, and absence of “applied” immigration, human rights, and due process expertise is an endemic problem at EOIR. Using canned law (some of it flat out wrong or at least questionable) in “addenda” appears to be another “built to fail,” due process denying, haste make waste “gimmick.”

Lousy analysis and basic mistakes appear in Federal Court rebukes of EOIR highlighted here, on LexisNexis, on ImmigrationProf blog, and other resources on an almost daily basis. And, we by no means are able to catalogue all of the abject failures being cranked out by Garland’s EOIR — many of which would embarrass an L-1! Why not get 1) better judges, 2) a better BIA, and 3) better training?

Garland has been “nibbling around the edges,” at best. A few enlightened appointments of well-qualified “practical scholars” to newly created judgeships in a failed system of some 600 judges nationwide with a fatally flawed “Trump holdover” appellate body, the BIA, won’t cut it.

EOIR needs new, exceptionally well-qualified, dynamic, due process oriented expert leadership and a new BIA that will begin solving the problems rather than aggravating them and shuffling them on to the Circuits. Hopefully, the CAIR effort will lead to “dialing up the pressure” on Garland and his lieutenants to “get their collective heads out of the clouds and kick some tail at what (despite the efforts of Article III right wing hacks like Judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon to claim the title) remains “America’s worst court system” — where due process, fundamental fairness, legal scholarship, and best practices “go to die.” 🪦

I don’t dispute that America’s judicial system is failing from top to bottom. But, unlike the Article IIIIs, where there are long-term structural issues with constitutional roots that make “quick fixes” impossible, EOIR is “wholly owned and operated” by the Executive.

Systemic institutional reforms like replacement or reassignment of unqualified judicial and administrative personnel could, and should, have been a top priority for the Biden Administration. But, instead the tone deaf “it’s only immigration not a real priority” approach by Garland has allowed life-threatening legal malfeasance at EOIR to fester, spread, and undermine confidence in the ability of our democracy to survive.

News flash for Garland: EOIR is where the “rubber meets the road” for American justice. You continue to ignore and downplay the need for bold decisive corrective action at your own peril — and our nation’s!

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-07-22

🇺🇸🗽IN COMPETITIVE MICH 3RD, FORMER BIA ATTORNEY HILLARY SCHOLTEN REACHES VOTERS WITH VALUES-BASED CAMPAIGN FOCUSING ON LISTENING, SOLVING PROBLEMS, ADDRESSING LOCAL ISSUES, & PROTECTING INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES! — Lissandra Villa Huerta @ BoGlo Reports!

Lissandra Villa Huerta
National Political Reporter
Boston Globe
PHOTO: BoGlo Website

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/27/nation/democrats-michigan-hope-capitalize-swell-support-abortion-rights/

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hillary Scholten, a 40-year-old Democratic congressional hopeful, only had to knock on a handful of doors last Saturday in a residential neighborhood here before she encountered Maria D’Angelo, who was sitting on her front porch, about to have coffee with her neighbor, Sara VanderArk.

Both women in the historically conservative but now Democratic-leaning district are overwhelmingly focused on a single issue this November: women’s rights.

“I’ve had to voice publicly and to family members that I never intended to tell that I’ve had abortions,” D’Angelo, a Democrat, told the Globe about the fallout from the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. VanderArk, who identifies as an independent, said she was inspired by the court ruling to join abortion rights protests and that her vote would largely hinge on the issue in the fall.

They are exactly the type of galvanized voters that Democratic candidates up and down the ballot in Michigan and across the country are hoping will give them a boost in the November midterm elections. Midterm years are historically bad news for the president’s party even without high inflation and sagging presidential approval ratings, but Democrats now are nursing a sliver of hope: They’re narrowing the enthusiasm gap — the motivation level of voters — and popular opinion on the issue of abortion is on their side.

That’s especially true in Michigan, a battleground state where, like Kansas before it, there has been a surge in the number of women who’ve registered to vote since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June after almost 50 years as settled precedent, according to an analysis by TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm. A recent poll commissioned by AARP, the interest group for older Americans, showed the issue was among voters’ top concerns. And Michigan’s new third congressional district, where Scholten is running, is a rare congressional race where Democrats aren’t just having to focus on defending their turf, they feel bullish about their odds of flipping the seat.

“The level of engagement on this issue is just so high,” Scholten told the Globe in an interview at her campaign office last weekend. “It’s the only thing I hear about. Women stop me in the grocery store and grab my arms and are like, please do something about this.”

Scholten, an attorney and former Department of Justice official, said she saw a surge of volunteers, fund-raising, and willingness of voters to answer doors and talk to her after the Dobbs decision.

This may sound strange in a district that has historically voted Republican. Its congressman is Republican Peter Meijer, a scion of a Midwest grocery store dynasty, and its voters have backed Republicans in the last three presidential elections. But the district’s newly drawn boundaries that are in place for the first time this election cycle make it significantly friendlier to Democrats. Since Meijer, who was one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach former President Trump, lost his primary to his more right-wing and anti-abortion opponent John Gibbs, Democrats hope to motivate the more Democratic-leaning voters in Grand Rapids and its suburbs who are now part of the district and are mad as hell about the abortion rights repeal.

“Everywhere around the state, when we knock on doors, people bring up abortion — it’s not a negative anywhere,” said Michigan state Senator Winnie Brinks. “People used to be pro-choice, but they were quiet about it. Now they’re not quiet about it. They’re like, ‘Nope, this is on the line, we’re gonna talk about it.’”

That was clear in interviews with voters in downtown Grand Rapids for the city’s “3rd Thursdays,” where residents congregate for live music and can go into the city’s art museum for free courtesy of the Meijer Foundation. It was clear in interviews on the other end of the district on the shore of Lake Michigan, where voters strolled watching the sun set over the lake on a Friday night. And it was clear in the views expressed by voters Scholten met knocking on doors.

“I will for sure be there to vote,” said Erica Kochaney, a Democrat and Grand Rapids resident who was at Grand Haven State Park on Friday evening. Reproductive freedom “is my number one reason for getting out there for sure.”

On the Scholten-Gibbs race and the issue of abortion, she added, “I know where she stands on it, and I’m fine, and I feel like I know where he stands on it, and I’m not fine with it.”

. . . .

*******************

Read the rest of Lissandra’s coverage at the link.

A “home grown daughter” of her Michigan District, Hillary is an experienced, resilient, courageous, values-based problem solver committed to making Government work for the common good rather than infringing on individual liberties, invading bedrooms and doctors’ offices, banning books, interfering with elections, and “dumbing down” education.

She is also a highly successful working parent who knows that the same teamwork, caring, creativity, and unselfishness that goes into the challenges of raising a family also can apply on a larger scale to American society. She knows that problems like inflation, infrastructure, climate change, health, safety, and education affect all Americans, regardless of party affiliation.

As a DOJ attorney working in one of the most fractured areas of American law and public policy, Hillary has seen first hand what works and what doesn’t work in today’s Government. She knows that “same old, same old” won’t get the job done for 21st Century America! She seeks a better America — for all Americans, regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or status.

Several weeks ago I wrote about under-appreciated American “good government hero” Frances Perkins, our first female cabinet secretary, appointed by FDR. https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/08/14/%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%97%bd%f0%9f%a6%b8%f0%9f%8f%bb%e2%99%80%ef%b8%8f%f0%9f%8e%96-a-true-american-hero-gets-her-due-frances-perkins-was-the-mother-of-americas-safety-net/

Perkins was driven by her life experiences and values, yet courageously and effectively “worked the system” (then basically an “Old Boys’ Club”) to achieve successes and innovations that have shaped our nation for generations (Social Security is just one of her achievements). Hillary Scholten embodies qualities that made Perkins a successful leader who made life better for all Americans!

No one legislator can do it all. But if anyone can bring fact-based legislating, the hopes, fears, and positive values of people in the heartland, and informed debate to our national legislative process, it’s Hillary and other “practical problem solvers” like her! Values, progress, innovation, and humanity over political expediency — that’s Hillary! She is a good listener and team-builder — willing and able to find common ground with those who might not share all her views.

I know Hillary as an unusual combination of intellectual and moral toughness with kindness, compassion, humanity, and common sense. She’s one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet — makes you want to be on her team! She gets things done by inspiring others, not by threatening , demeaning, or excluding them!

The good folks of Mich 3 have a chance to do something really great — for their own district and for the future of America — by sending Hillary to Washington! We need you, Hillary, now more than ever!

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-06-22

⚒️👩🏾‍🌾🌾🇺🇸🗽 AN INSPIRING LABOR DAY MESSAGE FROM REV. CRAIG MOUSIN: Migrants Are The Backbone Of America & Those Who Fight For Migrant Justice Are Not Alone — A Special Podcast With Links To Music By John McCutcheon & Emma’s Revolution!

Dear Paul,

As we begin Labor Day weekend, I give thanks for the many ways your work and mission seek justice for all.

My latest podcast gives thanks to all of you who have worked to end Title 42 and to all those immigrants who have contributed to the common good.

As I end the podcast quoting Emma’s Revolution’s song, Bound for Freedom, I give thanks that we are not alone, but united in the struggle. Thank you.

https://blogs.depaul.edu/dmm/2022/09/02/lawful-assembly-podcast-episode-29-gratitude-for-those-who-labor-and-those-who-have-labored/

Have a great Labor Day weekend and Thank You.

Peace,

Craig

Rev. Craig B. Mousin

DePaul University

(mail) 1 East Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, Illinois 60604

(office) Suite 800H

14E. Jackson Blvd.

Chicago, Illinois 60604

312-362-8707 (voice)

312-362-5706 (confidential fax)

You can find some of my publications at either:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=667812or

https://works.bepress.com/craig_mousin/

You can find my digital story at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VTkjhzIcI

You can follow the podcast Lawful Assembly at:https://lawfulassembly.buzzsprout.com

******************

Thanks, Craig, for your “practical activism and scholarship!”

Takeaways:

Grass roots activism works to defeat the forces of darkness and White Nationalism (the defeat of the barrage of White Nationalist immigration amendments was covered on Courtside here: https://immigrationcourtside.com/2022/08/08/%f0%9f%87%ba%f0%9f%87%b8%f0%9f%97%bd%e2%9a%96%ef%b8%8fndpa-activists-help-beat-back-gop-nativist-spoiler-amendments-to-reconciliation-bill-dems-need-to-win-midterms-to-thwart-newest-gop-immi/);
The John McCutcheon version of Woodie Guthrie’s song “Deportees” shows how deeply ingrained “Dred Scottification” is in our country’s often unconstitutional, impractical, and sometimes immoral approach to immigration enforcement.“De-personification” of “the other’” — treating them as numbers, statistics, even “beds” or “apps” without names, faces or rights — and making up vile myths and lies about them, all while exploiting their labor — is still at the heart of the anti-American White Nationalist agenda!
Social justice activism is an important multi-disciplinary endeavor — here we see how law, education, religion, civics, history, broadcast journalism, performance art, music, technology, political science, economics, language, culture, & communication all work together to thwart hate and lies;
More undergraduate institutions need to be making these links and insisting that the true history of American Immigration — with all its triumphs and warts — becomes a staple of education;
Many of those tone-deaf (or worse) politicos pushing the far right agenda of hate, lies, and racism reflected in the defeated amendments are elitists masquerading as “bogus populists” who got the benefit of education at some of the top law schools and universities in the nation. Whatever happened to the teaching of basic legal ethics and responsibilities to society? The Jim Crow agendas of today differ little from those of the pre-civil rights era of the 20th Century. These are NOT debates between legitimate “differing viewpoints,” but essentially questions of truth vs. lies, hate v. tolerance, integration v. exploitation;
The White Nationalist Right is taking over school boards and local governance in the false name of “parents’ rights” — actually meaning the rights of far right parents to impose their minority religious doctrines and false social doctrines on others. The fight for social justice begins at the local level where where teaching of truth and legitimate debates are being drowned out by disgruntled, anti-democracy, empowered White Nationalist theocrats who claim they want liberty but actually are trying to impose autocracy and minority rule;
The fight for social justice never ends!

🇺🇸 Happy Labor Day, & Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-05-22

🇺🇸⚖️🗽AMERICANS MUST REJECT THE FAR-RIGHT’S FICTIONAL “INVASION” CHARADE & THE REST OF THE BOGUS ANTI-IMMIGRANT AGENDA — It’s Racism, Pure & Simple — There Is No “Invasion,” “Replacement Theory” Is A Racist Trope, The Borders Aren’t “Open,” Asylum Seekers Aren’t Trafficking Fentanyl (the very suggestion is facially absurd), & There Is More Than Enough Detention & Enforcement, Just Not Very Smart, Effective, Or, In Some Cases, Even Legal!☠️

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/republican-immigration-ads-invasion/

By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent in WashPost:

. . . .

But over the airwaves and online, another story is playing out: an absolute torrent of ads meant to frighten and anger voters about immigration.

A new report from the pro-immigration group America’s Voice seeks to document this ongoing phenomenon. One of its key conclusions: “Republicans have made their nativist narrative a top messaging priority.”

In the world of Republican campaign ads, very little has changed since the xenophobic Trump presidency, and some of what’s in these ads is truly repellent.

Three themes dominate these ads, the report finds, and they are all wildly inflammatory and profoundly dishonest: The Biden administration has created “open borders,” undocumented immigrants are responsible for fentanyl overdoses and a full-blown “invasion” is underway.

The borders are anything but open; the Biden administration is pursuing, arresting and deporting people seeking to come to the United States by the thousands. The vast majority of fentanyl that comes in is smuggled through ports of entry in cars, boats and planes, not carried by undocumented immigrants. And as for an “invasion,” that’s no more true now than it was when Trump warned that caravans were about to overrun the country.

But the Republican ads portray horror and chaos — usually with a non-White face. Some ads show pictures of young Black men walking through rivers on their way to “invade” America, with language suggesting this “invasion” brings “terrorists, drugs and crime.”

Other ads say the Biden administration is supposedly “importing 20 million illegals and giving them amnesty” (the image for that one is people in Haiti), which can only be stopped by “a declaration of invasion.”

In some ads it’s not just an open border but a “wide open border” — once again, illustrated with pictures of Haitians. In others we’re told that “human, sex and drug trafficking are out of control because of Democrat governance,” while Democratic candidates “refuse to oppose Biden’s open border policy.”

Of course, there is no open border policy, but why should the fact that it doesn’t exist stop Democrats from opposing it? That just shows how sinister they are, these ads say, because they “want to destroy this country.”

All of this captures something essential about this political moment. For months, Republicans were certain they could spread fears of chaos in order to ride to victory in the midterms. They’d run on crime and immigration, not just to excite the base but also to scare unsettled swing voters.

Yet the dynamic unexpectedly shifted, and now disorder and, dare we say it, crime — as in the potential crimes of Donald Trump and many Jan. 6 defendants — are not necessarily playing in the GOP’s favor. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has unleashed another form of chaos and a host of new dangers threatening women. And all of these things are energizing Democrats.

. . . .

“Republicans are indulging in the worst kind of White nationalist rhetoric,” Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice, told us. “And an issue they thought would win over swing voters is at best a base mobilizer for voters they already have.”

What makes this all really ugly, however, is that the messaging remaining under the radar — which Democrats bear some blame for, having gone quiet on the issue — allows it to continue mostly unexamined. This, even though its worst incarnations — such as “great replacement theory” — have inspired recent mass shootings.

Along these lines, it’s worth keeping an eye on Blake Masters, the GOP Senate candidate in Arizona. He has trafficked heavily in great replacement theory and has run truly vile ads on immigration, including one that features machine-gun fire at the border. Yet in a place President Biden won by a whisker that’s also a border state, Masters is trailing by a meaningful margin.

As Sharry told us, Masters’s whole “declare an invasion” line “is not working, in a state where one-third of the voters are independents and border security is a top issue.”

Yet whether it works with independents and swing voters, this foul sewage has been flowing unabated. And it will surely continue to do so.

********************

Read the complete article at the link.

The idea that individuals seeking to find a U.S. official who will listen to their asylum cases would be trucking along large amounts of fentanyl in their backpacks is facially absurd.

Ending scofflaw Trump failures to follow asylum and refugee laws at the border and beyond would not halt all illegal entries. No policy will do that, nor has there ever been one that even came close, although illegal incursions have risen and fallen over the years.

But, fair refugee and asylum programs that actually interpreted the applicable domestic and international laws correctly (instead of the “any reason to deny, no matter how wrong attitude” still widespread and tolerated at both Mayorkas’s DHS and Garland’s DOJ) and generously granted protection as was the intention behind the UN Refugee Convention in the first place would certainly encourage large segments of those now forced to irregularly cross the border instead to apply abroad or at legal ports of entry.

It would also facilitate the USG working with NGOs, the UNHCR, states, and localities to get individuals needed assistance so that their legal claims could be processed in a fair, efficient, and timely manner. The latter objectives seem to have totally eluded both Mayorkas and particularly Garland. They continue to “blow off the experts” and flounder with mindless, “designed to fail,” “deterrence-focused” gimmicks. Talk about a lose-lose!

Also to state the obvious, if CBP were less focused on apprehending individuals who pose no real threat to the U.S., but merely want a fair shot at applying for legal protection — something our laws require that Trump annihilated, the Federal Courts have flubbed, and Biden has done a substandard job of re-instituting — they would have time to focus more resources on drug and human smugglers.

Instead, in perhaps one of the dumbest and most wasteful juxtapositions in recent American history, the CBP focus is on “apprehending” (a term I use lightly, since many individuals “want” to be “found,” so they can get access to the system otherwise improperly denied to them by CBP) those merely seeking to comply with the law! To do that, CBP ignores or misses many of those who actually pose threats. At the same time, both DHS and DOJ use methods, attitudes, and legal interpretations that themselves undermine fundamental fairness, the rule of law, and humanity itself.

Immigrants are America’s past, present, and future! Indeed, climate change, rising oceans, drought, starvation, transportation improvements, globalized commerce, wars, religious bigotry, pandemics, and other factors beyond the control of any one government will continue to drive worldwide migration.

Building walls, prisons, hate, resentment, and constructing bogus “invasion myths” will not change the reality of human migration and the necessity to adopt to and harness it in a smart, humane, realistic manner. Doing the opposite, will only diminish us as a nation and inhibit our own chances for future prosperity. But, in the end, it won’t stop human migration.

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-04-22

⚖️🗽🇺🇸🦸‍♂️ NDPA SUPERLITIGATOR RAED GONZALEZ DRUBS GARLAND AGAIN! — “Who else could persuade CA5 to agree with CA9, and get an award of costs,” asks Dan Kowalski of LexisNexis Immigration Community? — When will the unconscionable failure of immigrant justice at Garland’s Department of “Justice” finally end? When our nation’s democracy goes down in flames?🔥 ♨️

Raed Gonzalez ESQUIRE
Chairman, Gonzalez Olivieri LLP
Houston, TX
PHOTO: best lawyers.com

From Dan:

Another CA5 Pereira / Niz-Chavez Remand: Parada v. Garland (unpub.)

https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/19/19-60425.0.pdf

https://www.lexisnexis.com/LegalNewsRoom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/another-ca5-pereira-niz-chavez-remand-parada-v-garland#

“[T]he BIA’s decision to deny Parada’s motion to reopen was based on a legally erroneous interpretation of the statutes governing Notices to Appear and the stop-time rule. The Supreme Court has since reinforced the holding of Pereira and held—again— that to trigger the stop-time rule, a Notice to Appear must come in the form of “a single document containing all the information an individual needs to know about his removal hearing.” Niz-Chavez v. Garland, 141 S. Ct. 1474, 1478, 1486 (2021). That did not occur in this case, as the Notices to Appear served on Parada and her daughter did not contain the time or date for their removal proceedings. Thus, because “[a] putative notice to appear that fails to designate the specific time or place of the noncitizen’s removal proceedings is not a ‘notice to appear under section 1229(a),’ and so does not trigger the stop-time rule,” Pereira, 138 S. Ct. at 2113–14 (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(d)(1)(A)), the deficient Notices to Appear received by the Paradas did not stop the clock for the Paradas. … [O]ne of two keys must fit before the stop-time rule can be unlocked: service of a valid Notice to Appear or commission of an enumerated offense. The latter has not occurred here as no one has asserted that either of the Paradas has committed such an offense. And we have already concluded that the former has not occurred because the Notices to Appear served on the Paradas lacked the time and date of their hearing. Thus, the stop-time-rule box remained locked, the Paradas’ clock never stopped, and they accrued the necessary 10 years to satisfy the physical-presence requirement for cancellation of removal. In so concluding, we agree with the Ninth Circuit [emphasis added] which also held that “[b]y its terms . . . the stop-time rule applies to only the two circumstances set out in the statute, and a final order of removal satisfies neither.” Quebrado Cantor, 17 F.4th at 871. … To return to the analogy above, when Congress provided the two exceptions to the physical-presence requirement, it created all the keys that would fit. It did not additionally create a skeleton key that could fit when convenient. To conclude otherwise “would turn this principle on its head, using the existence of two exceptions to authorize a third very specific exception.” Quebrado Cantor, 17 F.4th at 874. Instead, “the ‘proper inference’ is that Congress considered which events ought to ‘stop the clock’ on a nonpermanent resident’s period of continuous physical presence and settled, in its legislative judgment, on only two.” Id. (quoting Johnson, 529 U.S. at 58). Lacking either here, the BIA committed a legal error in concluding otherwise and finding that the Paradas did not satisfy the physical-presence requirement to be eligible for cancellation of removal. For the foregoing reasons, the petition for review is GRANTED and the case is REMANDED to the BIA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. … IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that respondent pay to petitioners the costs on appeal [emphasis added] to be taxed by the Clerk of this Court.”

[Yet another victory for Superlitigator Raed Gonzalez! Who else could persuade CA5 to agree with CA9, and get an award of costs?]

Daniel M. Kowalski

Editor-in-Chief

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (LexisNexis)

cell/text/Signal (512) 826-0323

@dkbib on Twitter

dan@cenizo.com

Free Daily Blog: www.bibdaily.com

*******************

Male Superhero — Due Process Superheroes like Houston’s Raed Gonzalez are standing up for the rights of EVERYONE in America!
PHOTO: Creative Commons

Kudos to Raed for “taking it to” America’s worst “courts” in America’s most “immigrant-unfriendly” Circuit!

Tons of “rotten tomatoes” to Garland for his horrible mismanagement of EOIR, OIL, and the legal aspects of immigration policy at DOJ!

Immigration expert Professor Richard Boswell of UC Hastings College of Law asks: “Can someone explain why the government has been so obstinate on these cases? I like the fee award but I doubt that it has much impact on their behavior.”

I wish I knew, my friend, I wish I knew! There is no rational excuse for Garland’s abject failure to: put EOIR and OIL under progressive expert leadership committed to human rights and due process; replace the many weak “Trump holdover appointees” at the BIA with expert real, professionally competent judges; weed out more of the “deadwood” on the immigration bench; bring in qualified experts as EOIR Judges who could potentially create an existential improvement in the composition, performance, and procedures of the entire Federal Judiciary that would go even beyond the essential task of saving the lives of migrants; and finally make Constitutional Due Process and equal justice for all real at the “retail level” of our American Justice system!

If our democracy fails — certainly an unhappy possibility at this point in time — future historians will undoubtedly dissect the major responsibility stemming from Garland’s inexplicably weak, disconnected, and inept performance in ignoring the dangerous dysfunction in our Immigration Courts and Immigration Judiciary.

The scurrilous attack on our democracy by far-right demagogues started with racist lies about immigrants, continued with the weaponizing of the Immigration Courts, and evolved with the compromising of the Article III Judiciary! But, it certainly hasn’t ended there!

Getting rid of the leftovers of the “Trump Kakistocracy” at DOJ and EOIR should be one of the top priorities of the Biden Administration’s “campaign to save American democracy!” Why isn’t it?

The unconscionable failure of Garland’s chief lieutenants, Lisa Monaco, Vanita Gupta, Kristen Clarke, and Elizabeth Prelogar — all of whom supposedly have some experience and expertise in constitutional law, human rights, civil rights, racial justice, and legal administration (talk about a shambles at EOIR!) — to get the job done for immigrant justice at DOJ also deserves to go “under the microscope” of critical examination.

How do they glibly go about their highly paid jobs daily while migrants suffer and die and their attorneys are forced to waste time and struggle against the absurdist disaster at EOIR? Can any of these “out of touch” bureaucrats and politicos even imagine what it’s like to be practicing at today’s legally incompetent, insanely mal-administered, intentionally anti-due-process, overtly user unfriendly EOIR?

By the grace of God, I’m not practicing before the Immigration Courts these days! But, after recent conversations with a number of top practitioners who are being traumatized, having their precious time wasted, and seeing their clients’ lives threatened by EOIR’s stunning ongoing incompetence and dysfunction, I don’t understand what gives high-level political appointees and smug bureaucrats the idea that they are entitled to be “above the fray” of the godawful dysfunction, downright stupidity, and human trauma at EOIR for which they are fully accountable!

One practitioner opened their so-called “EOIR Portal” to show me how they were being mindlessly “double and triple booked,” sometimes in different locations, even as we spoke. Cases set for 2024 were “accelerated” — for no obvious reason — to October 2022 without advance notice to or consultation with the attorney — a clear violation of due process! Asylum cases that would require a minimum of three hours for a fair hearing were being “shoehorned” into two-hour slots, again without consulting the parties!

Long a backwater of failed technology, the “powers that be” at EOIR and DOJ are misusing the limited, somewhat improved technology they now possess to make things worse: harassing practitioners, discouraging representation, and further undermining due process with haste makes waste “Aimless Docket Reshuffling.” Because of EOIR’s gross mismanagement, more Immigration Judges are actually producing more backlog, issuing more wrong decisions, and generating more unnecessary non-dispositive time-wasting motions. It’s an abuse of power and public funding on a massive, mind-boggling scale that undermines our entire justice system!

It seems that the “malicious incompetence” of the Trump DOJ has been exchanged for “just plain incompetence and intransigence” at Garland’s DOJ. Is this “change we should embrace?” Hell no!

Let’s hope that the real superheroes like Raed Gonzalez, folks working in the trenches of our failed justice system, can bail the rest of us out and inspire others to use all legal and political means at our disposal to rise up against Garland’s intransigence on immigration, human rights, and racial justice at DOJ!

I agree with President Biden that the extreme, insurrectionist far-right is the greatest threat to American democracy at this moment. But, it is by no means the ONLY one! It’s time for everyone committed to our nation’s future as a constitutional democracy to look closely at the deadly EOIR farce that threatens humanity, undermines the rule of law in America, and squanders tax dollars and demand positive change! Now!

It’s not rocket science, 🚀 even if it is inexplicably “over Garland’s head!”

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

PWS

09-03-22

Bess Levin writes:

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

My colleague Sue writes:

Here’s the joint letter letter from AILA & ICE:

Here’s the text of a letter to Director Neal from the NJ State Bar:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

The latest report on Garland’s accelerating disaster @ EOIR from Jason Dzubow, “The Asylumist:”

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever! Merrick Garland’s deadly Clown Courts 🤡, Never!

Related posts:

Immigration expert outlines next steps for Martha’s Vineyard migrants

🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

Related posts:

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, now an MSNBC analyist, On Meet the Press:

Professor (and former prosecutor) Joyce White Vance, Professor Leah Litman, Professor Stephen I. Vladeck, Political Scientist Norman Ornstein:

Jennifer Rubin, WashPost opinion writer:

Eric Lutz in Vanity Fair:

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Opinion by Gary Sampliner

🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸 Due Process Forever!

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Thanks, Craig, for your “practical activism and scholarship!”

🇺🇸 Happy Labor Day, & Due Process Forever!

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🇺🇸Due Process Forever!

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From Dan:

Another CA5 Pereira / Niz-Chavez Remand: Parada v. Garland (unpub.)

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