"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, Music, Politics, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals Paul Wickham Schmidt and Dr. Alicia Triche, expert brief writer, practical scholar, emeritus Editor-in-Chief of The Green Card (FBA), and 2022 Federal Bar Association Immigration Section Lawyer of the Year. She is a/k/a “Delta Ondine,” a blues-based alt-rock singer-songwriter, who performs regularly in Memphis, where she hosts her own Blues Brunch series, and will soon be recording her first full, professional album. Stay tuned! 🎶 To see our complete professional bios, just click on the link below.
Our allies were given a promise, and leaving them to die will be an unforgivable act of cowardice.
BY ODAY YOUSIF JR.
AUG. 20, 2021 4:54 PM PT
Yousif Jr., J.D., is a graduate of California Western School of Law and an American Constitution Society Next Generation Leader. He lives in Rancho San Diego.
Twenty years ago, the American military marched into Afghanistan with the declared intent of hunting down Osama bin Laden and ridding the country of Taliban extremists. Led by government leaders working in bad faith, thousands of civilians and soldiers were led to their deaths for a war now universally considered a failure. However, the most vulnerable population susceptible to death in Afghanistan are those Afghan allies who risked their lives to work for the foreign forces. They served as translators and services workers and any role that required the help of the local population. Now, with the Taliban back in power, they will be the first to face death.
When local Afghans agreed to work for coalition forces, they were made a promise: work for us and we will give you a visa to the U.S. They put their safety on the line working for the military forces but did so in order to give them and their families the chance for a better future outside Afghanistan. They worked anywhere service members went, from battlefields to bases. Often, they were the people who saved the lives of the soldiers they worked for. They were not just local Afghans but critical allies necessary for the ongoing mission in their country. At that point, we had nothing short of a deep-seated moral obligation to make sure they were protected.
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Read the complete op-ed at the link.
Amen! It’s not rocket 🚀 science! But, it does require expertise, guts, and a sense of urgency!
Kevin Robillard and Rowaida Abdelaziz report for HuffPost:
. . . .
There are currently more than 17,000 Afghan nationals — as well as an estimated 53,000 of their family members — awaiting visa approval through the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) program. The U.S. brought over approximately 2,300 Afghans as part of the program from January to July, and another 2,000 over the last week.
The White House says it has cut the time necessary to approve SIV visas in half, and has issued more than 5,500 between April and July. But advocates say it needs to move faster.
“They seem to be afraid. They seem to be operating out of fear that being a bit bolder on issues with refugees, asylees and migrants will somehow cost them politically,” said former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, who made improving the country’s refugee system a central part of his 2020 presidential campaign. “This is an area where there’s growing disappointment and impatience ― and the stirrings of real anger ― towards the administration.”
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Read the full article at the link.
Julian Castro should have been given a major role by the Biden Administration on cleaning house and straightening out the human rights disaster and dysfunction left behind by Trump and Miller. But, at this point, would he really want the job?
Citing Matter of Acosta, 19 I. & N. Dec. 211 (BIA 1985), the Board concluded that “female nurses” were not a cognizable “particular social group” because being a nurse, like being a taxi driver, is not an immutable characteristic. The panel held that the Board erred by simply citing Matter of Acosta, and failing to provide any meaningful analysis about the immutability of “female nurses.” The panel explained that in contrast to Acosta, Plancarte cannot avoid compulsion by the cartel simply by changing jobs, because even if she ceased employment as a nurse, she would still be a nurse, as she has received specialized medical training and has a professional license as a nurse. Moreover, the cartel targeted Plancarte precisely because of her specialized nursing skills, and threatened her and her family with torture and death to force her to use those skills to provide medical treatment to the cartel. Thus, regardless of whether she would continue to work as a licensed nurse, Plancarte lacks “the power to change” the immutable nursing characteristics—her medical knowledge and nursing skills—that make her important to the cartel. The panel therefore granted the petition with respect to Plancarte’s asylum and withholding of removal claims, and remanded for consideration of the other required characteristics of her proposed particular social group of “female nurses.”
Turning to Plancarte’s CAT claim, the panel concluded that the Board’s decision ignored uncontradicted record evidence showing both acquiescence and direct involvement by government officials. The panel held that substantial evidence therefore compelled the conclusion that there was official involvement and acquiescence in the cartel forcing Plancarte to provide medical treatment to cartel members. The panel granted the petition with respect to CAT, and remanded for a determination whether the likelihood of
4 PLANCARTE SAUCEDA V. GARLAND
torture if Plancarte were returned to Mexico is sufficient to warrant CAT relief.
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Welcome to the “any reason to deny culture” at Garland’s EOIR!
In addition to the gross errors noted by the panel, I also think that there is a winning argument that being a registered nurse is “fundamental to identity” and therefore not something we should require an individual to change. Put it in today’s COVID context, for Pete’s sake!
Think that being a lawyer isn’t “fundamental” to the identity of a BIA Appellate Judge, an Immigration Judge, or an Article III Judge?Only when these “judges” are thinking of ways to deny protection to others do they engage in such obvious intellectual dishonesty and absurd reasoning!
This is the type of case that should have been a “quick grant” and a precedent for other grants of protection in a functioning justice system! Instead it’s an disaster! One that just happens to have been “outed” by a conscientious Court of Appeals panel — something no person of color can count on! It should be no mystery why this maliciously incompetent system creates huge, growing, out of control backlogs while squandering public resources and destroying lives!
Immigration Court— Failure
BIA — Failure
OIL — Failure
Garland — Failure
And this gang is going to be in charge of setting precedents and protecting due process and human rights of women and other asylum seekers under the Administration’s proposed “streamlined” asylum system? Absurd! It will be a death sentence for far too many refugees!
Congrats to Vallerye Allyn Anderson for saving a life here! Her outstanding performance and understanding of human rights were far superior to that of any “judge” or other DOJ lawyer involved in this case. So, why are the wrong judges still making life or death decisions at EOIR without competent “adult supervision” from qualified judges at the BIA with expertise in asylum law and the guts to apply it correctly, humanely, and generously? See, e.g., Cardoza-Fonseca, Mogharrabi, Kasinga. Just hope that Vallerye and others like her will pursue EOIR judgeships until the disgraceful, deadly, two-decade old “progressive expert lockout from the 21st Century Immigration Judiciary” finally ends and quality, courage, and due process prevail!
Vallerye Allyn Anderson ESQ Sacramento, CA PHOTO: LexisNexis
🇺🇸Due Process Forever! Failure to “clean house” of Miller Lite White Nationalism, it’s acolytes, go along to get along toady enablers, and to bring common sense, long overdue, obvious, recommended, available progressive human rights reforms and better judges and leaders to EOIR — An ongoing national disgrace!🤮
TRAC IMMIGRATION just released the first statistical profile of the “Dedicated Asylum Docket” created by AG Garland and his subordinates without any coherent public explanation or plan in mind. Here they are:
Stats wonks can check them out, and do their own analyses. As usual, given the haphazard nature and often questionable reliability of Government immigration statistics, it’s impossible to draw definitive conclusions.
But, here are a few things that jump out for me.
No criteria. How do you set up a program that deals with life or death decision-making without having transparent criteria about who gets placed on it and why? Easy, you work for Merrick Garland’s DOJ!
CBP in charge of dockets. Since there are no known criteria, and EOIR seems to have gone belly-up as usual, CBP, a law enforcement branch of DHS, gets to decide who is on this “Dedicated Docket.” CBP, of course, has a questionable record of competence and many issues including allegations of racism in its ranks swirling around it. It also has no known expertise or competence in establishing court dockets. Plus, letting a law enforcement agency with interests often adverse to asylum applicants, whose parent agency is a party to all Immigration Court proceedings, control dockets raises obvious ethical and conflict of interest issues.
Individuals, families, or cases? In its usual confusing manner, EOIR presents its stats in terms of individuals assigned to a docket. But, most (not necessarily all) “family units” are heard as a single “case.” According to TRAC, 4886 “individuals” on the Dedicated Docket (“DD”) represents 1,700 “family units.” That’s approximately “three individuals per family unit.” So, to get the approximate number of actual cases on a particular judge’s DD, we have to divide by three. Therefore, the number 600 assigned to a particular judge on the DD would actually represent 200 cases that require individual merits hearings. Got that? Confusing? Of course!
Who is Judge Francisco R. Pietro, and why? The short answer is that Judge Pietro is a 2019 appointee of GOP “Acting” AG Matt Whitaker, assigned to the NYC Docket and is too recent to have any “asylum grant/deny” statistics in the TRAC System. Remarkably, not to mention inexplicably, Judge Pietro has been assigned approximately 22% of the current Dedicated Docket (“DD”), or 1086 of the 4886 individuals covered by the report. (The rest of the DD is divided, very unequally, among31 other IJs).
Dividing by 3, per above, the 1086 individuals assigned to Judge P represent about 395 “actual cases.”
Now, EOIR currently demands that it’s “Assembly Line Worker/Judges” complete 700 widgets (aka, cases) per year. It also expects judges assigned to the DD to strive to complete cases in 300 days, that is 10 months.
So, completing 395 asylum cases in 10 months would only leave Judge P another 2 months to complete the other 305 cases necessary for him to make his “quota.” Something has to give here, particularly if Judge P, like the rest of us, wants to take vacations and Federal Holidays off, prepare his cases, and occasionally gets sick. Who knows, he might even need some updated asylum training, although practical aspects like that don’t appear to be part of the equation at today’s “numbers driven” EOIR.
And, let’s not forget that Judge P is a recent appointment. Recent appointees are likely to be less efficient and less inclined to grant asylum than experienced judges, according to some studies.
Therefore, to meet his quotas, keep his bureaucratic “handlers” at DOJ happy, and hang onto his job, Judge P might be left with two choices:
Cut corners big time (a traditional EOIR “built to fail” approach) which means denying lots of due process; or
Reassign part of his docket to other judges, which leads to “Aimless Docket Shuffling” and building backlog.
Theoretically, Judge P could also choose to hear asylum cases with the care required to provide due process and quality decisions, without worrying about targets and quotas. This would be a more plausible option if he were actually an independent judicial official rather than the employee of a political agency.
Also, don’t kid yourself about the “operational consequences” of assigning Judge P and others to a DD! Even assuming that he had zero cases on his docket before being assigned to the DD (highly unlikely), his unavailability for the “general docket” will place extra burdens on his judicial colleagues that will almost certainly promote more Aimless Docket Reshuffling and more backlog. This, of course, will be true for most of the other 31 judges assigned to the DD, to differing degrees, depending on their DD caseload (which ranges from 1 to 712 “individuals” for the “other 31”). “Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” like this actually prevents the crew from getting more passengers off in time to save lives.
Where are the lawyers coming from? The good news is that among the “top 10 DD Judges,” (comprising 79% of the DD), four are in NYC (2d Cir.), two in Newark (3d Cir.), one in San Diego (9th Cir.), one in SF (9th Cir.), one in LA (9th Cir.), and one in Boston (1st Cir.). There are active immigration bars, including pro bono bars, in all these locations. More over, none of these Circuits is notorious for systemically mistreating asylum seekers, and one, the 9th Cir., actually has some favorable case law, although probably less so since Trump’s far-right appointees have “rebalanced” that Circuit to the right.
Yet, it’s not clear from this statistical profile, nor has EOIR revealed, what, if any, agreements might be in place with local pro bono groups in these areas to achieve universal representation within a 300 day case-completion target, without disrupting the “regular” dockets. Nor is it shown how many of those 4886 individuals now on the DD already have lawyers. These are big unanswered questions.
Why Ecuador? Individuals from Ecuador make up over 40% of the DD, even though they comprise less than 10% of the “regular” (if there is such a thing) Immigration Court docket. Go figure!
How were these particular IJs and locations selected for the DD? No clue, which is disconcerting.
Other interesting information.
Here’s a chart that I constructed giving profiles of the “Top 10 DD Judges:”
Overall, the majority (7) are recent GOP appointees from 2018-20. Of the seven with established asylum grant rates, two have grant rates significantly above the national average (Ling, Sagerman), two have grant rates significantly below the national average (Aina, Pope), and three (Auh, Sturia, Pressman) are relatively proximate to the national grant rate for the TRAC period (33.3). None sit within Circuits known for particular harshness to asylum seekers. None, to my limited knowledge, as far as stats are available, are members of the notorious “Asylum Deniers Club.”
So, we’ll see how it all plays out. Perhaps, over time, advocates will grow to “love and cherish” these DDs. More likely, they will eventually develop the same inconsistencies, inefficiencies, and maddening quirks that have accompanied almost all prior DOJ/EOIR “artificial gimmicks” intended to “speed up the treadmill” without meaningful advance input from experts of the private bar.
But, to me, it looks like the “same old” mismanaged, misguided, failing and flailing EOIR.
Should we expect better from the Biden Administration? You betcha! Will we get it? Probably not, without lots of litigation and hell-raising!
The White House denies that political cowardice caused its foot-dragging. But if true, this wouldn’t be the first time fear of right-wing blowhards distorted Biden’s immigration policies.
In February, Biden announced he was lifting Donald Trump’s draconian restrictions on worldwide refugee admissions. Then, inexplicably, Biden didn’t sign the paperwork to put his change into effect. Refugees who’d already been fully vetted, approved and booked onto flights by the State Department were left stranded.
For months, the White House refused to explain the delay; spokespeople repeated the same content-free bromides about how Biden believes refugees are “the heart and soul of this country.”
Eventually it came out that Biden was dragging his feet because of worries about political optics.
Then as now, his attempt to duck GOP attacks backfired. His delays inspired several negative news cycles about his broken promises.By the time he finally signed the paperwork, the refugee system had been effectively shut down for months, leaving Biden on track to close out the fiscal year with the lowest refugee admissions on record.
You might wonder how the nativists have responded to Biden’s attempts to cave to their preferences. Unsurprisingly: They’re still not happy!
Amid Biden’s delays over the refugee ceiling, and his decisions to maintain other (possibly unlawful) Trump-era immigration policies, Trumpers continued to attack him. Fast-forward to today, as former Trump officials ludicrously fearmonger that Afghans who assisted U.S. troops are dangerous and claim that efforts to rescue them are an extension of Biden’s “self-destructive open border policies.” Tucker Carlson and fellow Fox News colleagues accuse Biden of encouraging Afghan refugees to “change” or even “invade” America, offering rhetoric reminiscent of the white-supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.
Here’s the thing Biden never learned: No matter what he does, these bad-faith demagogues will accuse him of “open borders.” So he might as well pursue the policies he thinks are right and not let decisions be dictated by fear of how Fox News might frame them.
This is especially true of today’s Afghan refugee crisis, since there are many conservatives who do support efforts to keep our promises to wartime allies and welcome them here for resettlement. They include veterans who fought alongside these allies, as well as Republicangovernors, senators and congressmen.Republican lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to fund more visas for Afghan allies, as Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) pointed out in an interview.
“If there is one immigration issue that could have rallied conservatives, it is the protection of Afghans who have helped our military,” said Ali Noorani, president and chief executive of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization working with faith, law enforcement and business leaders. “This was a profound misreading of the politics by the [administration]. And, even worse, believing Tucker Carlson represents America.”
Biden calls himself pro-immigrant. His appointees to senior immigration posts have generally been excellent. And unlike his openly xenophobic predecessor, Biden speaks warmly of newcomers and their contributions to this country. But such words are meaningless if he still caves to the bigots when it matters.
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I urge everyone to read Catherine’s complete op-ed at the above link.
As I always say, actions speak louder than words! The essence of Catherine’s article is so true, and bears repeating and remembering by all members of the NDPA:
Here’s the thing Biden never learned: No matter what he does, these bad-faith demagogues will accuse him of “open borders.” So he might as well pursue the policies he thinks are right and not let decisions be dictated by fear of how Fox News might frame them.
None have said it better and more clearly! And, it’s true not just of Biden, but of Dems almost across the spectrum. When “push comes to shove” they are too often unwilling to stand up for their own values and implement them in the face of well-orchestrated right wing lies and myths.
Having a competent implementation plan, staffed and led by progressive experts, is another frequent Dem failure. The GOP has no problem bringing in unqualified ideologues and hacks to carry out their toxic agendas at the “retail level” of Government.
But, the Dems leave the “progressive all-star team” in the dugout! I’ve pointed out many times that no matter how noble your rhetoric, or meritorious your ideas, you’re doomed to failure if you don’t have the courage, expertise, and determination at the “retail levels” of Government (including the legal system, particularly EOIR) to put better Government into effect.
Catherine is right that many of Biden’s upper level immigration appointees are promising. But, the critical levels below them are still infested with Trump holdovers and folks who simply lack the progressive knowledge, courage, and skill set to constructively solve problems and implement long overdue reforms.
I’ve actually lived through it in a number of Administrations where once in office, the Dems basically carried out the GOP immigration agenda, pissed off some of their most loyal supporters, but were still characterized as “open borders” and “weak” by the GOP while actually killing, maiming, and destroying the lives of those they once had pledged to protect! Could there be a worse result?
As usual, Catherine’s analysis is much clearer, more succinct, and more articulate than the gibberish and double-talk that often comes out of politicians on both sides, but particularly the White Nationalist nativist crowd. I’ve suggested before that the Biden Administration or Dems in Congress would do well to hire Catherine as their spokesperson and “press flackie” on immigration. They also would do well to pay attention to her substantive analysis on issues including immigration and the economy.
But, even if they weren’t, we would have a moral obligation to help Afghan refugees after 20 years in their nation, during which many have been placed in life-threatening situations because of their assistance to us or their adherence to our stated ideals and promises.
Many of us have been warning for some time about the catastrophic human and moral consequences of the Biden Administration’s “slow walk” to repair the intentional, legally questionable, and unconscionable dismantling of the once-proud U.S. Refugee Program done by the Trump White Nationalist kakistocracy and its cowardly cronies, enablers, and bureaucratic toadies. (The same is true of our legal asylum system, which deals with refugees in a different context.)Now, our worst fears are playing out with the world watching and lives in the balance.
“Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers” — Beneath the disingenuous legal blather of the 5th Circuit’s tone-deaf judges, this is the sentence that they are pronouncing on the world’s most vulnerable, without any due process or concern for human dignity. EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez’ wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)
Here’s the decision denying the Administration’s request for stay in Texas v. Biden:
Although this was only a stay application, the tone of the decision left little doubt about the court’s Trumpist ideology and intention to block rational humanitarian human rights initiatives by the Administration. Not surprisingly, the 3-judge panel was all GOP appointees — two Trump, one Bush II
I wouldn’t expect any help from the Supremes. So, we’ll see whether right wing Federal Judges and GOP AGs can conduct a war on human rights and communities of color by taking over the immigration enforcement apparatus and re-instating Trump’s racist policies.
The Administration is not entirely blameless here. The extreme problems with MPP, including how it caused needless deaths, torture, kidnapping, extortion, rape, and other grotesque mistreatment for those returned, were well-documented going into the 2020 election. Indeed, Biden and Harris campaigned on a promise to reverse them!
Yet, not having a viable plan for restoring the legal asylum system and dealing humanely with new border arrivals “ready for prime time” by inauguration, and still not really having one, is problematic. Although some have “touted” the just-released asylum NPR as the “solution,” that system is not, by any stretch of the imagination, “ready for prime time” either, given the disastrous operational, personnel, “cultural, and “quality control” issues at both the Asylum Offices and EOIR, which could and should have been addressed before now and which could actually become worse if the NPR goes into effect without major internal and leadership changes at these dysfunctional agencies.
Moreover, it appears that DOJ Attorneys did a substandard job of documenting the many problems, adverse effects, and operational issues with MPP and the injustices and abuses it inflicted upon legal asylum seekers.
As opposed to the rather contrived interests of the states in furthering oppression, endorsed by the Fifth Circuit, the human interests of those seeking asylum under what was supposed to be a fair and functional legal system have fallen off the radar screen. The law still says that any individual arriving at the border, regardless of status, has a right to apply for asylum. That right, as well as the humanity of refugees and the legal and moral obligations of our nation, has been entirely abrogated by the Fifth Circuit.
In a well-functioning democracy, Congress could reform the law, bring the righty judges back under control, and restore Constitutional protections and human and civil rights, But, that would probably take a party different from today’s Dems. And, of course, with the support of the Supremes, the GOP is working furiously to suppress minority votes and insure GOP minority rule stretches long into the future.
Honorable Joan Churchill Retired U.S. Immigration Judge Member Round Table of Retired JudgesHonorable Mimi Tsankov U.S. Immigration Judge President, National Association of Immigration Judges (“NAIJ”)
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Biden himself for the first time hinted at flexibility on the deadline, “if there are American citizens left.” That won’t be enough: This country’s moral responsibilities begin, but do not end, with U.S. citizens. On Tuesday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) received and forwarded to Secretary of State Antony Blinken an appeal from the National Association of Women Judges on behalf of 250 Afghan women judges, trained by Americans and other Western countries, some of whom sentenced Taliban fighters to prison for murder or other crimes. These criminals have just been released by the Taliban. The judges have thus joined the ranks of the fearful. This country must make time for all of them.
NAWJ is the U.S. Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges, an organization which NAWJ founded, developed and helped grow. NAWJ joins the IAWJ in expressing our grave fears for the basic human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan as the Taliban advance and take control of large parts of the country. In particular, the women judges have disclosed that because they have followed their country’s laws, conducted trials, and administered sentences to the guilty, many of whom are members of the Taliban, they will soon be targeted for assassination. The AWJA judges have served in criminal, anti-corruption and narcotics courts, developed in conjunction with the United States over many years. Through their efforts, they have implemented rule of law and anti-corruption principles which are central to the mission statements of NAWJ and IAWJ.
At a virtual meeting of the AWJA last month, at which a number of NAWJ members were present, the Afghan judges spoke about the dangerous and difficult conditions in which they live and work. Some judges have lost their lives in terrorist attacks and several of the judges present had received death threats. Some have already been forced to flee their posts in the provinces with their families because it was too dangerous to remain. Their fears are not theoretical. In January, two women judges traveling to their jobs at the Supreme Court of Afghanistan, were murdered in the street. Now, the prisons housing convicted terrorists have been opened, and sentenced prisoners are contacting their judges threatening reprisals and revenge.
As a chapter of the IAWJ, an organization comprised of over 6500 women judges from more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, NAWJ wants to draw particular attention to the situation of Afghan women judges, given the special role they have played in upholding the rule of law and human rights for all, and the particular dangers they face as a result. We honor their commitment and their courage. Today, some 250 women serve as judges there.
Today, it is reported that the Afghan government has collapsed. The President of Afghanistan has fled the country. The United States Department of State is currently prioritizing visas for employees of the United States, including interpreters, as the United States reaches its date for final withdrawal from Afghanistan. NAWJ urges the Department of State to include the Afghan women judges and their families, who are in such a desperate and precarious position, in facilitating travel and processing visas in the same manner that special measures are being extended to interpreters, journalists and other personnel who provided essential service to the foreign military forces in Afghanistan. NAWJ urges our government to consider the fate of the women judges. By serving as judges and helping develop the Afghan judicial branch, women judges have helped establish the rule of law in their country, an essential pillar of a democratic state. Allowing them to be at the mercy of the Taliban and insurgent groups, given what they have sacrificed and contributed working side by side with the United States would be tragic indeed.
Hon. Karen Donohue
President, NAWJ
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Thanks to my friends and long-time colleagues Judge Churchill and Judge Tsankov for standing up and speaking out. I understand from them that Senior DC Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz (also a past President of the NAWJ) was also instrumental in this effort.
Honorable Vanessa Ruiz Senior Judge, DC Court of Appeals PHOTO: Wikipedia
Also, many thanks to Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) for sending this to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory or shown much moral or intellectual courage in standing up for the rights and lives of refugees and energizing the bureaucracy to save lives.
Compare this with the conspicuous lack of moral, intellectual, and legal leadership and effective action from the Biden USDOJ on refugee and asylum issues.
Sadly, as many of us tried, in vain, to tell the incoming Biden Administration, failure to make immediate, bold, progressive, humanitarian, due process reforms at EOIR and to take a strong, courageous stand against the continuing misuse of bogus legal rationales to suspend refugee and asylum processing (and ignore our legal and moral obligations to refugees and other migrants) at the border will likely cripple the US response to arising human rights catastrophes and cost more innocent human lives.
Human rights and immigrant justice are not “back burner” issues! Nor are they “rocket science!” Delay costs lives and undermines democracy and our international leadership.
🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever! Lack of expertise and moral courage has consequences!
Michelle Rindels & Riley Snyder report for The Nevada Independent:
A federal judge in Nevada has ruled that a nearly 70-year-old section of law that makes it a felony to reenter the U.S. after being deported is unconstitutional, saying it was enacted with discriminatory intent against Latinos and therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause.
Judge Miranda Du issued an order on Wednesday dismissing a case against Gustavo [Carrillo]-Lopez, who was indicted last summer for being in the U.S. in spite of being deported in 1999 and 2012. It appears to be the first time a court has made such a decision, even though the statute known as Section 1326 has been under consideration by several district courts.
“Because Carrillo-Lopez has established that Section 1326 was enacted with a discriminatory purpose and that the law has a disparate impact on Latinx persons, and the government fails to show that Section 1326 would have been enacted absent racial animus … the Court will grant the Motion,” Du wrote.
The case is a blow for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which initially filed the charge during the Trump administration — an era of hardline immigration policies — but has since switched hands to the Biden administration. Left-leaning groups have asserted that the Trump administration had “weaponized” Section 1326 and other decades-old immigration laws as part of their “zero tolerance” immigration strategy.
Julian Castro, a former Democratic presidential candidate and secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Administration, tweeted that “this law has an incredibly racist history. I doubt the Biden DOJ will want to defend it in the appellate court.”
. . . .
The order notes that the law has a disparate impact on Latinos, noting that 87 percent of people apprehended at the border in 2010 were of Mexican descent. While the federal government argued those statistics are a function of geography and Mexico’s proximity to the U.S. rather than discrimination, Du said the argument was unpersuasive.
“The federal government’s plenary power over immigration does not give it license to enact racially discriminatory statutes in violation of equal protection,” Du wrote.
. . . .
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Read the complete article at the link,
Great decision! Notable for you “liberal artists” that historical analysis of racism and eugenics in America presented by Kelly Lytle Hernández, a history professor at UCLA, helped make the record and carry the day!
Just the kind of interdisciplinary interaction that permeates judging, particularly in immigration and human rights, and argues for more liberal arts grads with backgrounds in history, the humanities, linguistics, demographics, and social sciences on the Immigration Bench and the Article IIIs.
I’ve long criticized the “ahistorical” sometimes “anti-historical” approach taken by the BIA and other Federal Courts! For example, promoting the fiction that treaties, laws, ombudpersons, and even elections magically change centuries’ old animuses and make everything “hunky dory” for long-persecuted social, political, ethnic, religious, or racial groups.
Now, if we can only get the Article IIIs to do their job and hold the entire EOIR system, as currently operating, which has fatal racial bias, fairness, impartiality, expertise, and operational problems that make it a “walking violation of due process,” unconstititional, we could be on the way to the change America needs to bring an end to the present national disgrace in our Immigration Courts which is diminishing justice for everyone in America.
Additionally, despite life tenure, most Federal Courts have been reluctant to enforce the Constitution against the many Executive and Legislative abuses in the area of immigration and human rights. So, I would be disappointed, but not surprised, if this ruling is reversed on appeal.
Nevertheless, it’s an important step in exposing racism, connecting it with immigration, establishing truth, and fighting the Executive’s unconscionably bad and often illegal performance on immigration and race! While Garland might incorrectly think that immigration and human rights are “back burner” issues, by the time the NDPA is done with him they might well be issues that consume most of his time and irreparably damage his reputation. That’s why a wise Attorney General would be “leading the bandwagon for Article I” while immediately bringing in the progressive experts necessary to re-establish due process and efficiency at EOIR.
At any rate, this is exactly the kind of “creative disruption” that needs to happen until the system wakes up and makes the necessary progressive, due process, equal justice reforms long overdue at EOIR and other parts of the immigration bureaucracy.
Garland’s Unwillingness To Install Progressive Competence @ EOIR Continues to Drag Down the Ship Of State! PHOTO: Thomas Hawk Creative Commons Amateur Night
Here’s a link to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, courtesy of Dan Kowalski over at LexisNexis Immigration Community:
At first glance, this could potentially be a workable system, with some favorable aspects:
* Restores properly generous credible fear standard;
* Allows AO to grant well-established cases in first instance, even at the credible fear level, without referral to EOIR;
* Retains EOIR review of both credible fear and asylum denials;
* Doesn’t appear to affect pending and affirmative cases;
* Retains access to Circuit review of denials.
But, as with most things, the devil 👹 is in the details. And, personnel, leadership, direction, and accountability are absolute keys to success.
Without:
1) More and better Asylum Officers;
2) Far better training at the AO and EOIR (see, Michele Pistone);
3) Better IJs with proven expertise in asylum law and a demonstrated willingness to grant relief to worthy cases;
4) An entirely new BIA of progressive asylum experts to provide leadership, positive precedents, and accountability for both credible fear reviews and de novo asylum reviews;
5) An agreement with the private bar as to where and on what schedule these cases are to be heard, to achieve universal representation (see, Michele Pistone and VIISTA); and
6) Agreements with NGOs re housing, care, employment assistance to take pressure off particular communities;
this proposal appears to be “headed for failure.”
I can’t glean any of those essential characteristics from this NPR.
In their absence:
1) There are likely to be huge discrepancies in AO decisions;
2) Many current IJs, particularly from border areas, will simply “rubber stamp” both credible fear and asylum merits denials from the AO to keep the EOIR dockets moving and “make quota” (Lucas Guttentag, where are you?);
3) “Rubber stamping” of asylum denials is also endemic at the BIA, as currently comprised;
3) The current BIA will be reluctant to issue positive asylum precedents (not sure they even know how or have the ability to do so) and will likely concentrate on instructing AOs and the IJs on how to deny asylum or credible fear and have it stand up on review;
4) The private bar will be unable to keep up with the pro bono demand, causing many applicants to be unrepresented or underrepresented;
5) Asylum applicants will be concentrated in particular communities, often near the border, who will complain about the burdens being inflicted upon them by the Feds.
In other words, without better, expert, progressive leadership at both DHS and DOJ, and without major changes in personnel and training, this program will rapidly become a disaster, like other “streamlining” efforts that do not deal realistically with the practical aspects of implementation, particularly the qualifications, attitude, “culture,” and training of those making the actual decisions!A continuing lack of progressive leadership and expertise at the “retail level” will likely lead to widespread injustice, inconsistency, and eventually protracted litigation.
I am also concerned that the NPR appears to take the current 1.4 million case EOIR backlog (actually under-stated in the NPR as 1.3 million — Garland has grown it almost as rapidly as Barr-Sessions) as a “given.” But, there are readily available ways to dramatically slash this backlog by perhaps as much as 90% (see, Chen & Moskowitz plan) which would allow both IJs and the BIA to work on these cases “in real time” WITHOUT creating yet more “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” at EOIR (as the NPR, without the changes outlined above, is highly likely to do).
“Like the rest of us, Casey has no idea what Judge Garland is doing and what he hopes to achieve in his Star Chambers!” PHOTO: Rudi Reit Creative Commons
This leads me to reiterate Casey’s cosmic question: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”Ironically, there are many “all-star players” out here in the real world who can and would be “winners.” But, for whatever reason, to date, this Administration has unwisely chosen to leave most of them “on the sidelines” rather than giving them bats and gloves and putting them in the game. ⚾️ That’s painfully obvious at DOJ! Not a recipe for a “winning campaign” in my “preseason prediction.”
USAToday: Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, directed the Biden administration to reinstate the program, saying the administration “failed to consider several critical factors” when ending the program. Kacsmaryk delayed his order for seven days to give the administration a chance to appeal.
Reuters: Mayorkas, speaking at a news conference in south Texas, did not provide details about which asylum seekers would be eligible to use the online system, but said further asylum changes would be announced in the coming days.
WaPo: The number of migrants detained along the Mexico border crossed a new threshold last month, exceeding 200,000 for the first time in 21 years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement data released Thursday.
NYT: By this week, at least 1,000 migrants were housed at the teeming camp, erected by the nearby city of McAllen as an emergency measure to contain the spread of the virus beyond the southwestern border. About 1,000 others are quarantined elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley, some of them in hotel rooms paid for by a private charity.
Politico: Thousands of lawsuits on every aspect of immigration policy are pending from the Trump years — from challenges to the government’s moves to block asylum for specific individuals to roughly 100 lawsuits filed by the government to gain access to or seize land near the southern border for Trump’s border wall.
Newsweek: [S]ix months in, Biden’s administration and his Democrat-led Congress are spending millions more taxpayer dollars to expand detention and surveillance of immigrants. A private prison company is profiting from both.
WaPo: Last week, the Biden administration began the expulsion flights from the United States to the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa in a bid to deter repeat border crossers. Mexico agreed to accept those flights and said it would allow those who feared persecution in their home countries to apply for asylum. But the migrants — mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — who have arrived in the remote Guatemalan border town of El Ceibo describe a chaotic series of expulsions, first from the United States in planes and then from Villahermosa to Guatemala by bus. They say they were not given an opportunity to seek refuge in Mexico.
CNN: The agency’s new policy, issued Wednesday, marks the latest effort by the Biden administration to pivot from the Trump administration and tailor enforcement priorities. Going forward, ICE will require agents and officers to help undocumented victims seek justice and facilitate access to immigration benefits, according to the agency.
WSJ: The situation complicates what has already been a yearslong wait for many of the 1.2 million immigrants—most of them Indians working in the tech sector—who have been waiting in line to become permanent residents in the U.S. and are watching a prime opportunity to win a green card slip away.
CBS: The death toll from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti soared to at least 1,297 Sunday as rescuers raced to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm. Saturday’s earthquake also left at least 2,800 people injured in the Caribbean nation, with thousands more displaced from their destroyed or damaged homes.
TheCity: Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, speaking publicly for the first time as New York’s governor-to-be, insisted Wednesday she’s “evolved” since fighting against driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants by threatening them with possible arrest and deportation.
AILA: The BIA dismissed the appeal after concluding that the respondent’s prior receipt of special rule cancellation of removal under the NACARA bars her from applying for cancellation of removal. Matter of Hernandez-Romero, 28 I&N Dec. 374 (BIA 2021)
Law360: The Third Circuit signed off Monday on an order from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office barring law enforcement agencies from sharing certain information with federal immigration authorities, ruling in a precedential opinion that two federal statutes do not bar the directive since they regulate states and not private actors.
AILA: The court upheld the BIA’s denial of asylum to the Salvadoran petitioner, finding that his proposed particular social groups of “former members of MS-13” and “former members of MS-13 who leave for moral reasons” were overbroad and lacked social distinction. (Nolasco v. Garland, 8/2/21)
AILA: The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s finding that the petitioner had not presented prima facie evidence of her eligibility for cancellation of removal pursuant to INA §242(a)(2)(B)(i). (Parada-Orellana v. Garland, 8/6/21)
AILA: The court held that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying the petitioner’s motion to reopen, where the evidence showed that the poor conditions facing homosexuals and Christians in Somalia have remained substantially similar since the time of her hearing. (Yusuf v. Garland, 8/9/21)
AILA: The court held that the BIA did not err in finding that the petitioner’s proposed particular social group (PSG) of “Mexican mothers who refuse to work for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación” was not sufficiently particularized or socially distinct. (Rosales-Reyes v. Garland, 8/4/21)
AILA: The court found that because petitioner had failed to rebut the presumption set out in the Attorney General’s decision in In re Y-L-, the BIA did not err in not considering her mental health as a factor in the particularly serious crime (PSC) analysis. (Gilbertson v. Garland, 8/2/21)
Law360: The Board of Immigration Appeals was wrong to deny administrative closure to a Mexican woman and her daughters while they had a U visa petition pending, an Eighth Circuit panel ruled, faulting the board’s reliance on now-vacated precedent.
AILA: Granting the petition for review, the court held that, because petitioner was not an applicant for admission, the BIA impermissibly applied the “clearly and beyond doubt” burden of proof in finding him inadmissible and therefore ineligible for adjustment of status. (Romero v. Garland, 8/2/21)
AILA: The court remanded for the BIA to consider in the first instance whether the petitioner was eligible for withholding of removal on account of his membership in the particular social group of “people erroneously believed to be gang members.” (Vasquez-Rodriguez v. Garland, 8/5/21)
AILA: The court held that Hawaii’s fourth degree theft statute, a petty misdemeanor involving property of less than $250, is overbroad with respect to the BIA’s definition of a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT) and is indivisible, and granted the petition for review. (Maie v. Garland, 8/2/21)
Law360: The Ninth Circuit denied a Mexican man’s appeal of his deportation order Wednesday, saying the Board of Immigration Appeals was correct in ruling that his past conviction for marijuana possession made him ineligible for cancellation of removal.
AILA: The court held that the petitioner’s conviction in Florida under Fla. Stat. §790.23(1)(a) for being a felon in possession of a firearm did not constitute a “firearm offense” within the meaning of INA §237(a)(2)(C) and its cross-reference to 18 USC §921(a)(3). (Simpson v. Att’y Gen., 8/4/21)
Law360: A Texas federal judge on Friday extended for an additional 14 days an emergency order temporarily blocking Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order restricting ground transportation of migrants detained at the border amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Law360: An American who has waited years for his Pakistani wife to have her green card application processed is suing the federal government, blaming their visa limbo on what they call an illegal national security vetting program.
AILA: ICE released ICE Directive 11005.3, Using a Victim-Centered Approach with Noncitizen Crime Victims, with guidance on how it will handle civil immigration enforcement actions involving noncitizen crime victims.
AILA: USCIS SAVE issued guidance regarding Afghans who are eligible for Special Immigrant Visas and their special immigrant LPR status or special immigrant parole that meets the special immigrant requirement for certain government benefits.
AILA: USCIS stated that 8/12/21 through 9/30/21, it will extend the validity period for Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, from two years now to four years due to COVID-19-related delays in processing. Guidance is effective 8/12/21, and comments are due by 9/13/21.
AILA: Executive order issued 8/9/21, imposing sanctions on those determined to have contributed to the suppression of democracy and human rights in Belarus, including suspending the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of such persons. (86 FR 43905, 8/11/21)
AILA: On 8/5/21, President Biden issued a memo directing DHS to defer for 18 months the removal of Hong Kong residents present in the United States on 8/5/21, with certain exceptions. (86 FR 43587, 8/10/21)
The article by Anita Kumar in Politico should be an “eye opener” for those progressive advocates who think Garland is committed to due process, equal justice, and best practices in Immigration Court and elsewhere in the still dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy. This particular quote stands out:
“The Department of Justice really was a center of gravity for some of the most…hideous anti- immigrant policies that came out of the Trump administration and really was in some ways ground zero for the anti-immigrant agenda of Donald Trump,” said Sergio Gonzales, who worked on the Biden transition and serves as executive director of the Immigration Hub. “And this is why it’s so critical that DOJ moves swiftly and aggressively to undo that agenda.”
I dare any advocate to claim Garland has moved “swiftly and aggressively” to undo the Miller White Nationalist agenda! Yes, after a crescendo of outrage and public pressure from NGOs, he has vacated four of the worst xenophobic and procedurally disastrous precedents. But, there are dozens more out there that should have been reversed by now.
More important, returning the law to its pre-Trump state is highly unlikely to bring meaningful change and fairer results as long as far too many of the Immigration Judges and BIA Judges charged with applying that law are Trump-era appointees, some with notorious records of anti-immigrant bias and a number who have denied almost every asylum case that came before them. (And, it’s not like A-R-C-G- was fairly and consistently applied during the Obama Administration, which largely gave “the big middle finger” to progressives in appointments to the Immigration Judiciary).
Is an IJ who was denying nearly 100% of A-R-C-G- cases (and in some cases misogynistically demeaning female refugees in the process) even prior to A-B- suddenly going to start granting legal protection? Not likely!
Are BIA Judges who got “elevated” under Trump by being notorious members of the “Almost 100% Denial Club” suddenly going to have a “group ephifany” and start properly and generously applying A-R-C-G- to female refugees and insisting that trial judges do the same? No way!
Is a BIA where notorious asylum deniers are heavily over-represented and others have shown a pronounced tendency to “go along to get along” with Miller-type xenophobic White Nationalist policies now going to do a “complete 360” and start churning out “positive precedents” requiring IJs to fairly and generously grant asylum as contemplated in long-forgotten (yet still correct) precedents like Cardoza-Fonseca, Mogharrabi, and Kasinga? Not gonna happen!
Will a few rumored, long delayed progressive expert appointments to the Immigration Judiciary “turn the tide” ofsystemic dysfunction, intellectual dishonesty, anti-immigrant, anti-asylum “culture,” lack of expertise, and dereliction of due process and fundamental fairness at EOIR? Of course not!
So, progressives, don’t kid yourselves that Garland has “seen the light” and is on your side. Judge him by his actions and appointments!
Note, that unlike Sessions and Barr, it’s actually hard to judge Garland on his rhetoric, because there isn’t much. He’s five months into running a nationwide system of dysfunctional “star chambers.”
But, to date, he hasn’t uttered a single inspiring pronouncement on returning due process, fundamental fairness, human dignity, decisional excellence, or professionalism to EOIR, connecting the dots between immigrant justice and racial justice, or given any warning that those who don’t “get the message” will be getting different jobs or heading out the door.
I still remember my first personal encounter with AG Janet Reno when she exhorted everyone at the BIA to promote “equal justice for all!” I still think of it, and it’s still “on my daily agenda” — over a quarter century later, even after the end of my EOIR career!
Where are Garland’s “inspiring words” or “statements of values” on immigrant justice and equal justice for all!Actions count, but rhetoric in support of those actions is also important. So far, Garland basically has “zeroed out” on both counts!
Yes, along with the entire immigration community, I cheered the appointment of Lucas Guttentag! But, Lucas isn’t deciding cases, nor has he to date brought the progressive experts to EOIR Management and repopulated the BIA with progressive expert judges who will end the due process abuses and grotesque injustices at EOIR and start holding IJs with anti-asylum, anti-migrant, anti-due-process agendas accountable.
Also unacceptably, progressive litigators haven’t been brought in to assume control of the Office of Immigration Litigation (“OIL”) and end wasteful, and often ethically questionable, defense of the indefensible in immigration cases in the Article IIIs.
We need bold, progressive, due process/fundamental fairness/racial justice reforms! It’s got to start with major progressive personnel changes! And, it should already have started at EOIR!
The best laws, regulations, precedents, and policies in the world will remain ineffective so long as far too many of those judges and senior executives charged with carrying them out lack demonstrated commitment to progressive values, not to mention relevant, practical expertise advancing human and civil rights!
Contrary to what many think, bureaucracy can be moved by those with the knowledge, guts, determination, and commitment to do it! Seven months after Biden’s inauguration, the DOJ remains a disaster with the situation at EOIR leading the way!
It didn’t have to be that way! It’s unacceptable! Foot dragging squanders opportunities, wastes resources, and, worst of all, actually costs lives and futures where immigration is at stake. This isn’t “ordinary civil litigation!” It’s past time for tone-deaf and inept Dem Administrations to stop treating it as such!
The following item from Angelika Albaladejo at Newsweek should also be a “clarion call” to advocates who might have thought this Administration (and even Congressional Dems) has a real interest in human rights reforms.
Here’s the essence:
President Joe Biden promised to end prolonged immigration detention and reinvest in alternatives that help immigrants navigate the legal process while living outside of government custody. These promises were part of Biden’s campaign platform and the reform bill he sent to Congress on his first day in the White House.
But six months in, Biden’s administration and his Democrat-led Congress are spending millions more taxpayer dollars to expand detention and surveillance of immigrants. A private prison company is profiting from both.
Meanwhile, community case management—which past pilot programs and international studies suggest is less expensive while more effective and humane—is receiving comparatively little support.
Same old same old! Election is over, immigration progressives who helped elect Dems are forgotten, and human rights becomes an afterthought —or, in this case, worse!
Progressives must continue to confront a largely intransigent and somewhat disingenuous Administration. A barrage of litigation that will tie up the DOJ until someone pays attention and, in a best case, forces change on a tone-deaf and recalcitrantAdministration, is a starting point.
But, it’s also going to take concerted political pressure from a group whose role in the Dem Party and massive contributions to stabilizing our democracy over the past four years is consistently disrespected and undervalued (until election time) by the “Dem political ruling class!”
Legislation to create an Article I Immigration Court and get Garland, his malfunctioning DOJ, and his infuriating “what me worry/care attitude” completely out of the picture has also become a legal and moral imperative, although still “a tough nut to crack” in practical/political terms. But, we have to give it our best shot!
Actions (including, most important, personnel changes) solve problems and save lives! Unfulfilled promises, campaign slogans, and fundraising pitches not so much!
Many who helped put Biden and Garland in office believed that “Americans Gulags” and “EOIR StarChambers” would be a thing of the past by now. But, outrageously, they are still alive, well, and thriving in the Biden Administration, even being expanded and defended by Garland’s team of morally and ethically challenged DOJ lawyers. “The Inspiring Words & Deeds of AG Merrick Garland on Immigrant Justice” would fill a book about as large as “The Combined Wisdom & Humanity of Donald Trump & Stephen Miller.” Oh well, at least the Grim Reaper must be happy with the way things are going! Image: Hernan Fednan, Creative Commons License
😎Due Process Forever! Star Chambers and the New American Gulag, Never!
“The IJ’s failure to put Flores-Rodriguez on notice of this central issue in his case denied him “a full and fair hearing” by preventing him from submitting significant testimony and other evidence. Colmenar, 210 F.3d at 971. Because the IJ’s conduct potentially affected the outcome of the proceedings, Flores-Rodriguez has also suffered prejudice. Id. For these reasons, a due process violation warranting reversal has occurred. We express no opinion whether, if Flores-Rodriguez had received notice and defended against the claim that he had made false claims of citizenship, he would have likely prevailed or to the contrary been held inadmissible. But what is of signal importance in our system of justice is that when a person is charged with a crime or charged with allegations warranting removal from the country, that person is fairly entitled to notice of the claims against him and an opportunity to be heard in opposition. Because that opportunity was not given here, we grant the petition and remand to the BIA with instructions that it hold whatever future proceedings are necessary to ensure due process is given to Flores-Rodriguez before decision is made. PETITION FOR REVIEW GRANTED.”
****************** Many, many congrats Karen! You are quickly establishing yourself as a “fearless warrior queen” of the NDPA. 🛡⚔️ Looking forward to a time when you and others like you will take your places on the Immigration Court and other Federal Benches. That will bring some much needed, and obviously now missing, expertise, courage, humanity, practicality, and diversity to our Federal Judicial system that is stale, out of step, non-representative of our diverse nation, and floundering from top to bottom, even as the future of our democracy remains in peril.
Here’s an inspiring video about Karen and how and why she became an immigration attorney:
Thanks for being such a great role model, Karen, for the “new generation” of the NDPA! And believe me, those of us in the “Over the Hill Brigade” of the NDPA are out there recruiting all the time!
Wow! Providing due process before making a final decision! What a radical concept! Clearly at odds with the Sessions/Barr emphasis on prejudging cases in favor of ICE enforcement and against individuals and their “dirty lawyers” out to “game” the system. That’s what the “rote form denial orders” that Sessions and Barr encouraged to generate more removals are all about! No need to know much about the law or the facts of the case. Just fill in the blanks and check “denied” and “removed!”
It’s telling, however, that even with a massive increase in judges, these “corner cutting restrictionist gimmicks” astronomically increased an already out of control backlog of cases, even while denying fair hearings to thousands! Seven months into the Biden Administration (which has the remarkable benefit of numerous “expert action plans” for reducing backlog without denying due process), that backlog continues to grow with no apparent plan for controlling it.
🔌 How many “Team Garland” Senior Officials does it take to pull this at EOIR?
Will Garland ever “pull the plug” on this parody of a “court” that keeps “blowing the basics” with human lives and futures at stake? Not very surprising when expertise is “optional” and due process takes a back seat to “cranking out removal orders” and meeting clearly unethical, due-process-denying “quotas.” Also, it’s one where a bureaucratic judicial selection process designed by the last Administration to “dumb down” and “bias out” the Immigration Courts in favor of DHS Enforcement is still in use!
One can imagine a court system where repeated significant due process violations, questionable ethics, continuing substandard legal performance, disturbing lack of subject matter expertise, grotesque inconsistencies, and statistically inexplicable patterns of anti-individual decision-making would raise some “red flags” among peers and those charged with maintaining professional standards. These days, however, it appears that only failure to meet “production quotas” or actually taking extra time to get decisions right can get an EOIR judge in hot water.
Gotta wonder what Judge Garland would have thought if one of his Article III colleagues produced “garbage work” like this on, say, a routine Federal Tort Claims case? He probably would have been pretty upset and acted accordingly.
But, where it’s only people’s lives and futures at stake — “the loss of everything that makes life worth living” as famously stated by the Supremes of yore — anything seems “good enough for government work” in Garland’s malfunctioning, yet deadly and inefficient, “clown courts.” 🤡 (NOTE: With a sense of false optimism, I had hoped to put the poor “EOIR Clown Emoji” — forced to work extreme overtime during the Trump Kakistocracy — out to rest. But, alas, Garland’s failure to take the lives and rights of migrants, not to mention the health, welfare, and sanity of my litigating colleagues, seriously, and his inability to connect the dots between officially-sanctioned injustice @ EOIR and injustice throughout our society, has forced him back into duty!)
I must admit that I don’t “get it” as to why Garland thinks this is acceptable performance by a public agency and fails to take the obvious steps to end to this ongoing disgrace that ruins human lives, frustrates hard-working private lawyers trying to do their jobs (actually the only folks, in addition to some in the NAIJ, keeping this sinking boat afloat right now), and undermines our entire justice system! It also diminishes his own reputation, stature, and legacy.
Many of us understand that the Biden Administration can never attain racial justice in America as long as racially charged injustice, lack of due process, and bad judging prevails in our Immigration Courts. Tragic that those in charge haven’t achieved that same level of enlightenment, understanding, and urgency! Delay in making long overdue progressive reforms and personnel changes costs lives, squanders resources, and further undermines our democracy!
Anna Marie Gallagher, Esquire Executive Director CLINIC PHOTO: CLINIC website
Here’s a statement from CLINIC condemning this Judge’s decision to reinstate the misnamed “Migrant Protection Protocols,” better known as “Remain in Mexico,” or more accurately as “Let ‘Em Die In Mexico:”
A Statement From the ED: CLINIC Condemns Federal Ruling to Resume Migrant Protection Protocols
SILVER SPRING, Maryland — The following is a statement from CLINIC Executive Director Anna Gallagher:
“CLINIC staff and volunteers have accompanied and provided legal counsel to thousands of men, women and children who sought safety at our doors, only to be stranded in Mexico in inhumane conditions through MPP. They desperately waited for protection and admission to one of the richest countries in the world, in increasing danger, by design of the U.S. government.
MPP is a national shame.
Jesus said, ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision is contrary to man’s law and God’s law and must be overturned. We now call on President Biden to act on his faith and once again, end this policy that is so contrary to our values and who we aspire to be.”
CLINIC advocates for humane and just immigration policy. Its network of nonprofit immigration programs — 400 organizations in 48 states and the District of Columbia — is the largest in the nation.
In case you miss the irony, think of this: At the very moment we are pleading with the international community to help extricate us from the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, we are illegally and arbitrarily turning away legal asylum applicants at our border, many of them women and children with claims just as compelling as those from Afghani women and girls, and returning them to dangerous areas with NO PROCESS AT ALL!
And, Judge K would like to support his GOP White Nationalist buddies in Texas and Missouri by unlawfully reimplementing “Remain in Mexico” — a much-studied, vigorously and rightfully criticized program deemed a practical, human rights, legal, and humanitarian disaster by every credible human rights organization.
CLINIC is right: “Shame!”
The above statement is, of course, not the only cogent criticism I have received at Courtside about this decision. It just happens to be the one that appeared first in my Courtside inbox, courtesy of my good friend and NDPA stalwart Anna Marie Gallagher, Executive Director of CLINIC!
Hon. David Estudillo Washington State Judge Nominee for USDC WD WA PHOTO: YouTube
President Biden’s judicial nominees continue to maintain a truer representation of America. Judge David Estudillo, nominated for the Western District of Washington, would be only the second Latino judge to ever serve on that court. Confirming Judge Estudillo moves us toward a future where all people see themselves reflected on the federal bench. Can you help us urge the Senate to confirm Judge Estudillo?
Judge Estudillo has served as a state court judge on the Grant County Superior Court in Washington for six years. He previously operated his own law firm for 10 years where he represented people seeking asylum, DACA protections, work authorizations, temporary protected status, and citizenship.
His personal and professional experience would bring an important voice to a district that represents more than 1.1 million immigrants and nearly 1 million Latinx people. We must urge the Senate to confirm Judge Estudillo.
On July 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance a number of Biden’s judicial nominees who will help restore integrity and fairness to the federal bench after Trump’s devastating conservative overhaul of our courts.
Judge David Estudillo is one of the nominees the committee advanced and one of three nominees currently pending on the Senate floor for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Judge Estudillo’s parents were farmworkers who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. If confirmed, he would be the second Latino judge ever to serve on this court. It is crucial that the more than 1.1 million immigrants and nearly 1 million Latinx people in Washington feel that they are represented on the courts by people who share their experiences and identities.
Even if you don’t live in Washington, we can all agree that confirming civil rights lawyers to our courts benefits every single person in the country. Confirming Judge Davis Estudillo moves us toward a future where all people see themselves reflected on the federal bench.
We don’t have billionaire backers like some right-wing media outlets. Half our revenue comes from readers like you, meaning we literally couldn’t do this work without you. Can you chip in $5 right now to help Daily Kos keep fighting?
If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible.
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*****************
As I always say: “Better Judges for a better America!” This a step forward, although we still have a long way to go to repair the extensive damage inflicted on the Federal Judiciary by Trump & McConnell.
Moreover, as I will discuss below, one of America’s most important (and readily “improvable”) judiciaries, one completely controlled by the Biden Administration, the U.S. Immigration Court, has actually taken steps backward in terms of progressive appointments under Garland. It’s like a new coach taking over in the 4th quarter of a game his team is losing 48-7 and saying “OK, let’s spot them another 17 points before we start playing to win!” Incredible, yet, sadly, true!
As the latest census shows an increasingly diverse America, the Article III Federal Judiciary remains an embarrassing backwater of “non-diversity.” This was intentionally aggravated by Trump & McConnell who, as noted above, elevated primarily White ultra right wing men, many with thin or questionable qualifications, to the Federal Bench!
As stated above:
It is crucial that the more than 1.1 million immigrants and nearly 1 million Latinx people in Washington feel that they are represented on the courts by people who share their experiences and identities.
Evidently, AG Merrick Garland and his team @ DOJ haven’t gotten that message. So far, Garland’s appointments to the Immigration Court, and the composition of his BIA, look more like Stephen Miller’s, Billy Barr’s, and Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions’s “skewed whitewashed vision” of America than they do the real America. That’s particularly true when you consider the American communities whose lives and futures are existentially affected (primarily adversely) by substandard and biased EOIR decisions that continue to be cranked out under Garland. This is despite a few moves by Garland to “kill off” the most horrible of the many bad precedents cranked out by the AG and the BIA during the Trump regime.
Judge Estrada sounds like just the type of individual that Garland should be appointing to theU.S. Immigration Court and the BIA. Compare Judge Estrada’s experience, qualifications, and “real life” background and human engagement with the lackluster profiles of Immigration Judges recently appointed by Garland and with many of those appointed to the Immigration Court and the BIA over the past two decades.
There are plenty of diverse, extraordinarily talented, courageous, practical experts out there in the NDPA to reform and improve the EOIR Judiciary at all levels! Many haven’t applied in the past (or have had their applicants rejected in favor of lesser-qualified candidates) because of the White Nationalist, xenophobic, nativist tone set by Sessions and Barr. Indeed, I spoke over the weekend to one of the leading progressive immigration/human rights experts in America who felt that way. Obviously, I encouraged that “NDPA superstar” to submit the applications — not just for EOIR but also for the Article III Judiciary which also needs to get its act together on human rights, immigration, and racial justice.
Garland & team need to reform and improve the selection criteria, involve outside expert input, and then actively recruit the “best and the brightest” from the NDPA to remake and elevate the Immigration Judiciary! As I have mentioned before, my colleagues in the Round Table and I have done more outreach, cajoling, inspiring, and recruiting among the progressive immigration and human rights community to apply for EOIR jobs than have those at DOJ and elsewhere in the Administration whose job it should be to do just that! It’s ridiculous, and it’s wrong!
No wonder things continue to be an ungodly mess at EOIR despite mountains of blueprints, action plans, and other readily achievable reform recommendations and proposed improvements produced by practical experts in the immigration/human rights/racial justice community! The Immigration Judiciary cries out for diverse, progressive, talented, practical scholar “role models” drawn from the NDPA!
Lucas Guttentag, are you listening somewhere out there? Don’t get co-opted by the DOJ bureaucracy that overall failed to stand up to Trump and his gang of insurrectionists! Don’t let the new leadership at DOJ “de-prioritize or back burner” essential, long overdue, achievable EOIR reforms! Expose “Obamathink revolution by evolution” as the ridiculous and dangerous nonsense that it is (and always was)! Fight for your ideals, speak out, and shake up this disastrously broken and unfair system with the progressive change we need! At this point in your distinguished career, what do you have to lose? Those who consciously chose “not to rock the boat” at EOIR in the past, when human lives, due process, and human dignity were at stake, now share in the responsibility for its sinking!
As the human rights situations in Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Northern Triangle continue to unravel, the lack of a coherent, operational, legally sound, properly generous refugee and asylum program will continue to haunt the Administration;
In particular, the disgraceful failure to establish a strong, consistent, humane, and protection-oriented interpretation of gender-based asylum to protect women, who are disproportionately targeted for persecution, torture, and other violence, will cost lives of the most vulnerable and be a lasting stain on our nation. (I just listened to Peter Baker, NBC WH Correspondent, on Meet the Press, characterize Afghanistan under the Taliban as a “nation of spouse beaters!”)
The need to fix our our refugee and asylum systems immediately was obvious on January 20, 2021. Why, after 7 months it still is nowhere close to being accomplished is less obvious!
The turmoil in Afghanistan and Haiti and the ongoing human rights disasters in Latin America, all reasonably predictable, are going to increase the human and political problems flowing from a failure to take human rights seriously and to bring the practical human rights experts necessary to solve these issues constructively into the Government power structure! In the end, human rights are everyone’s rights! We ignore that at our peril!
Ironically, while protecting women from persecution and improving their lives was used as a justification by Administrations of both parties for our continuing military presence in Afghanistan, now, as the “end game” plays out in real time, it appears to have been largely reduced to a “talking point” (or a “news feature”) without any discernible plan for protecting or saving Afghan female refugees. Sadly politicos and officials from both parties seem more interested in using women’s lives as “cover” for two decades of ultimately futile presence there than with actually saving any lives now. Indeed, if we treat Afghan women refugees with the inhumane indifference we have continued to heap on female refugees seeking legal asylum at our Southern Border, their outlook is beyond grim.
“Floaters — How The World’s Richest Country Responds To Asylum Seekers” — Some Life-tenured Federal Judges abuse their privileged positions to insure that this is what “due process” will look like for asylum seekers of color! EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez’ wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc)
Here’s the decision from U.S. District JudgeMATTHEW J. KACSMARYK in Texas v. Biden:
Judge Kacsmaryk was appointed to the bench by Trump & McConnell in 2019. He is a former Federal prosecutor, deputy general counsel of a right wing religious group, and member of the Federalist Society. His nomination was (obviously unsuccessfully) opposed by more than 200 prominent civil rights, religious tolerance, and human rights groups.
Here’s an excerpt from their letter in opposition addressed to the Senate:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations committed to promoting and protecting the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, I write in strong opposition to the confirmation of Matthew Kacsmaryk to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
Nominees to the federal courts must be committed to respecting the law, Constitution, and core American values of justice, fairness, and inclusivity. Mr. Kacsmaryk does not meet this standard. He is an anti-LGBT activist and culture warrior who does not respect the equal dignity of all people. His record reveals a hostility to LGBT equality and to women’s health, and he would not be able to rule fairly and impartially in cases involving those issues.
Interestingly, the letter was signed by none other than Vanita S. Gupta, then President & CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and currently the Associate Attorney General of the U.S.
Gupta and her colleagues had Judge K “pegged” as an unqualified righty bigot then! But, with the lineup currently in place at the 5th and the Supremes, it remains to be seen whether there is any effective short-term remedy for his grotesque abuses of power and human rights.
Judicial appointments are important! Maybe it’s time for Gupta and others at DOJ to treat Immigration Judge and BIA appointments as such!
🇺🇸Due Process Forever! Better Federal Judges for a better America!
