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US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION
Trump administration pressures judges to speed deportations
LOS ANGELES, Aug 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US immigration judges say they are
under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration to
speed up immigrant deportations — or risk removal if they delay.
This pressure is highlighted in the case of a judge in Philadelphia, Steven
Morley, who was informed that a case he was handling was reassigned to
another court so it could be closed and deportation procedures could begin.
The National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) filed a grievance on
August 8 with the US Department of Justice for what it considers a violation
of courtroom authority.
The judge “should be left alone and protected in his ability to handle the
case from the beginning,” said NAIJ president Ashley Tabaddor, who told AFP
she felt she had “a target on my head” for speaking out.
In the United States, immigration courts are part of the executive — not
the judicial — branch of government. Judges are appointed by the US attorney
general, who is the head of the Department of Justice.
Since the judges are appointed, the attorney general can also fire them.
Trump came to office spouting anti-immigrant rhetoric, especially against
Mexicans, calling them drug dealers, criminals and “rapists.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an early Trump supporter and immigration
hardliner, announced this year that he would evaluate these judges based on
the number of cases they close — in an overloaded system with hundreds of
thousands of open cases.
The NAIJ also filed a complaint over this measure.
“There is anxiety and concern among the judges,” Tabaddor told AFP. The
judges “feel tremendous pressure to try to do more work faster.”
Immigration cases “are not like some product that’s being manufactured
where you can do everyone in a certain amount of time,” said NAIJ president
emeritus Dana Leigh Marks.
Some cases involve people seeking to immigrate because their lives are
threatened in their home countries.
MORE/FI/ 1229 hrs
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“We are deeply aware of the fact that the stakes in these cases are
incredibly high,” she told AFP, adding that the current system amounts to
hearing “death penalty cases in a traffic court setting because the volume is
so intense.”
And those cases take time.
A spokesman for the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration
Review said action was taken in Judge Morley’s case because of “potential
violations of processes and practices governed by federal law and EOIR
policy,” but gave no specifics.
“In any situation where a concern is raised about an immigration judge’s
conduct, regardless of whether that concern is raised by a representative,
third-party group, or following an internal review, EOIR’s OCIJ investigates
the issue thoroughly and will address it appropriately as the facts warrant.
We look forward to fully vindicating the issues surrounding this matter.”
– ‘Worst nightmare’ –
In Philadelphia, Morley was handling an immigration request from Guatemalan
Reynaldo Castro-Tum, who crossed the border into the United States
unaccompanied in 2014 when he was 17 years old.
Castro-Tum was handed over to his brother-in-law living in the United
States. Officials used that address to contact him.
The court sent Castro-Tum five citations — but the Guatemalan never showed
up.
Morley gave the case an “administrative closure,” meaning a pause to make
sure that Castro-Tum was actually receiving the court summons.
The letters for Castro-Tum were going to a trailer park community,
according to CNN. But it was not known if the family had moved.
Sessions — who in this case can operate unilaterally — overturned
Morley’s decision, arguing that immigration judges do not have the authority
to close cases.
He ordered a new citation, meaning that if Castro-Tum did not show up for a
May 31 hearing, he would be deported.
The hearing came, and Castro-Tum was again absent.
Morley agreed to a request by attorney Matthew Archambeault for time to try
to find the young man — but soon after received an email from Assistant
Chief Immigration Judge Jack Weil informing him that the case had been
reassigned because Morley “had been expected to make a decision” on May 31.
A judge was sent from Washington to close the case and order Castro-Tum’s
deportation, even though it’s unclear if the Guatemalan is still in the
United States.
“It’s kind of our worst nightmare come true that the department seems to be
unhappy with how he’s handling a case,” Marks said.
So they take the case away and hand it to a judge “that they feel is going
to be more amenable to their perspective,” she said.
Marks said all administrations have exerted pressure of some kind on
immigration judges, including Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, but “no other
time than now have they become as pronounced as they are.”
Under Trump, “they have crossed all the lines and done so with gusto,” she
said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1230 hrs