Appeals Judges Decry Immigration Case 'Tsunami'

Two federal appeals judge and the chair of the Board of Immigration Appeal painted a bleak picture on Sunday of a growing crisis in the adjudication of immigration cases at the administrative and appeals levels.

Speaking at a panel discussion before an audience at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in New York City, 2nd circuit judge Robert Katzmann and 9th circuit judge M. Margaret McKeown described a crisis fueled by increased enforcement and detention, bad or non-existent lawyering for immigrants facing deportation, as well as overwhelmed immigration judges and appeal judges. "It's like a tsunami," McKeown said.

At the 2nd Circuit, Katzmann said, immigration cases six years ago amounted to only four percent of the docket, but now comprise 39 per cent of the court's cases. In many of the cases, the record is inadequate and shows signs of incompetent representation. "By the time we get the case, it's often too late," said Katzmann. "It's often hard to get a good night's sleep when you feel the lawyering in a case has not been good." The surge in cases began, panelists said, after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft streamlined the removal process in 2002. That, McKeown said, had the effect of giving the attorney general "a clean plate and a clean desk," but transferred the burden and the caseload to the appeals courts. Some of the streamlining has since been changed after complaints from federal judges.

The nation's 230 immigration judges have been swamped by nearly 300,000 new cases a year, and they have inadequate resources to keep up, said Juan Osuna, acting chair of the immigration appeals board. As an example, Osuna said, there is only one law clerk for every six judges. When he joined the board, in 2000, Osuna said, the biggest shock was the "bad lawyering" immigrants up for removal had to put up with. "Sometimes they are better off pro se."

Former New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse moderated the panel, also decrying the "huge and growing gap in the rule of law." She cited the recent internal Justice Department report that described the politicization of the way immigration judges were appointed in recent years. Osuna said that what the report described was "disgraceful," though he said some of the judges who were appointed as political favors have turned out to be good judges.

All three panelists called for more training and outreach and pro bono volunteers to improve legal representation for immigrants, and programs are already underway in both the 2nd and 9th circuits. Greater scrutiny of misconduct by immigration lawyers and judges has also begun. Osuna said that so far this year, 40 cases have been referred to the chief immigration judge for the investigation of possible misconduct by judges.

Comments

[Gloria Wolk]

I am tired of those who talk about illegal immigrants, as if this was breaking a law that had any value. We used to have laws that kept people enslaved; I would have been proud to be part of "the Underground Railroad" that helped slaves travel to where they could live free. We used to have laws that prohibited women from voting--even after former African-American slaves were granted the right to vote. We used to have laws that prohibited people of color from sitting on a jury, and people of mixed races from marrying.

Sometimes laws are unjust because the reflect current biases or a society that used to be, and need changing.

[Peter M. Hemming]

The people involved with these case load issues should read "Uncle Juan's Cabin"--a novel which projects what the USA might be like in a few years in light of immigration issues we currently face.

[POLITICAL FAVOR]

ILLEGALLY "HIRED" ATTORNEYS AND JUDGES DECIDING THE CREDIBILITY OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!!! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR GREAT COUNTRY?

[Marvin Gaye]

Stop blaming bad lawyering for the big amount of caseload. Stop deporting immigrants and taking them away from their families.

[Elconejo]

Whenever you post an idea remotely related to immigration you get a response like the one above. It is unresponsive to the question at hand.

I believe the Circuit Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals are playing the "blame game" with the Immigration Lawyer being the end of the stick. What I see is a group of Immigration Judges who refuse to "self-regulate" the behavior of their fellow Immigration Judges. And then there are the Immigration Judges who you can tell by their work-ethic hate their jobs or have lost interest in their profession years-ago.

Then you add to the fact, like FEMA once was, that the EOIR has become a dumping ground for Republican Political Appointees. All this leads to the Immigration Court we have today. Ineffective Judges who have lost interest in due process or have no immigration law experience and position reflect their past loyalty to the Republican Party.

When it comes to the practice of Immigration Law, we must deal with those obstacles and our own clients. While the Immigration Law Bar can "weed" out ineffective attorneys through the us of the State Disciplinary Administrator, no such process exists for Immigration Judges or ICE Trial Attorneys. While the EOIR list on their web-site Attorneys disbarred, we have not idea of which ICE Trial Attorneys have been reprimanded by the Office of Profession Responsibility at the DOJ. Until the day that the Private Immigration bar, ICE Attorneys, and Immigration Judges are held to the same standard the Immigration Bar attorney fighting for his client will always be somewhat "ineffective."

Mayan Elconejo..

[Howard Hudson]

The courts know what it takes to fix this: Take the time to adjudicate every case on its merits. Time-consuming? Sure, but then, how else can we uphold the "Rule of Law"? Anything less would be "illegal." And that certainly could not be the goal of anyone in the US.

Once we begin adjudicating every case on its merits, with counsel or pro se, then we can gauge the true cost of an enforcement-only approach. And, it won't cost any more than any alternative because all those immigrants who are a drain on society will be out of circulation. Whew! That will be a relief, I am sure.

And when the government violates the law, I am sure society will demand that we do right by the immigrant, because that is what is meant by upholding the Rule of Law. It goes both ways.

However, the dialogue over immigration, here in the premier nation of immigrants, will not advance until we lose the hateful vocabulary that reduces humans to a status. Calling a mother, father, daughter, or son "an Illegal" is a means to dehumanize what is human.

And focusing on immigration to the exclusion of every other issue we have today is nothing more than a distraction, a preoccupation. We need security from people who would do us harm, not do us lunch. We need economic expansion, not jail expansion. We need workers willing to do the "Dirty, Dangerous, and Disgusting" work, not employers who treat all workers as dirty, dangerous, and disgusting. It's time for a real solution that realizes Social Security needs immigrants, our economy needs immigrants, our society needs immigrants. And if someone is willing to risk everything they have to try to make it here, we should understand no wall, no jail, and no amount of thinly-veiled racism will keep them out.

[Brittanicus]

There should be no excuses for violations of any Immigration law, or any law. That includes Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A): they broke Federal law. It states, "..a person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) When a citizen or permanent resident breaks a law, if caught we immediately end up in front of a judge.

I have been reading more and more the lenient sentences illegal aliens get or even a slap on the hand. Obama, McCain, Governors, Mayors, Councilors, City managers take notice! 80 percent of the American people are watching! Our police departments have had their hands tied, by Liberal-Socialist state assembly's who are pandering to the illegal alien special interest lobbyists. Not just Postville, Iowa meatpacking facility are in violation of the law, but thousands of other pariah businesses. These labor centers should be checked by ICE, for illegal immigrants. Many of these facilities are funded with taxpayer money, which is also violating the law. How many more nefarious companies out their, violating safety and immigration laws. When ICE knocks on the door eventually--as they will, under the Federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088).

NUMBERSUSA, CAPSWEB have all the answers to the pestilence called OVERPOPULATION. Voter Fraud! A real possibility in NOVEMBER? http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=kourij&date=080810