Immigration Judge

# Immigration Court

Let’s Meet the New Temporary Immigration Judges

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Trump Administration’s plan to appoint 600 Temporary Immigration Judges to help address the 3.5-million case backlog in Immigration Court. As far as we know, all the new judges will be U.S. military lawyers from the Judge Advocate General’s corps. 

To facilitate these appointments, EOIR–the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the office that oversees our country’s Immigration Courts–has substantially relaxed the requirements to serve as an Immigration Judge (IJ), and now, IJs do not need any experience with the immigration law to become a judge. The new appointments come on the heels of mass terminations at EOIR, which saw about 120 of the nation’s 700 IJs terminated or “voluntarily” retired.

What to expect from the new judges? Will they be Trump’s willing executioners, denying cases as fast as they can docket them? Or will they be more fair, enforcing the law regardless of their political bosses’ preference? EOIR recently announced the first class of Temporary Immigration Judges (TIJs) and here, we’ll look at their backgrounds to see what this might portend for their judgeships.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court

In (Attempted) Defense of Banning Iranian-American Immigration Judges

If you follow the news from the Executive Office for Immigration Review or EOIR–the office that oversees the Immigration Courts–you are aware of the recent lawsuit filed by Judge Afsaneh Ashley Tabaddor. Judge Tabaddor is an IJ in Los Angeles. She was appointed in 2005 and has been serving ever since. Judge Tabaddor also happens to … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court

Immigration Judge Apocalypse 2014

Nearly half of the nation’s Immigration Judges are eligible to retire this year. Last week, I attended the retirement luncheon for one of them: Judge Wayne Iskra. For the past 10 years, I practiced before Judge Iskra at the Arlington, Virginia Immigration Court. I also clerked for him back in 1998-99. He is a wonderful … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court

The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It, Part 1: Immigration Judges

The poor quality of the immigration bar is a much discussed topic in certain circles (I wrote about it here).  A recent study in the Cardozo Law Review that was featured last month in the New York Times provides an opportunity to discuss the situation, and give my two cents about how to improve representation … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court

Are Well-Fed Judges More Likely to Grant Asylum?

A recent study of parole judges in Israel demonstrates that the judges tend to issue more favorable decisions on a full stomach.  The study, by Shai Danzuger of Ben Gurion University, examines 1,112 parole board hearings in Israeli prisons.  In the chart below, the vertical axis represents the proportion of cases where the judges granted parole.  … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court# National Security

How Safe Are Immigration Judges?

Government Executive reports on a recent event at the National Press Club featuring Judge Randall Frye from the Social Security Administration and president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and Judge Dana Leigh Marks, an immigration judge in San Francisco and president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. The pair described threats to judges involving guns, baseball bats, cut brake lines, and broken legs.

By Jason Dzubow