Mattingly, the EOIR spokeswoman, said the agency held training sessions for judges to address the disparities in 2008 and 2009. For example, U.S. government policy is more lenient toward people from some countries, less so for others. In the asylum application, Olawales client, a 22-year-old asylum seeker from Cameroon, said armed officers from that country sexually assaulted her when she was a minor while they were searching for English-speaking dissidents like her family. A grant from El Paso Bar Foundation provides an additional $3,700 for the agencys Removal Defense unit. Judge Butler earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from Cornell College and a Juris . Individuals can sign up for a court watch training at bit.ly/courtwatch1. From 1994 to 1995, he served as a staff attorney with the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Oh, my goodness, says Donald Ungar, now retired, as he thinks back to his first impressions. Throughout, Jamil says, Judge Marks articulated to the press and to the public the stress of doing the job of immigration judge. Sep 2013 - Dec 20141 year 4 months. You really get those Perry Mason moments in immigration court. I have nothing in Mexico. He was invested on November 6 and will begin hearing cases this month. The judges in San Francisco, where I served, were told we could not schedule any cases in 2022 until our calendars showed that three cases were scheduled every day through the end of 2021. The schools principal, who asked that he and the school not be identified out of fear of retaliation, worked with the board. The incident occurred on 13 February, and the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed the probe. Judge Stuart Couch, who heard Anas case in Charlotte, orders immigrants deported 89 percent of the time, according to a Reuters analysis of more than 370,000 cases heard in all 58 U.S. immigration courts over the past 10 years. In March 1987, the court decided in favor of granting Cardoza-Fonseca asylum, and Judge Marks, just 32 years old, cemented her standing as a legend. I think about the hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country who have been wronged by the misconducts of Trump-appointed judges, she said. She is known for her fierce advocacy for the court. Anas assertion that she learned from Gutierrez in detention about gang threats to the parent-teacher association was not persuasive, Couch wrote. Coincidence or not, denial rates have shot up more than 30% since Donald Trump became president. Montenegro declined to provide additional details about the case. She can look back with satisfaction at the mass of people whose lives she helped, says Ungar. They had confidence in her that she was doing everything she could for them. She demonstrated this on a national level in October of 1986 when Judge Marks (along with Bill O. Hing, Susan Lydon, and Kip Steinberg) argued on behalf of Luz Marina Cardoza-Fonseca before the US Supreme Court (INS v. Cardoza-Fonesca). She quickly discarded that notion. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research organization at Syracuse University in New York, first sounded the alarmabout disparities in immigration court decisions in 2006. She was always there for me, emotionally and intellectually.. While in Cook County, Ford was accused of complicity in a Chicago police torture scandal that targeted Black people and used torture to coerce criminal confessions for over two decades. [ 72 FR 53677 , Sept. 20, 2007, as amended at 79 FR 39956 , July 11, 2014; 85 FR 81655 , 81750, Dec. 16, 2020] ). The analysis excluded immigrants who were in detention when their cases were heard because such cases are handleddifferently. The court used to have only three judges, all of whom have since left their posts. The longer a judge has been serving, the more likely that judge is to grant asylum. Couch and Holyoak and their courts. STEP 1: Arrive in the U.S. Judge Marks also thrived in this arena because she saw beyond the expectation that her role was solely to facilitate deportations; she saw the humanity inherent in the proceedings. The Honorable Merrick B. Garland The Honorable Lisa O. Monaco. U.S. immigration courts are administrative courts within the Department of Justices Executive Office for Immigration Review. . There is a fine line between judges taking a harshstance on immigration and their exhibiting unprofessional behaviors, saidPaul Schmidt, aformer immigration judge based in Arlington, Virginia, who retired in 2016. Immigration court doesnt have contempt, so I had to use charm, she says. Men are more likely than women to order deportation, as are judges who have worked as ICE prosecutors. Most of themare former government attorneys, and five used to prosecute immigration cases on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. She works as an office janitor and is taking English classes. Dana embodied that proactive spirit., Highly technical and often confusing, immigration law can intersect with family, dependency, and criminal law. In 2018, after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions announced new restrictions on asylum cases, there was a mass exodus of immigration judges. She explains things well. Volunteer lawyers helped the women prepare and submit their applications for asylum. Asylum applicants cannot gain legal U.S. residency because they fled their countries in mortal fear of civil strife or rampant crime or a natural disaster. Were more productive if theyre comfortable, she says. Immigration Judge Emily N. Farrar-Crockett began hearing cases at the Falls Church Adjudication Center in October 2018. Gail Montenegro, EOIRs Midwest regional public information officer, declined to comment on the allegations against Riley but said the agency has a well-established process for handling complaints against immigration judges. Judge Marks led the union for a total of 18 years, serving seven two-year terms as president (not sequential) and four as executive vice president. To give spirit to the letter of this budget . The womens lawyers framed their respective cases with some important differences. The coalition has urged EOIR to thoroughly investigate IJ Fords conduct and take appropriate action to ensure that individuals who appear in the San Francisco Immigration Court are treated with due process, dignity, and respect. Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. Attorneyseven conservativesrespected her., Judge Marks explains it another way. The administration of President Donald Trump is continuing the effort. She quickly packed some backpacks for her and her children and called the only friend she knew who had a car. Judge Marks faced daunting challenges during her tenure. The mission of BorderReport.com is to provide real-time delivery of the untold local stories about people living, working and migrating along the U.S. border with Mexico. McFarland residents vow to keep organizing after court lets GEO expand immigration detention, look to incoming administration for support, After about 5 minutes of struggle, they forced my index finger on the paper: ICE Forcing More Asylum Seekers to Sign Deportation Paperwork as Another Deportation Flight to Cameroon Looms. On Thursday, a coalition of 17 legal services and immigration. Ana moved with her daughter to live with her daughters father and petitioned to have her case moved to Charlotte. Having come from a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world may have helped establish credible fear. But the two women were already at a disadvantage precisely because they came from Honduras. EOIR held a two-day training session last year. The first judge I had, he was strict, but he seemed like a very capable judge and I felt really comfortable, Juan said. It is painfully apparent how much the clients we serve have overcome throughout their lives, says Roxana Moussavian, immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services. It is clearly troubling when you have these kinds of gross disparities, said Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings School of the Law in San Francisco. Gutierrez also said her friend is very forgetful. In Charlotte, immigrants are ordered deported in 84 percent of cases, more than twice the rate in San Francisco, where 36 percent of cases end in deportation. Juans application for cancellation of removal was denied in November 2020. Citing the experience of six anonymous immigrants, including Juan, the complaint accuses Riley of biases against Latino immigrants, bullying and hostile questioning,a lack of professional competence and other alleged misconducts. The Biden administration could move to unwind that decision. Decisions. Four judges in Atlanta turned down 98 out of 100 asylum claims presented to them; nine judges in Houston said no 95% of the time. Both were taken into custody near Hidalgo, Texas, and ended up finding each other in the same U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Artesia, New Mexico. Country of origin is a big factor in determining who gets to stay in the United States because immigrants from some countries are afforded special protections. On December 18, 2020, the EOIR announced the investiture of an additional 14 immigration judges. Ana, 31, has had a baby since arriving in the United States and has been granted work authorization while she awaits a final decision on her case. That roster includes Judges Jamil, King, Miriam Hayward, Stockton, Webber, and Laura Ramirez. The situation in our country is getting worse and worse.. The Government Accountability Office studied some proposals for reform in 2017, without endorsing any particular model. In Charlotte, immigrants are ordered deported in 84 percent of cases, more than twice the rate in San Francisco, where 36 percent of cases end in deportation. The agency does not identify judges who were the subjects of complaints. The October announcement explained that " [s]ince Jan. 20, 2017, the [Department of Justice] has increased EOIR's immigration judge corps from 306 to 520 adjudicators an increase of nearly 70 percent." Riley stopped hearing cases for a few weeks in July and August, but returned shortly after, according to hearing schedules shared with the Dispatch. In response to the rising criticism, the Executive Office for Immigration Review began tracking decisions to identify judges with unusually high or low rates of granting asylum. 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The majority come from government. Of the Mexicans, 5,196 of the 6,113 who applied were told to go back home. The odds of being successful if unrepresented was much lower (17.7%) than for represented asylum seekers (31.1%) in fiscal year 2020.. Last February, a 50-year-old woman and her 29-year-old son who were selling food at the school Gutierrez and Anas children attended were kidnapped from their home and decapitated, according to police records. The other 27 immigration judges will serve across the country on 19 immigration courts. The judge also questioned why, in an early interview with an asylum officer, Ana never mentioned threats to the parent-teacher association, and instead said she thought the gangs were targeting her for the money her daughters father was sending from the United States to build a house in Honduras. I opened the first file, and there was a picture of the first respondent, probably less than a year old. Senators Announce GAO Investigation of the Politicization and Mismanagement of Immigration Courts - September 14, 2020; Take Action. The courts facedand continue to grapple witha crisis of backlogged cases. Shuting Chen was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in October 2022. Theres also an imbalance of power in the courtroom and the fear of retaliation. The journey took three weeks. Stephen M. Ruhle approved the highest number of petitions (44) but still found wanting 76.8% of the petitions he ruled on. Reuters Investigates offers several ways to securely contact our reporters, Before, no one wanted to say anything about the gangs, Gutierrez said. Earlier this month, the Justice Department announced 28 new immigration judges, bringing the number of such judges to more than 465, a record high. The count of deportations included cases in which judges allowed immigrants to leave the country voluntarily. However, the women said their reasons for seeking asylum were the same: Gangs had targeted them because of their involvement in the parent-teacher association, and for that, they and their families had been threatened. The other woman, Ana, joined her daughters father in the southeastern United States, andher case was assigned to an immigration court in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ana testified in her asylum hearing that she knew they were gang members because they were dressed in baggy clothing and they also had ugly tattoos all over their bodies and faces., Ana and her daughter ran home and then, fearing the gang would come after them, fled out the back door. People show up in our office (and) they have no idea why someone wants to kill them. Further, Knox said, asylum seekers arent thinking about the finer points of U.S. asylum law when they are fleeing persecution. Of the 28 immigration judges Sessions has appointed so far, 16 are former ICE prosecutors. The word Reviews; Business Tech; Finance; Markets; . Those appointed under Trump had ordered. She petitioned the BIA through new lawyers to reopen her case and send it back to the immigration court to allow her to present new evidence of her persecution. Pasadena, California . They had confidence in her that she was doing everything she could for them. She demonstrated this on a national level in October of 1986 when Judge Marks (along with Bill O. Hing, Susan Lydon, and Kip Steinberg) argued on behalf of Luz Marina Cardoza-Fonseca before the US Supreme Court (. The number of immigration judges Biden appoints will also affect the immigration court backlog, currently at 1.3 million cases. The most common payscale is General Schedule. In May2021, the Ohio chapter of theAmerican Immigration Lawyers Association submitted a group complaint against Riley to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), an agency within the Department of Justice that oversees immigration courts. How do I know this? About the Immigration Judge. The next year, researchers at Temple University and Georgetown Law School concluded in a study titled Refugee Roulettethat in many cases, the most important moment in an asylum case is the instant in which a clerk randomly assigns an application to a particular asylum officer or immigration judge. In 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found similar disparitiesin its own study. They speak of a woman who broke through barriers, applied the law fairly and compassionately, fought hard fights, and inspired others to join her. He also served as an immigration judge from 2009 to 2011 in San Francisco, and he was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney in the city from 2006 to 2009. . Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. The findings underscore what academics and government watchdogs have long complained about U.S. immigration courts: Differences among judges and courts can render the system unfair and even inhumane. 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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- On November 12, 2020 a coalition of legal service providers, community members, the San Francisco Public Defender, and the National Lawyers Guild - San Francisco Bay Area filed a complaint today with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) against San Francisco-based Immigration Judge Nicholas Ford for his racist, ableist and hostile treatment of immigrants, attorneys and witnesses. But it wont really change anything in my clients case. It is unclear why the judge was absent. (Previously, appointments were considered promotions for prosecuting attorneys from INS.) I vowed to be my authentic sense of self. Retired Immigration Judge Polly Webber, saw an aspirational role model. Couch is the toughest of Charlottes three immigration judges, according to the Reuters analysis. Another 35% ended with additional counseling or training of the judge involved. I came here when I was very young. After walking for an hour and a half, lost and desperate, Gutierrez and her sons sat down in the middle of a dirt road and waited for someone to pass. Theres a lack of transparency and we dont know if theres any outcome from this complaint, said Julie Nemecek, a Columbus-based attorney who represents Juan. In July, the BIA granted Ana the right to a rehearing in immigration court, sending her case back to Charlotte, where it could be heard again by Couch. More than 300 judges are spread among 58 U.S. immigration courts in 27 states, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. I love the Wild West aspect of it., National Association of Immigration Judges. Learn more about how to check your immigration court date and the status of your immigration case from here. Immigrant rights organizations, attorneys file complaint against local Immigration Judge. Four of the 31 new immigration judges are assistant chief immigration judges who will oversee six immigration courts. Hondurans enjoy no special considerations. Attorney General of the United States Deputy Attorney General of the United States. In 2020, of the 30,173 individuals from the Northern Triangle that received a decision on asylum claims 27,020 were denied. There, they applied for asylum. In the fall of 2020, Juan had trouble falling asleep whenever he thought about his upcoming court appearance in Cleveland, where the only immigration court in Ohio is located. In the 1980s, AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) was very stodgy, a reactive organization, Judge Webber says. In October 2020, when he received a notice from the Cleveland Immigration Court that the asylum case of one ofhis clientswas denied, he was disturbed by the language that Judge Jonathan Owens used in the decision. Now, they were extorting teachers, selling drugs openly and assaulting or killing anyone who confronted them. The asylum appeal process is equally politicized, the group says. The year before, according to police records in Honduras, gang members killed a school security guard. El Paso federal immigration judges denied 85.4% of asylum claims in fiscal year 2020. Opinion by Judge Owens * The Honorable Morrison C. England, Jr., United States Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of California . Shes the GOAT of immigration judges! declares Francisco Ugarte, Manager of the Immigration Defense Unit of San Franciscos Public Defenders Office. Cases are assigned to an immigration court based on where the immigrant lives. To then have to stand by as a judge, a member of the same government these clients are seeking protection from, belittles and demonizes their every word, treats them as though they have no dignity, and fails to acknowledge their humanity, its too much. While unfair and antagonistic judges are nothing new to immigrants, Fords misconduct is part of a larger, documented effort by the Trump administration to politicize immigration courts and encourage biased decisions. This time, her lawyer included arguments about her membership in a particular social group. The evidence indicates this is a case of criminal extortion that the respondent attempts to fashion into an imputed political opinion claim., Gutierrez said Ana told her in one of their occasional phone conversations that she felt intimidated by the intense questioning of the ICE attorney. And according to the Department of Homeland Security, most of those coming across the border without authorization since are from Mexico. She is known for her intelligence and wit, having coined oft-repeated, appropriate zingers that help people better understand the challenges of immigration court, including Immigration judges do death penalty cases in a traffic court setting and Immigration is more complicated than tax law. A few years ago, when his case was reassigned to Riley, Juan heard from friends that the new judge was unusually harsh. SAN FRANCISCO Rebecca Jamil was sitting in a nondescript hotel ballroom in suburban Virginia when she realized that her dream job being an immigration judge was no longer tenable. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? ; On June 24, 2020 we collaborated with NLG-Los Angeles, National Immigration Project of the NLG, and the NLG National Office to provide a CLE on 'Fighting for the Release of Detained . The lawyers also argued that she was part of another particular social group as the family member of someone under threat, since the gangs had terrorized her son in trying to recruit him. While judges should not be punished for making a good-faith legal decision, using terms like illegals seems to be a clearviolation of professionalism, he said. She first interviewed Judge Marks, then-president of NAIJ, for, Understanding the Crisis in Our Immigration Courts, Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights (LARR), SF-Marin Lawyer Referral and Information Service. Unlike federal court judges, whose authority stems from the U.S. Constitutions establishment of an independent judicial branch, immigration judges fall under the executive branch and thus are hired, and can be fired, by the attorney general. Judge Dalin Holyoak, who heard Gutierrezs case in San Francisco, orders deportation in 43 percent of cases. The third pointed a gun at Anas head. The average salary for an Immigration Judge is $72,811 per Year in the United States. ICE has not released their estimate of how many cases would be cleared under this plan. In 2014, an unprecedented 68,000 parents and children, most of them fleeing violence and lawlessness in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, crossed into the United States from Mexico a refugee crisis that has contributed to the bloated backlog of asylum petitions. Numerous legal providers and community members have expressed strong concerns about Fords racist history influencing his work in San Francisco. And when there isnt an independent investigatorand you have people on the same team investigating each other, that isnt a fair way to undo the wrong that has been done.. Freedom for Immigrants is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in California. Theres a wide spectrum of when judges are notified, how much information they are provided, and whether they are allowed to give their side of the story before decisions are made.". Shuting Chen, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court . As has been true in earlier years, having representation greatly increases the odds of winning asylum or other relief, TRACs Oct. 28 report says. One grant from Dallas-based Meadows Foundation includes $56,000 for legal services for incarcerated petitioners. Judge Olivia Cassin in New York City allows immigrants to remain in the country in 93 percent of cases she hears. The state court had plexiglass barriers, an air. Ana fled with her daughter the night the gang members threatened them on the street. After hearing Anas case, Couch concluded in his written opinion that Ana was not eligible for asylum because she had not demonstrated a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of a statutorily protected ground. He wasnt convinced that she risked persecution in Honduras because of her political opinion. This, as federal immigration judges decided the second-highest number of asylum petitions on record despite partial court shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2018 or 2020, and 5% or . The mass exodus from Central America was under way when Gutierrez and Ana were elected to the board of the parent-teacher association at their childrens school in spring 2013. Copyright 2005-2023 The Bar Association of San Francisco |, Unpacking the Legacy of Judge Dana Leigh Marks, on December 31, 2021, Judge Dana Leigh Marks* had built an inspiring reputation as a leader, mentor, and advocate. The courts handle cases to determine whether an individual should be deported. In the 1980s, AILA (, ) was very stodgy, a reactive organization, Judge Webber says. One evening in April 2014, Gutierrez was watching television at home with her two sons, ages 5 and 11, when she heard banging at the front door. That statement is misogynistic and very shocking to me.. Central Americans are among the least successful at gaining asylum from U.S. immigration court judges, a Reuters analysis found. Demonstrates unlawful and inappropriate manifestations of bias in the courtroom. Were all humans. It has also been politically charged, as immigration courts fall under the jurisdiction of theUS Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Riley and Owens have. Some of those asylum seekers told Border Report recently they hope their chances will improve once Joe Biden takes over the White House. In Atlanta, 89 percent of cases result in a deportation order. Lack of legal counsel handicaps asylum seekers, but judges also biased against migrants of color, advocates say. Throughout, Jamil says, Judge Marks articulated to the press and to the public the stress of doing the job of immigration judge. Emmanuel Olawale, a Westerville-based immigration attorney, said he has faced this dilemma firsthand. She was so good to him. This was something Judge Marks had learned from her experience with her own clients. Treats immigrants, witnesses, and practitioners in an unprofessional and hostile manner. Immigration judges in New York and San Francisco stayed home from work Tuesday, and their union announced a judge in Denver had COVID-19 symptoms and an Atlanta attorney tested positive. I vowed to be my authentic sense of self. Retired Immigration Judge Polly Webber, saw an aspirational role model. So far, it hasn't. Likewise, the Biden administration last month said it would seek a 21 percent increase to the budget for immigration courts, good enough to hire 100 new immigration judges to begin to ease the courts' massive backlog. And three judges in San Francisco said yes to more than 90% of asylum seekers who came to their courts in 2020. Im not judging whether you employed illegals. You felt you had a fair shot, says Milli Atkinson, Director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at JDC and Legal Director of the SFIL Defense Collaborative, who appeared before her as an attorney. Judges are not always made aware of the existence of a complaint in a timely fashion, and there is no transparency or consistency when it comes to sanctions imposed in a particular case, according to Dana Marks, president emerita at the National Association of Immigration Judges who spent 35 years on the bench in San Francisco, California, before retiring in December. The Charlotte court that would hear Anas case was one of five jurisdictions labeled asylum free zones by a group of immigrant advocates in written testimony last Decemberbefore the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. . At first, Judge Marks wasnt sure shed like the role of judge, in part because there was an assumption about the strong-arm persona shed have to put on to manage her courtroom. EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) Asylum denial rates in America reached a record high 71.6% in the fiscal year 2020, an immigration think-tank reported. By clearing low-priority cases, the American Immigration Lawyers Association estimates this would include at least 700,000 low-priority cases, equaling about 40 percent of the backlog. She helped create an inspiring model for how courtscanbe, says Ugarte, and Judge Webber states, simply, She inspires people all the time., While she has had some limelight in her career, the vast majority of her work has been thankless, says Judge King. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to sign on to a public letter (bit.ly/removeford or bit.ly/fueraford) making the same request of EOIR and the DOJ. A 1996 law expanded the definition of political refugees to include people who are forced to abort a child or undergo sterilization, allowing Chinese women to claim persecution under Beijings coercive birth-control policies. 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