ATTACK ON IMMIGRATION COURTS ENDANGER ASYLUM SEEKERS

The Advocates for Human RightsNovember 2019

CRISIS IN THE COURTS• Elimination of tools for procedural

fairness• Case completion quotas (including re:

BIA remand) • Attempts to restrict access to fair

appellate agency court• Attempts to restrict case law

available to judges • Referring IJ cases to political

leadership

MISSION OF THE IMMIGRATION COURT

“adjudicating immigration cases by fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly interpreting and administering the Nation's immigration laws, primarily pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”)”

Elimination of tools for procedural fairness

• Administrative closure• Termination of proceedings• OPPM limiting Status Docket • Bond to thousands previously eligible• Seeking to eliminate asylum office jurisdiction

over kids • Eliminating IJ contact with stakeholders • Vacatur of BIA case entitling asylum seekers

to evidentiary hearing,and more!

Case completion quotas (including re: BIA remand)

• 700 cases per year• No more than 15 percent

reversed by BIA • USCIS massive slowdown +

removal cases massively sped up = increase in denials and deportations

Hiring to Restrict Protections to Immigrants

• History of politicized hiring in Immigration Court

• Politicized Hiring of Immigration Judges

• Recent hiring of 6 new Board of Immigration Appeals judges with 80 percent asylum denial rate, at best

Case Law severely curtailing protections of asylum seekers

• Domestic Violence Survivors: Matter of A-B-• Survivors of Family Violence: Matter of L-E-

A-• Those Victimized by Persecutors: Cases on

Material Support and Duress • CAT applicants seeking protection from

abusive detention conditions

Referring IJ cases to political leadership

• Specific Case examples• New proposed regs permitting EOIR

appointee to decide cases if not adjudicated fast enough

FUNDING • ICE funding• Customs and Border Patrol funding• Immigration Courts’ funding• Result: more than a million cases in the

backlog

HOPE FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS??

SOLUTIONS?

• Tell your Congressional representatives and candidates for office that you want to see an Independent Immigration Court!

• We need more lawyers and legal support staff to enter the fight here at home

• Eyes and Ears in the Court Room • Attorneys, train for a marathon!

http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/

QUESTIONS??Contact Information:

Alison Griffith

The Advocates for Human Rights

Refugee & Immigrant Program

330 2nd Avenue S., Suite 800

Minneapolis, MN 55401

(612) 746-4673, agriffith@advrights.org