Department of Justice Seeks to Silence Immigration Judges’ Union (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, September 30, 2019
Department of Justice Seeks to Silence Immigration Judges’ Union
By Roger Juan Maldonado and Victoria Neilson
“The stakes for people in immigration court proceedings could not be higher. Deportation can, as the Supreme Court recognized almost a century ago, deprive a noncitizen of “all that makes life worth living” [Ng Fung Ho v. White, 259 U.S. 276, 284, 42 S. Ct. 492, 495, 66 L. Ed. 938 (1922).] Yet for the past two years, the integrity of immigration judges’ adjudications has been under attack. The Department of Justice has not only imposed new restrictions on the ability of immigration judges to adjudicate immigration claims but it is now seeking to “decertify” the judges’ union, which has been a significant voice on behalf of immigration judges and their ability to ensure due process. These actions do an injustice both to the judges and to those noncitizens who depend on immigration courts to fairly decide their claims.”
