Juans application for cancellation of removal was denied in November 2020. Threatened by gangs in Honduras, two women sought asylum in the United States. Numerous legal providers and community members have expressed strong concerns about Fords racist history influencing his work in San Francisco. Persecutors dont give affidavits, said Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge who now works at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit organization that supports lower levels of immigration. Knight Institute Calls on DOJ's Exe cutive Office for Immigration Review to Suspend Policy Silencing Immigration Judges, (Jan. 6, 2020), https: . Knowing that providing legal advice to asylum seekers can make a difference, one El Paso nonprofit applied for and got two private grants to provide these services. Hon. Hondurans enjoy no special considerations. 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. Taken together, the two cases nearly indistinguishable in their outlines but with opposite outcomes illustrate a troubling fact:An immigrants chance of being allowed to stay in the United States depends largely on who hears the case and where it is heard. Im not judging whether you employed illegals. She made it more proactive, trying to affect the law. The Honorable Merrick B. Garland The Honorable Lisa O. Monaco. Its an emotionally trying job. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday blasted its immigration. Now, they were extorting teachers, selling drugs openly and assaulting or killing anyone who confronted them. She is now awaiting a court date after new lawyers got her case reopened. The average annual salary for Immigration Judges in the US is $121,299. Charles R. Davis. One was closed because the judge in question had since retired. "EOIR takes all complaints seriously, investigates all colorable complaints, and takes corrective action when appropriate, Montenegro said in an email statement. These are people were dealing with, says Judge Stockton, people who are nervous, if not terrified, and Judge Marks has a gift for helping them feel more at ease in the courtroom. Immigration attorneys and their clients are not the only ones who said they are distrustful of the judicial complaint process. 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. Every story is individual, she says, and every person deserves to be heard. She is known for her compassion and fairmindedness. The average salary for an Immigration Judge is $72,811 per Year in the United States. Her door was always open, says Judge King. The courts facedand continue to grapple witha crisis of backlogged cases. Having legal representation increases the chances of winning an asylum case five-fold, said Melissa M. Lopez, executive director of the El Paso-based nonprofit. But the bulk of asylum seekers who came during the 2018-2019 migrant surge were Central Americans. Volunteer lawyers helped the women prepare and submit their applications for asylum. They said they would kill me and my children. Denial Rate. She can look back with satisfaction at the mass of people whose lives she helped, says Ungar. Well-established law recognizes family as a protected social group, according to the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. Do you know the people? . The year before, according to police records in Honduras, gang members killed a school security guard. They said, Were going to kill themembers of the parent-teacher association to get them out of here. So the women fled.. Judge-by-Judge Asylum Decisions in Immigration Courts FY 2017-2022 Published Oct 9, 2022 Denial Rate Tables for Prior Periods TRAC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Whitman School of Management, both at Syracuse University. There is no training on the 2017 calendar. TheCleveland Immigration Court, much like the rest of the country, saw dramatic personnel changes during Donald Trumps presidency. But it still astounded him when Riley calledMexican immigrants illegals while cross-examining his wife about the subcontractors that Juan employed at his construction business. Pasadena, California . Alumni Relations. The rules of evidence are [only] a guide, theres no pretrial discovery, she says. But multiple attorneys familiar with the matter said no one received clear information from EOIR on the investigation outcome, as is often the case with these complaints. Add Photos. EOIR spokeswoman Kathryn Mattingly said the agency does not comment on external analyses of its data. Juan is not alone in his grievances. With the seventh and latest complaint the one led by AILA-Ohio against Riley information regarding the investigation outcome was redacted by the Department of Justice. 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. 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. The analysis excluded immigrants who were in detention when their cases were heard because such cases are handleddifferently. The Trump administration filled the openings and expanded the size of the bench,appointing 10 judges who currently make up the court. 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 didnt have to scare or browbeat people into my decisions, says Judge Marks. They demanded that a payment of more than $5,000 be delivered in 24 hours, a huge sum for a woman who sold tortillas for a living. The clients loved her, says Ungar. Jeremy J. Butler, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court. They hoped that mothers working together could oust the violent gangs that plagued the campus. El Paso federal immigration judges denied 85.4% of asylum claims in fiscal year 2020. Cases are assigned to an immigration court based on where the immigrant lives. 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. Throughout, Jamil says, Judge Marks articulated to the press and to the public the stress of doing the job of immigration judge. Holyoak was convinced. She joined another woman and, with their children, they set out to cross Mexico. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation athttps://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ. Individuals can sign up for a court watch training at bit.ly/courtwatch1. An immigrant was still four times as likely to be granted asylum by Holyoak in San Francisco as by Couch in Charlotte. Stephen M. Ruhle approved the highest number of petitions (44) but still found wanting 76.8% of the petitions he ruled on. 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. Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. There are complaints that were made because someone is not happy that they lost a case, and those claims need to be taken with a grain of salt, Schmidt said. Judge Dalin Holyoak, who heard Gutierrezs case in San Francisco, orders deportation in 43 percent of cases. Ill have to weigh my options and consider how bad it is before I stick my neck out there.. But theyre not holding their breath. Shuting Chen, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court . 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. In 2018, after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions announced new restrictions on asylum cases, there was a mass exodus of immigration judges. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Laura Ramirez, Immigration Judge, San Francisco, 1997-2018. 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. Shuting Chen was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in October 2022. Now they had come to deliver a message to Gutierrez. I want everyone to feel validated, listened to., To manage an immigration courtroom, says Rebecca Bowen Jamil, who retired from the bench and is currently an attorney with Argumedo Garzon Law Group in San Francisco, you have to be flexible and have the knowledge to be flexible. Judge Marks succeeded, Jamil says, because she has a big personality, and she has the goods to back it up. I came here when I was very young. Help us advocate for . Circuit Court of Appeals because her lawyer confused the deadline. Those appointed under Trump had ordered. Judge Marks says she was never bored. BETWEEN WORLDS: Tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence in their home countries overwhelmed U.S. immigration facilities like this one in Nogales, Arizona, in 2014. I vowed to be my authentic sense of self. Retired Immigration Judge Polly Webber, saw an aspirational role model. He jokes he decided to hire her the minute she insisted on paying her own fare. 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.". It occurred to me I had a meeting, Ungar says, So I asked, Would you mind if we continued this? They walked to Market Street, where they hopped on the #5 bus to the Federal Courthouse. Judge Chen earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma and a Juris Doctor in 2009 from Harvard Law School. Legal Aid at Work. 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.. 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. Judge-by-Judge Asylum Decisions in Immigration Courts. 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