NEW EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW WEBSITE

On October 20, 2010, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) launched its new and improved website.  The site now not only looks better, but functions much better as well.  The new improvements include:

• An Action Center that helps one to find a representative, an immigration court, or a free attorney;
• A place to submit complaints about immigration judges;
• A list of statistics of already-filed complaints;
• A link to the practice manual for the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge;
• A link to the practice manual for the Board of Immigration Appeals;
• A list of immigration forms;
• The Immigration Judge Benchbook;
• The Virtual Law Library; and
• Links to the Department of Justice’s website and to its agencies’ websites.

To visit this new website, go to www.justice.gov/eoir.  To read the full news release, click here.

23 New Immigration Judges Appointed

by Ivan Ariza, Legal Intern with Beach-Oswald Immigration Law Associates, PC

The US Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed 23 new immigration judges to immigration courts throughout the US. The judges were sworn in by Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler at the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) headquarters on November 5, 2010. The newly appointed judges are: Silvia R. Arellano, Jerry A. Beatmann Sr., Jesse B. Christensen, Steven J. Connelly, Philip J. Costa, V. Stuart Couch, Thomas G. Crossan Jr., Leo A. Finston, Saul Greenstein, Amy C. Hoogasian, Stuart F. Karden, F. James Loprest Jr., Lisa Luis, Joren Lyons, H. Kevin Mart, Sheila McNulty, Maureen S. O’Sullivan, Daniel J. Santander, Alice Segal, Andrea H. Sloan, Dan Trimble, Eileen R. Trujillo, Clarence M. Wagner Jr., and Virna A. Wright.

They will serve in immigration courts in the following cities: Florence, Ariz., Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif., Denver, Colo., Miami and Orlando, Fla., Lumpkin, Ga., Honolulu, Hawaii, Chicago, Ill., Oakdale, La., Charlotte, N.C., Newark, N.J., Batavia and New York, N.Y., Portland, Ore., and Houston and Pearsall, Texas.

The addition of 23 immigration judges is an almost 10% increase in national immigration judges in just one day. There are now 262 immigration judges nationwide. The recent addition will help reduce the backlog of immigration cases throughout the US.

The judges considered go through a rigorous vetting process. First, EOIR HR department referred 1,782 eligible applicants to the Office of Chief Immigration Judge. Four panels of assistant chief immigration judges then screen the applicants. Those selected, are interviewed by a panel of senior DOJ officials before the Attorney General makes his final choices.

To learn more about this new class of immigration judges, read their full biographies on the EOIR website:

http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1055

More sources:

Click to access ijinvestiturenov5.pdf

Executive Office of Immigration Review ( EOIR) backs off Telephone Security Initiative

In September 2010 EOIR announced a plan to require information such as a charging document date to be entered into the system to be able to access basic information on respondents.  This information currently available at 1800 898 7180  enables anyone to access a new hearing date, time and location by entering an Alien number of nine digits belonging to the respondent.    The information provided also at times gave additional information such as whether or not an appeal or motion to reopen was pending and if respondent had been ordered removed it gave the date.

Chief Judge O’Leary at the Board of Immigration Appeal and others of EOIR announced that this system did not provide security or confidentiality.  However, due to massive complaints by both attorneys from AILA and others, the system will remain the same but other security features may be added.  Fortunately, phase two was discontinued in October. 

Here are several reasons why this attorney personally feels that the current program is effective:

1)      When seeing a new client who does not understand or know what is happening in their case it provides a quick frame of reference

2)      Respondents who move often frequently may not have received a hearing notice and can thus check to see if they have a court date

3)      Consequences of missing a court date are severe and often unforgiving, this information benefits both attorney and client

4)      If a client has moved or changed venue it allows the client  or attorney to locate where the case is currently or was last

5)      It protects clients/respondents from unscrupulous or uncommunicative attorneys who may not have contacted the client about a hearing

6)      Identifies whether an appeal has been filed or whether a motion to reopen was filed and whether it was denied or granted

7)      Identifies the particular judge before whom the respondent will have to appear.

Access to the new system is thus identical to the original system.  If you find any information in this blog or others that you read helpful please let us know.