Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. One grant from Dallas-based Meadows Foundation includes $56,000 for legal services for incarcerated petitioners. Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Jeremy J. Butler as an immigration judge in June 2020. A collaborative court watch program run by NLG-SFBA, Freedom for Immigrants, Kehilla Community Synagogue, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, and other coalition organizations trains community members to attend and observe immigration hearings and to document what happens, including any failures of due process. . Cynthia M. Nunez, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court Cynthia M. Nunez was appointed as an Immigration Judge to begin hearing cases in May 2022. She explains things well. The murders, like more than 93 percent of crimes in Honduras, remain unsolved. Groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center allege the Attorney Generals Office has weaponized the nations asylum courts against immigrants of color. We were the brave ones. 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. These are life or death matters. Judge Marks faced daunting challenges during her tenure. The courts facedand continue to grapple witha crisis of backlogged cases. Because these complaints rarely generate substantial disciplinary actions and there isa fear of retaliation from the judges, immigration attorneys and their clients often hesitate toreport misconducts, said Austin Kocher, a research associate professor at the Transactional RecordsAccess Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research instituteat Syracuse University. 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. TheCleveland Immigration Court, much like the rest of the country, saw dramatic personnel changes during Donald Trumps presidency. But it wont really change anything in my clients case. Gutierrez said that was when she first learned that her fellow parent-teacher association board member had been threatened and had fled from home. She is now awaiting a court date after new lawyers got her case reopened. She is known for her fierce advocacy for the court. Shortly after, he applied for an immigration benefit called cancellation of removal to adjust his status, arguing that his removal would cause hardship to his three U.S. citizen children, aged 12, 15 and 16. 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. Juan is not alone in his grievances. 2 Reviews. Couch and Holyoak and their courts. The Federal Bar Association and the National Association of Immigration Judges have endorsed the idea of creating an immigration court system independent of the executive branch. But the patrols left after a few weeks, probably intimidated by the gangs. 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. Charles R. Davis. The definition of a particular social group has been subject to conflicting interpretations in the courts, but in general, such a group comprises people who share basic beliefs or traits that cant or shouldnt have to be changed. Samuel Y. Kim, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Samuel Y. Kim to begin hearing cases in December 2020. 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.". 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. I vowed to be my authentic sense of self. Retired Immigration Judge Polly Webber, saw an aspirational role model. The courts handle cases to determine whether an individual should be deported. 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. She made it more proactive, trying to affect the law. But the bulk of asylum seekers who came during the 2018-2019 migrant surge were Central Americans. Mattingly, the EOIR spokeswoman, said the agency takes seriously any claims of unjustified and significant anomalies in immigration judge decision-making and takes steps to evaluate disparities in immigration adjudications.. For example, courts ruled in favor of Chinese immigrants 75 percent of the time, the Reuters analysis found. 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. I am not going to risk my childs life. . Despite having no immigration law experience, Ford was appointed as a San Francisco Immigration Judge by Attorney General William Barr in 2019 after retiring from his judgeship in Cook County, Illinois. (Neither Holyoak nor Couch worked as an ICE prosecutor, according to their EOIR biographies. Youre hearing stories of trauma and torture all day long, says Carol King, also a retired immigration judge, and the judge must then make decisions about peoples futures. Kathleen Guthrie Woods is a long-time contributor toSan Francisco Attorneymagazine. As has been true in earlier years, having representation greatly increases the odds of winning asylum or other relief, TRACs Oct. 28 report says. In 2020, of the 30,173 individuals from the Northern Triangle that received a decision on asylum claims 27,020 were denied. Yilun Cheng is a Report for America corps member andcovers immigration issues for the Dispatch. Montenegro declined to provide additional details about the case. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. She deeply cared about due process, says Ugarte. I was desperate and knew that I had to leave my daughters life and mine were in danger., The school principal said he understands why Gutierrez and Ana left Honduras. Hon. Couch is the toughest of Charlottes three immigration judges, according to the Reuters analysis. 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." Judge Marks says her biggest success was seeing, H.R. Complaint process is flawed, advocates say, Judges concerned about discipline procedures, too, Personnel changes at Ohio's immigration court, Ohio chapter of theAmerican Immigration Lawyers Association, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Were more productive if theyre comfortable, she says. They have more understanding of trauma survivors and the difficulty they might have in recounting certain details and little discrepancies, she said. FY 2015-2020. He is especially unsuited to hear cases involving survivors of torture applying for asylum and other forms of immigration relief. A Honduran migrant wears a sanitary mask while waiting in line to plead . Shes funny and insightful, she says. His demonstrated bias undermines due process for asylum seekers and immigrants of color. It is imperative that President-elect Biden swiftly direct the Department of Justice to reign in or remove hostile adjudicators like IJ Ford from the courts and ensure due process for immigrants. Throughout, Jamil says, Judge Marks articulated to the press and to the public the stress of doing the job of immigration judge. She was very vocal as head of NAIJ, says Atkinson, especially [on issues] related to fairness and due process. Judge Webber appreciated Judge Markss talents as a spokesperson for the union, remarking on her great voice and quick thinking. Opinion by Judge Owens * The Honorable Morrison C. England, Jr., United States Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of California . Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. 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. And whether the individual fleeing gang violence in San Pedro Sula or official oppression in Venezuela had legal representation also made a big difference in the outcome of his or her case, according to research from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in April that the Justice Department planned to hire more than 50 judges this year and 75 in 2018, which would put the total number of sitting judges above 400. The clients loved her, says Ungar. Gutierrez also said her friend is very forgetful. Demonstrates unlawful and inappropriate manifestations of bias in the courtroom. The previous president was a man, so we thought, We are women, they wont do anything to us. . The Reuters analysis also found that an immigration judges particular characteristics and situation can affect outcomes. She made it more proactive, trying to affect the law. Early in 2020, the immigration case backlog eclipsed 1 million, and the San Francisco court handles the second largest load in the country, roughly 70,000 cases. U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Justice. Anas assertion that she learned from Gutierrez in detention about gang threats to the parent-teacher association was not persuasive, Couch wrote. The San Francisco Immigration Court fast-tracked cases of immigrants who weren't getting their mail. About the Immigration Judge. About half the cases in the analysis were filed by asylum seekers like the two Honduran women. They speak of a woman who broke through barriers, applied the law fairly and compassionately, fought hard fights, and inspired others to join her. The union kept me intellectually stimulated, she says. The third pointed a gun at Anas head. Dana embodied that proactive spirit., Highly technical and often confusing, immigration law can intersect with family, dependency, and criminal law. Judge Marks, in keeping with her upbeat character, reflects on the pluses of her role. More Reuters investigations and long-form narratives, Got a confidential news tip? As the sole breadwinner in his family, he said his wife and kids would suffer emotionally and financially if he were deported. The head of the son was placed on the body of the mother and the head of the mother was placed on the body of the son. Her older boy recognized the three armed and heavily tattooed young men on the stoop as the same ones who had thrown him to the ground earlier that day, telling him, not for the first time, that they wanted him to join their ranks. Gutierrez told Reuters that during her final hearing, the judge apologized for asking so many questions about what had been a painful time in her life, explaining that he had needed to establish her credibility. Many of the migrants, including Gutierrez and Ana, convinced initial interviewers that they had a credible fear of returning home, the first step in filing an asylum claim. I saw the denial coming after seeing everything that Judge Riley was doing. The other 27 immigration judges will serve across the country on 19 immigration courts. Ill have to weigh my options and consider how bad it is before I stick my neck out there.. Some of the supervisors discuss the complaint with the judge immediatelyand others dont. Cases that claim opposition to gangs as a protected political opinion, the center says, have generated fewer precedent-setting decisions, making that argument a more difficult one to win in court, though it has prevailed in some cases. She is known for her compassion and fairmindedness. Three percentconcluded with retirement, resignation or termination, and none gave rise to other disciplinary actions like reprimand or suspension. Circuit Court of Appeals because her lawyer confused the deadline. Freedom for Immigrants is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in California. 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. 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 thought, I have to go now. And according to the Department of Homeland Security, most of those coming across the border without authorization since are from 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. Sixty-one percent of all complaints closed in the fiscal year 2020 ended up being dismissed. 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. Its an emotionally trying job. She remains active today as president emerita. Well-established law recognizes family as a protected social group, according to the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. The analysis excluded immigrants who were in detention when their cases were heard because such cases are handleddifferently. 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 Instead of submitting a complaint against Owen, however, the immigration attorney opted to voice his concerns in an appeal, which is currently pending. Knight Institute Calls on DOJ's Exe cutive Office for Immigration Review to Suspend Policy Silencing Immigration Judges, (Jan. 6, 2020), https: . Shes funny and insightful, she says. Additionally, the coalition is calling on the community to help hold San Francisco Immigration Court accountable. She is known for her fierce advocacy for the court. 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