She arrived at the Artesia detention center just weeks after Gutierrez. 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.. After her, all these really amazing women came to the bench, says Shugall, women Judge Marks mentored and encouraged to apply for the bench. Constanza Hevia H. / Special to The Chronicle 2020 I love the Wild West aspect of it., National Association of Immigration Judges. Immigration Judge Emily N. Farrar-Crockett began hearing cases at the Falls Church Adjudication Center in October 2018. Judge Marks faced daunting challenges during her tenure. Hon. 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." The average annual salary for Immigration Judges in the US is $121,299. She is known for her compassion and fairmindedness. They just know someone wants to kill them., Anas lawyer appealed her case to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the first step in the appellate process. San Francisco, CA. She remains active today as president emerita. The next year, researchers at Temple University and Georgetown Law School concluded in a study titled Refugee Roulettethat in many cases, the most important moment in an asylum case is the instant in which a clerk randomly assigns an application to a particular asylum officer or immigration judge. In 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found similar disparitiesin its own study. They landed near Hidalgo, Texas. It is painfully apparent how much the clients we serve have overcome throughout their lives, says Roxana Moussavian, immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services. Even so, the Reuters analysis determined that after controlling for such factors, who hears a case and where it is heard remain reliable predictors of how a case will be decided. 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. She first interviewed Judge Marks, then-president of NAIJ, for, Understanding the Crisis in Our Immigration Courts, Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights (LARR), SF-Marin Lawyer Referral and Information Service. Also, immigration judges are bound by precedents established in the federal appeals court that covers their location. The San Francisco Immigration Court fast-tracked cases of immigrants who weren't getting their mail. Filing a complaint against the judge is something on the table, Olawale said. 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. 0% San Francisco; 0% Denver; 0% Dallas, TX; 0% Boston; 0% Los Angeles; 0% Atlanta; Salary Ranges for Immigration Judges. Theres a lack of transparency and we dont know if theres any outcome from this complaint, said Julie Nemecek, a Columbus-based attorney who represents Juan. Ana, 31, has had a baby since arriving in the United States and has been granted work authorization while she awaits a final decision on her case. Four of the 31 new immigration judges are assistant chief immigration judges who will oversee six immigration courts. Immigrant rights organizations, attorneys file complaint against local Immigration Judge. Her door was always open, says Judge King. Yilun Cheng is a Report for America corps member andcovers immigration issues for the Dispatch. The coalition argues that Judge Fords appointment is part of the Trump administrations deliberate policy to discourage and curtail immigration from every angle, particularly against black and brown immigrants. Anas assertion that she learned from Gutierrez in detention about gang threats to the parent-teacher association was not persuasive, Couch wrote. That roster includes Judges Jamil, King, Miriam Hayward, Stockton, Webber, and Laura Ramirez. How do I know this? However, the women said their reasons for seeking asylum were the same: Gangs had targeted them because of their involvement in the parent-teacher association, and for that, they and their families had been threatened. This is the phone number you can use to contact the court's clerks or the judges' legal assistants. Gutierrez also said her friend is very forgetful. She joined another woman and, with their children, they set out to cross Mexico. Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia and Kristina Cooke, By Mica Rosenberg in Oakland, California, and Reade Levinson and Ryan McNeill in New York, with additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Photo editing: Steve McKinley and Barbara Adhiya, Edited by Sue Horton, Janet Roberts and John Blanton. 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. Emmanuel Olawale, a Westerville-based immigration attorney, said he has faced this dilemma firsthand. 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. The mission of BorderReport.com is to provide real-time delivery of the untold local stories about people living, working and migrating along the U.S. border with Mexico. "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. 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. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. . Ana missed the deadline to appeal the BIA decision to the 4th U.S. Lisa Knox, the lawyer who represented Gutierrez, said judges where she practices tend to give applicants the benefit of the doubt. 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. San Francisco immigration judge begs officials to close her courtroom over coronavirus. She perseveres solely because she believes it is important to make a difference wherever you can.. OAKLAND, California The two Honduran women told nearly identical stories to the immigration courts: Fear for their lives and for the lives of their children drove them to seek asylum in the United States. Knight Institute Calls on DOJ's Exe cutive Office for Immigration Review to Suspend Policy Silencing Immigration Judges, (Jan. 6, 2020), https: . , had serious impacts on asylum cases and the parameters of the courts. 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. Immigration judges in New York and San Francisco stayed home from work Tuesday, and their union announced a judge in Denver had COVID-19 symptoms and an Atlanta attorney tested positive. The information is gathered by experienced and trusted Nexstar Media Group journalists hired specifically to cover the border. Instead, they became targets. About half the cases in the analysis were filed by asylum seekers like the two Honduran women. The bill, if approved by the Senate, will transition the nations immigration court system into an independent judiciary consistent with Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Says Judge Marks, Thisquickly became my long-term goal outside of judging., Kathleen Guthrie Woods is a long-time contributor to, San Francisco Attorneymagazine. 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. That experience, the Reuters analysis found, makes them 23 percent more likely to order deportation. Hon. Sep 2013 - Dec 20141 year 4 months. Through her lawyers, she asked that her full name not be used because of her uncertain status and her fear that Honduran gangs could find her. 2018 or 2020, and 5% or . Gutierrez contacted relatives who wired the money. 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. According to TRAC, denial rates were at 54.6% in fiscal year 2016 (the last full year of Barack Obamas presidency). 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. With Riley, it felt like she just wanted me out. The longer a judge has been serving, the more likely that judge is to grant asylum. I thought, I have to go now. Some of those asylum seekers told Border Report recently they hope their chances will improve once Joe Biden takes over the White House. From there, cases can be appealed to federal appeals court. To give spirit to the letter of this budget . Please consider making a tax-deductible donation athttps://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ. Freedom for Immigrants is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in California. One grant from Dallas-based Meadows Foundation includes $56,000 for legal services for incarcerated petitioners. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Attorney General William P. Barr appointed Jeremy J. Butler as an immigration judge in June 2020. Coincidence or not, denial rates have shot up more than 30% since Donald Trump became president. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) It did not take U.S. Immigration Judge Nicholas Ford long to stir up controversy in San Francisco. One was closed because the judge in question had since retired. To then have to stand by as a judge, a member of the same government these clients are seeking protection from, belittles and demonizes their every word, treats them as though they have no dignity, and fails to acknowledge their humanity, its too much. While unfair and antagonistic judges are nothing new to immigrants, Fords misconduct is part of a larger, documented effort by the Trump administration to politicize immigration courts and encourage biased decisions. It feels like the judge has no compassion for us and doesnt like Latinos.. Help us advocate for . The number of immigration judges Biden appoints will also affect the immigration court backlog, currently at 1.3 million cases. She was our fearless leader in the union, says Judge King, who was Union site representative in San Francisco while Judge Marks was president. 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. The murders, like more than 93 percent of crimes in Honduras, remain unsolved. Close to half the complaints were dismissed. The San Francisco immigration court doesn't have the kind of COVID-19 supplies that he saw in a Wisconsin courthouse in October 2020. Mattingly, the EOIR spokeswoman, said the agency held training sessions for judges to address the disparities in 2008 and 2009. El Paso federal immigration judges denied 85.4% of asylum claims in fiscal year 2020. The 43-year-old, who worked as a nurse in Honduras, lives in a small one-bedroom apartment with her husband, her two sons now 15 and 8 her adult daughter and her grandson. But theyre not holding their breath. The year before, according to police records in Honduras, gang members killed a school security guard. Video: High-stakes game of chance in U.S. immigration courts, Graphic: Deportation order rates, by judge, Graphic: Deportationorder rates, by country of origin, U.S. Attorney General Sessions urges crackdown on asylum policies. The rules of evidence are [only] a guide, theres no pretrial discovery, she says. A Honduran migrant wears a sanitary mask while waiting in line to plead . Couch and Holyoak and their courts. She was our fearless leader in the union, says Judge King, who was Union site representative in San Francisco while Judge Marks was president. The judge denied her petition and ordered her deported. Judges fail to apply binding legal standards, make decisions based on illegally invented rules, engage in abusive treatment of noncitizens and their counsel and even decide cases before holding hearings.. Under President Barack Obama, the courts began efforts to hire more immigration judges to reduce the systems burgeoning backlog, which now stands at more than 620,000 cases, nearly 100,000 of them added since last December. The other women in the center told me that there was someone else from Honduras who I might know, but I wasnt sure who they were talking about, Gutierrez said. The Reuters analysis also found that an immigration judges particular characteristics and situation can affect outcomes. The advocates testified that, while asylum is granted in nearly half of cases nationwide, Charlotte judges granted asylum in just 13 percent of cases in 2015. 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. Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. In 2018, after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions announced new restrictions on asylum cases, there was a mass exodus of immigration judges. In immigration court, the asylum seeker is typically the only witness. 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. From 1994 to 1995, he served as a staff attorney with the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Judge. By clearing low-priority cases, the American Immigration Lawyers Association estimates this would include at least 700,000 low-priority cases, equaling about 40 percent of the backlog. The kidnappers released her and her two sons near the U.S. border. Immigration Judges Across The US Are Staying Home After The Coronavirus Hit Courtrooms. My client was seriously mentally ill, there were a lot of complexities in his case. Jamil adds Judge Markss tireless work for the union and giving a professional, female voice to immigration judges to her list of accomplishments. 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. She is known for her fierce advocacy for the court. She made it more proactive, trying to affect the law. In a 2016 report, the GAO found that little had changed. Many immigrants released on bond before their cases are heard have no idea that where they settle could make the difference between obtaining legal status and deportation. Boston's immigration judges mentioned in the TRAC analysis were Maureen O'Sullivan, Leonard Shapiro, Paul Gagnon, Robin Feder, Brenda O'Malley, Matthew D'Angelo, Mario Sturla, Gwendylan, and Todd Masters. In July, the BIA granted Ana the right to a rehearing in immigration court, sending her case back to Charlotte, where it could be heard again by Couch. They drove all night to her friends mothers house in another town. The lawyers also argued that she was part of another particular social group as the family member of someone under threat, since the gangs had terrorized her son in trying to recruit him. Sixty-one percent of all complaints closed in the fiscal year 2020 ended up being dismissed. The Biden administration could move to unwind that decision. As has been true in earlier years, having representation greatly increases the odds of winning asylum or other relief, TRACs Oct. 28 report says. But at the point where judges are using racially charged terms or demeaning people, then that seems to me that it goes beyond what they should be allowed to do.. The new lawyers argued that her previous representation had been ineffective. Former immigration judge Rebecca Jamil in Fremont, California, on Dec. 28, 2018. Two months later, according to court documents, Ana was walking her 7-year-old daughter home from school when three members of a rival gang confronted them. Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services officials say the money will be used to try to win cases for migrants in an El Paso facility with 26 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of October. It also excluded cases in which the immigrant did not appear in court, which nearly always end in a deportation order, and cases terminated without a decision or closed at the request of a prosecutor. Judge Chen earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma and a Juris Doctor in 2009 from Harvard Law School. Possible outcomes include asylum; adjustments of status; stay of deportation; and deportation. Learn more about how to check your immigration court date and the status of your immigration case from here. 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. Overwhelming evidence shows that the (AGs Office) has long allowed immigration judges to violate noncitizens rights in a systemic, pervasive manner that undermines the integrity of the court system, the SPLC said in a scathing June 2019 report. The evidence indicates this is a case of criminal extortion that the respondent attempts to fashion into an imputed political opinion claim., Gutierrez said Ana told her in one of their occasional phone conversations that she felt intimidated by the intense questioning of the ICE attorney. There is no training on the 2017 calendar. I really enjoyed working with journalists and legislators. She also describes her stint as NAIJs president as an incredible blessing because it allowed her to become friendly with immigration judges across the country. While in Cook County, Ford was accused of complicity in a Chicago police torture scandal that targeted Black people and used torture to coerce criminal confessions for over two decades. In New York City, 24 percent do. The case is currently in the appeal process. She helped start that trajectory, says Shugall. Before: Richard A. Paez and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges, and Morrison C. England, Jr., * Senior District Judge. Ana moved with her daughter to live with her daughters father and petitioned to have her case moved to Charlotte. Having come from a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world may have helped establish credible fear. But the two women were already at a disadvantage precisely because they came from Honduras. 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. Riley stopped hearing cases for a few weeks in July and August, but returned shortly after, according to hearing schedules shared with the Dispatch. Immigration attorneys and their clients are not the only ones who said they are distrustful of the judicial complaint process. Because there is no TurboTax for immigration law.. And then one day we went to lunch, and there they were.. They have more understanding of trauma survivors and the difficulty they might have in recounting certain details and little discrepancies, she said. We bought a bus pass to go to Guatemala and from Guatemala to Mexico and to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to her court testimony. Demonstrates unlawful and inappropriate manifestations of bias in the courtroom. I am very worried about her, Gutierrez said. They had early success, he said, when they persuaded police to provide officers to guard the school. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to sign on to a public letter (bit.ly/removeford or bit.ly/fueraford) making the same request of EOIR and the DOJ. Or not, denial rates have shot up more than 93 percent of all closed. Her daughters father and petitioned to have her case moved to Charlotte 2008, the GAO found that immigration! 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