In Immigration Courts, It Is Judges vs. Justice Department

Sunday, 09 September 2018 08:35

Robbins writes: "As the Trump administration pursues a hard-line policy on immigration, it is facing resistance from an unexpected quarter - judges who rule on whether immigrants will be deported or be allowed to stay in the country."

George Chew, left, and Peggy McManus are part of an unusually large group of New York immigration judges who have retired over the last 15 months. (photo: Kholood Eid/NYT)

In Immigration Courts, It Is Judges vs. Justice Department

By Liz Robbins, The New York Times

09 September 18

s the Trump administration pursues a hard-line policy on immigration, it is facing resistance from an unexpected quarter — judges who rule on whether immigrants will be deported or be allowed to stay in the country.

Immigration judges are objecting to a series of policy and personnel changes that their bosses at the Justice Department say are aimed at speeding up the immigration courts, which as of the end of June had a backlog of 732,730 cases, 94,871 of them in New York, according to the department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Some judges, including those in the New York courts, interpret the new policies, which include quotas on how many cases they must hear, as an attempt to control their decision-making.

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