Review faults U.S. initiative on immigration courts reform

The review, funded by the Carnegie Foundation and released Sunday, reported that out of a 22-point plan unveiled by then-Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in August 2006, the Justice Department and the Executive Office for Immigration Review have failed to complete six initiatives. They include conducting performance evaluations for judges and appellate judges, completing a code of judicial conduct, and finalizing a rule to decrease cases in which a single appellate judge affirms a case without an opinion.

The report said eight measures have been partially completed, raising doubts about their effectiveness. For example, the EOIR has assigned an assistant chief immigration judge to handle complaints about judges but has not published information about how the process works or how many complaints have been processed.

“Political promises were made. They put out the 22 points. ... But, in the meantime, they haven’t done much,” said David Burnham, co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, an independent research organization at Syracuse University that tracks the Justice Department and conducted the study.

The report said department officials have largely completed eight upgrades, including publishing standardized procedures, assigning supervisory judges to all courts, adding appeals judges and training lawyers.

Carrie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, disagreed with TRAC’s characterization, saying, “The Department of Justice has made significant progress in implementing the 22 measures, as nearly all of them are completed or near completion.”

Nelson said the department began performance reviews for appeals judges in July and is negotiating with the union to do the same for immigration judges.

It is also putting into place systems to track the performance of new judges and complaints against all judges, she said. The department requested 120 additional positions from Congress this year but did not receive them, she said.

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