The coalition has urged EOIR to thoroughly investigate IJ Fords conduct and take appropriate action to ensure that individuals who appear in the San Francisco Immigration Court are treated with due process, dignity, and respect. Now they had come to deliver a message to Gutierrez. James Roder, the court administrator at the Cleveland Immigration Court, declined to offer a response. About half the cases in the analysis were filed by asylum seekers like the two Honduran women. (Neither Holyoak nor Couch worked as an ICE prosecutor, according to their EOIR biographies. For example, U.S. government policy is more lenient toward people from some countries, less so for others. In an attempt to establish that the abusedid not happen due to the client's identity, Owen stated that it is likely that officers raped the teenage girl not because she was a member of the English-speaking minoritybut because they wanted to do so and thought that the respondent was a pretty virgin, according to court documents shared with The Dispatch. For example, courts ruled in favor of Chinese immigrants 75 percent of the time, the Reuters analysis found. Theres also an imbalance of power in the courtroom and the fear of retaliation. Hon. Corrective actions such as counseling or training were taken in 39 cases. Now, they were extorting teachers, selling drugs openly and assaulting or killing anyone who confronted them. 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. According to TRAC, denial rates were at 54.6% in fiscal year 2016 (the last full year of Barack Obamas presidency). 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. She quickly discarded that notion. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Their nature ranged from alleged due process violations to concerns over in-court conducts, records show. They must convince the court that they have well-founded fears of persecution in their country because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinions or membership in a particular social group. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)andAntiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA)of 1996, as well as theREAL ID Act of 2005, had serious impacts on asylum cases and the parameters of the courts. 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. How do I know this? Gutierrez said that was when she first learned that her fellow parent-teacher association board member had been threatened and had fled from home. Ana fled with her daughter the night the gang members threatened them on the street. 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. Mexicans and citizens from the Northern Triangle of Central America Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador were the most likely to be turned down. Senators Announce GAO Investigation of the Politicization and Mismanagement of Immigration Courts - September 14, 2020; Take Action. The question of equality of treatment among judges has gained urgency as the number of cases in immigration court has ballooned to record highs. When he turned 16, he left his hometown and crossed the border by himself in search for a better life, settling in Columbus. Ana moved with her daughter to live with her daughters father and petitioned to have her case moved to Charlotte. Couch and Holyoak and their courts. With these new judges and along with significant court policy changes, the asylum denial rate increased from 54.6% in fiscal year 2016 to 71.6% in fiscal year 2020. Country of origin is a big factor in determining who gets to stay in the United States because immigrants from some countries are afforded special protections. She first interviewed Judge Marks, then-president of NAIJ, forUnderstanding the Crisis in Our Immigration Courts(Spring 2015). Hon. The findings underscore what academics and government watchdogs have long complained about U.S. immigration courts: Differences among judges and courts can render the system unfair and even inhumane. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) It did not take U.S. Immigration Judge Nicholas Ford long to stir up controversy in San Francisco. She is now awaiting a court date after new lawyers got her case reopened. Before: Richard A. Paez and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges, and Morrison C. England, Jr., * Senior District Judge. ). Judge Dalin Holyoak, who heard Gutierrezs case in San Francisco, orders deportation in 43 percent of cases. By the time she retired fromSan Franciscos Immigration Courton December 31, 2021, Judge Dana Leigh Marks* had built an inspiring reputation as a leader, mentor, and advocate. The clients loved her, says Ungar. Yilun Cheng is a Report for America corps member andcovers immigration issues for the Dispatch. Judge Chen earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma and a Juris Doctor in 2009 from Harvard Law School. Immigration Judge Nicholas Ford is terrorizing the San Francisco immigrant community. Individuals can sign up for a court watch training at bit.ly/courtwatch1. The top ten percent of employees in the Executive Office for . She is known for her intelligence and wit, having coined oft-repeated, appropriate zingers that help people better understand the challenges of immigration court, including Immigration judges do death penalty cases in a traffic court setting and Immigration is more complicated than tax law. Judges are not always made aware of the existence of a complaint in a timely fashion, and there is no transparency or consistency when it comes to sanctions imposed in a particular case, according to Dana Marks, president emerita at the National Association of Immigration Judges who spent 35 years on the bench in San Francisco, California, before retiring in December. Three led to oral counseling. The Immigration Justice Program periodically runs legal education events (CLEs) and know-your-rights trainings for lawyers, legal workers, immigrant community members, and other allies and advocates. Possible outcomes include asylum; adjustments of status; stay of deportation; and deportation. 0% San Francisco; 0% Denver; 0% Dallas, TX; 0% Boston; 0% Los Angeles; 0% Atlanta; Salary Ranges for Immigration Judges. 2018 or 2020, and 5% or . 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. Immigration court doesnt have contempt, so I had to use charm, she says. They demanded that a payment of more than $5,000 be delivered in 24 hours, a huge sum for a woman who sold tortillas for a living. Right now, Ohio has one of the highest asylum denial rates in the country 88% in the fiscal year 2021, compared with the national average of 63%, according to TRAC data. Hondurans enjoy no special considerations. They have more understanding of trauma survivors and the difficulty they might have in recounting certain details and little discrepancies, she said. Gutierrez moved with her boys to Oakland, California, to join her husband, and petitioned to have her case moved to San Francisco. The administration of President Donald Trump is continuing the effort. Couch is the toughest of Charlottes three immigration judges, according to the Reuters analysis. Immigration attorneys and their clients are not the only ones who said they are distrustful of the judicial complaint process. 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. Further, Knox said, asylum seekers arent thinking about the finer points of U.S. asylum law when they are fleeing persecution. But complainants like Juan and their attorneys said they have beendisappointed that their efforts did not lead to any lasting changes and that there was little transparency in the investigation process. The state court had plexiglass barriers, an air. . 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. Robert S. Hough had the highest denial rate (92.2%), according to TRAC. Judge Marks faced daunting challenges during her tenure. The court used to have only three judges, all of whom have since left their posts. This is the phone number you can use to contact the court's clerks or the judges' legal assistants. 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 womens lawyers framed their respective cases with some important differences. Judge Halperin is a member of the Utah State Bar. This, as federal immigration judges decided the second-highest number of asylum petitions on record despite partial court shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. 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. Variations among judges and courts are broad. Additionally, the coalition is calling on the community to help hold San Francisco Immigration Court accountable. U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Justice. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research organization at Syracuse University in New York, first sounded the alarmabout disparities in immigration court decisions in 2006. Becoming involved with and leading theNational Association of Immigration Judges(NAIJ) was a natural extension of her skills and influence. She lost. Denial Rate. They had confidence in her that she was doing everything she could for them. She demonstrated this on a national level in October of 1986 when Judge Marks (along with Bill O. Hing, Susan Lydon, and Kip Steinberg) argued on behalf of Luz Marina Cardoza-Fonseca before the US Supreme Court (. See how your salary compares to other Immigration Judges with Comparably. She was our fearless leader in the union, says Judge King, who was Union site representative in San Francisco while Judge Marks was president. This years 71.6% denial rate excludes those who didnt win asylum but were granted a stay of removal, otherwise itd be even higher. EOIR held a two-day training session last year. The Honorable Merrick B. Garland The Honorable Lisa O. Monaco. One grant from Dallas-based Meadows Foundation includes $56,000 for legal services for incarcerated petitioners. The first judge I had, he was strict, but he seemed like a very capable judge and I felt really comfortable, Juan said. Juan is not alone in his grievances. I can think of one case I had in front of her, says Ilyce Shugall, a former immigration judge who is currently managing attorney with Immigrant Legal Defense. The union representing immigration judges is suing the Trump administration over a policy they say censors judges. A Honduran migrant wears a sanitary mask while waiting in line to plead . The case was transferred to a new judge who sentenced Puente to time . The appointments included former immigration judges who themselves ordered high rates of deportation on the bench, according to the Reuters analysis. 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