Immigration Judge Openings Throughout Country

The Executive Office for Immigration Review has a number of openings for Immigration Judge positions across the country.  As immigration practitioners know – and as Professors Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Andrew Schoenholtz, and Philip Schrag wrote eight years ago in the Stanford Law Review in the context of asylum cases– the Immigration Judge randomly assigned to the case often influences the legal outcome.  With discretionary asylum cases, data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse continues to show denial rates across the country from as low as below 10 percent to more than 90 percent, depending on the judge.  But the influence of the Immigration Judge can extend beyond the outcome of an asylum claim, and may include matters such as the granting of continuances, the assessment of the criminal record, advisals regarding possible eligibility for relief, and the discretionary outcome of other applications for relief such as Cancellation of Removal, not to mention the overall anxiety level of the noncitizens (and their attorneys).  Here’s to hoping that this hiring initiative results in a group of Immigration Judges who demonstrate the appropriate judicial temperament, possess a deep understanding of the immigration laws, and are committing to adjudicating immigration cases consistent with constitutional values.

-JKoh