Nat’l Ass’n of Immigration Judges Responds to Being Described as “Low-Level Employees” of US Gov’t

(Judge Dana Marks, President, NAIJ)

Last month, the statements of a DOJ attorney in oral arguments before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals made headlines by describing Immigration Judges as “low-level employees” similar to FBI agents, DEA agents, and line Assistant US Attorneys. The statements were made in connection with DOJ’s assertion of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions in response to requests for disciplinary complaints of Immigration Judges in litigation brought by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. 

It turns out that Immigration Judges have something to say about being described as low-level government employees.  Today, the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ, the collective bargaining unit for all IJs across the country) issued a statement in response to DOJ’s litigation position, which NAIJ calls a “gross mischaracterization of the independent functioning and decision making of an Immigration Judge.” The statement emphasizes IJs’ responsibilities with respect to fact-finding and applying the law; the deference accorded to IJs’ discretionary determinations (particularly related to credibility), IJs’ responsibility to act as neutral adjudicators, and the liberty, public interest, and community safety interests at stake in immigration court proceedings. 

-JKoh