The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has a process through which individuals may lodge complaints against immigration judges. Yet, there is very little publicly available information about how such complaints are resolved. The LAC, in collaboration with AILA and Public Citizen, is working to shed light on this closed complaint process.
CASES [1]
CASES
American Immigration Lawyers Association v. Executive Office for Immigration Review, et al., No. 13-cv-00840 (D.D.C. filed June 6, 2013)
The LAC and co-counsel Public Citizen filed a lawsuit on behalf of AILA seeking information about complaints alleging immigration judge misconduct. This suit stems from a November 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request AILA submitted to EOIR asking that the agency disclose complaints against immigration judges and records indicating how the agency has resolved those complaints. EOIR failed to release any documents, prompting the filing of the lawsuit in June 2013. In October 2013, the parties agreed to a schedule for the production of documents and briefing in the district court. Beginning in November 2013, and stretching over the course of almost four months, EOIR is expected to release at least several hundred complaints against immigration judges.