MEDIA ADVISORY: Public Has the Right to Know About Immigration Judges’ Misconduct, Public Citizen Will Tell D.C. Appeals Court
Feb. 12, 2016
MEDIA ADVISORY: Public Has the Right to Know About Immigration Judges’ Misconduct, Public Citizen Will Tell D.C. Appeals Court
Updated 2/15/16: Arguments were originally scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. but have been pushed back to 10 a.m.
WHAT: Public Citizen will argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the government should be required to disclose information about immigration judges who have been accused of misconduct.
In 2013, Public Citizen and the American Immigration Council, acting as counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), sued the U.S. Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) under the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit challenged EOIR’s refusal to disclose complaints against immigration judges and to make public records that would reveal agency investigations of and resolutions to those complaints.
After filing the lawsuit, EOIR released nearly 16,000 pages of complaint and complaint resolution documents. However, key sections of many documents were blacked out. And none of the documents contained the names of the immigration judges who had been the subject of complaints, even though these judges are high-ranking public officials who make life-or-death decisions for the immigrants who appear before them.
On behalf of AILA, Public Citizen and the American Immigration Council filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and will argue that the law requires EOIR to release and publish the documents.
WHEN: 10:00 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Feb. 16
WHERE: Courtroom 31, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, 333 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.
WHO: Julie Murray, attorney, Public Citizen
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