Due Process and the Courts
FOIA Request Seeks All Immigration Judge Standing Orders
The Council filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) seeking all immigration judge written standing orders presently in force at immigration courts nationwide governing requests by counsel. Read More
Board of Immigration Appeals Interpretation of Stay of Removal FOIA Request
With the end of prosecutorial discretion under the Trump administration, noncitizens living in the United States with a removal order face quick, and almost certain deportation unless they have access to legal safeguards that could prevent their deportation. Because transparency and due process are the cornerstones of a… Read More
Immigration Judge Performance Quotas FOIA Request
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)—the Department of Justice agency that houses the immigration courts—on December 13, 2017. The FOIA requests seek information about performance measures imposed on immigration judges,… Read More
Access to Counsel Before USCIS FOIA
The Council filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compel the release of records relating to noncitizens’ access to counsel before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In response to the suit against USCIS, the agency determined that it had over 2000 pages of responsive… Read More
Access to Counsel Before ICE FOIA
The Council filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compel the release of records relating to noncitizens’ access to counsel before Immigration and Customs Enforement (ICE). The Council initially pursued disclosure of these records through FOIA requests filed in March 2011. Subsequently, ICE produced several thousand… Read More
Video Hearings in Immigration Court FOIA
Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) began using video hearing equipment in immigration courts across the country. As a result, frequently a noncitizen facing removal is deprived of the opportunity to appear in person before an immigration judge. Video hearings are more common where a noncitizen is detained, though many non-detained individuals are subjected to video hearings as well. EOIR uses video hearings for both preliminary hearings (“master calendar hearings”) and merits hearings (“individual hearings”). In February 2012, the American Immigration Council submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to EOIR asking for records related to video teleconferencing (VTC). EOIR produced two sets of records. Read More
Complaints Against Immigrant Judges FOIA
On November 13, 2012, American Immigration Council in conjunction with AILA and Public Citizen, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) for all complaints made against immigration judges, records relating to those complaints, and an index of those requested records… Read More
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