Former Immigration Judges and BIA Board Members rebuke the Executive Office of Immigration Review.  The EOIR is responsible for the Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals. The complaint is that the EOIR misstates facts about immigration.  

Former immigration and Board members state,

“our offense at EOIR’s recently issued memo purporting to present imagined “myths” and wildly inaccurate and misleading information labeled as “fact.” The issuance of such a document can only be viewed as political pandering, at the expense of public faith in the immigration courts you oversee.”

Other comments include,

“American courts do not issue propaganda implying that those whose cases it rules on for the most part have invalid claims; that the participation of lawyers in its hearings provides no real value and has no impact on outcome; that the government’s own program to assist litigants in obtaining legal representation is a waste of taxpayer money; or that those unable to surmount the government-created obstacles to filing asylum applications are somehow guilty of deceit.  Such statements indicate a bias which is absolutely unacceptable and, frankly, shocking.”

Assertions are untrue as stated.  Of course, it is useful to hire an attorney and try to put forward a valid case even if the immigration judge is going to deny a case no matter what.  Problems of abuse need to be documented for the record and taken on appeal.  It’s unfair for the EOIR to discourage people from defending themselves.  A sense of fairness and justice went out the window.

The former judges assert the value of objective independence, and warn against the corrosive effects on the rule of law when misstating facts and propagandizing the judiciary.

McHenry Letter (PDF)