During a speech this week, Ashley Tabaddor, president of National Association of Immigration Judges, called on Congress to end the grasp Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has on immigration courts, an abuse of power that judges say undermines their independence, and that immigration attorneys and advocates say undermines due process for immigrants.
As attorney general, Sessions has vast power over immigration courts, and he’s exerted it without mercy since being sworn into office. Among many actions, he has stomped on asylum claims, imposed a quota system on judges, and, most recently, ruled that immigration judges are not allowed to use their discretion to terminate or dismiss cases.
It’s why he sticks around despite having an abusive boss, and it’s yet another indication he’ll keep making life for immigrants as hellish as possible for as long as he can. “The only durable solution,” Tabaddor said during her speech, “is to get the court away from the Justice Department. Let it be a real court. Let it be real judges, so that we can do what we’re supposed to do.”
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