No room to be kind: US immigration judges told to reduce time for people awaiting Green Card before being deported

U.S. immigration judges were reportedly told during mandatory training to give people awaiting visas or Green Cards less time before deportation, while attorneys who accept too many cases could face disciplinary action.

The Guardian report, citing sources, said hundreds of immigration judges recently attended a virtual presentation on continuances. Courts have historically used the legal tool to give immigrants more time to find lawyers, prepare their cases or await decisions on document applications handled by another federal agency.

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There is no room to be kind; there is only urgency to make them leave the United States, one way or the other.

The session was led by Keith Hunsucker, a veteran immigration judge from the Board of Immigration Appeals, the appellate branch of the immigration courts. The report said Hunsucker denied more than 80% of asylum cases for much of his time on the immigration bench before moving to other roles.

The training appeared aimed at reducing the immigration court backlog. It told judges that some continuances were requested solely to delay proceedings, and that people without legal status who wanted to remain in the United States had a strong incentive to prolong litigation and postpone deportation.

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Continuance requests solely for dilatory purposes should not be countenanced by Immigration Judges.

One slide said requests made only for delay “should not be countenanced by Immigration Judges.” The training also suggested that an approved visa petition should not delay deportation proceedings if the visa itself was not yet available because of annual quotas, even if it would later be issued to a qualified recipient.

The judges were additionally told that attorneys could face punitive measures for taking on more cases than they could professionally handle. One slide said an immigration judge could refer such a practitioner to disciplinary counsel for possible sanctions.

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Where a practitioner takes on more cases than he or she can responsibly and professionally handle, it may be appropriate for an Immigration Judge to consider referral to EOIR disciplinary counsel for further action and possible sanction for a violation.