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Lawyers slam 'Wild West' atmosphere in Texas immigration court
Source: CNN
Lawyers slam 'Wild West' atmosphere in Texas immigration court
By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 2027 GMT (0427 HKT) April 3, 2019
(CNN) — Judges at an immigration court in El Paso, Texas, are undermining due process, making inappropriate comments and fostering a "culture of hostility" toward immigrants, according to a new complaint.
The administrative complaint, sent to the Justice Department on Wednesday and obtained by CNN, slams a number of allegedly recurring practices at the El Paso Service Processing Center court, which hears cases of immigrants detained at several locations near the border.
-snip-
Among the allegations:
• Judges at the El Paso Service Processing Center court have "notably high rates of denial," the complaint says, noting that the court granted less than 4% of asylum applications heard there between fiscal year 2013 and fiscal year 2017. Nationally, 35% of asylum cases in court are granted, according to the latest data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
• The complaint accuses judges in the court of making inappropriate comments that "undermine confidence in their impartiality" and are part of "a culture of hostility and contempt towards immigrants who appear" at the court. While hearing one case, a judge, according to the complaint, described the court as "the bye-bye place," telling a lawyer, "You know your client is going bye-bye, right?" Another judge allegedly told court observers that "there's really nothing going on right now in Latin America" that would provide grounds for asylum.
-snip-
By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 2027 GMT (0427 HKT) April 3, 2019
(CNN) — Judges at an immigration court in El Paso, Texas, are undermining due process, making inappropriate comments and fostering a "culture of hostility" toward immigrants, according to a new complaint.
The administrative complaint, sent to the Justice Department on Wednesday and obtained by CNN, slams a number of allegedly recurring practices at the El Paso Service Processing Center court, which hears cases of immigrants detained at several locations near the border.
-snip-
Among the allegations:
• Judges at the El Paso Service Processing Center court have "notably high rates of denial," the complaint says, noting that the court granted less than 4% of asylum applications heard there between fiscal year 2013 and fiscal year 2017. Nationally, 35% of asylum cases in court are granted, according to the latest data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
• The complaint accuses judges in the court of making inappropriate comments that "undermine confidence in their impartiality" and are part of "a culture of hostility and contempt towards immigrants who appear" at the court. While hearing one case, a judge, according to the complaint, described the court as "the bye-bye place," telling a lawyer, "You know your client is going bye-bye, right?" Another judge allegedly told court observers that "there's really nothing going on right now in Latin America" that would provide grounds for asylum.
-snip-
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/03/us/el-paso-immigration-court-complaint/index.html