Authors Matthew Hoppock

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Matthew Hoppock
Matthew Hoppock
@MatthewHoppock
One of the judges this story mentions is William Cassidy, who was promoted from an Atlanta IJ position to a BIA member position in 2019 by the Trump DOJ. Cassidy has an awful history that has been well-documented, but I'm still enraged reading this reporting.


The story notes that the EOIR Director served as an ICE attorney in Atlanta and practiced before Cassidy for years. And it points to FOIA records unearthed by Bryan Johnson showing they remain friendly.

A trove of complaints against Cassidy was published by AILA in 2019 after FOIA litigation. They generally show misconduct, substantiated in the record, followed by "written counseling" etc.

One way Cassidy could avoid discipline is by turning off the recording device during the hearing. If he made a lewd or offensive comment off the record, all the EOIR would do is listen to the recording. If it's not there, the complaint is "unsubstantiated" https://t.co/wUeBPEEbpV


In that case, Cassidy joked about a detained immigrant saying he missed his wife. The complaint was dismissed because the ACIJ found "no levity or joking" in the comment.
LAW
Matthew Hoppock
Matthew Hoppock
@MatthewHoppock
There's more in the OIG report about IJ hiring than just the sexual harassment stuff. In this example, a senior EOIR employee involved in IJ hiring personally intervened for one candidate and replaced one of the judges on her hiring panel "to improve her chances of being hired." https://t.co/SxRD5lYmDu


It was his day off, but he came into the office anyway to intervene in this particular candidate's hiring. He invited her to his office to admire the view, escorted her to the interview room, and then invited her to his apartment afterward to change clothes.


It's alarming how much of this report is redacted - and there are more records they haven't turned over. The OIG said these actions communicated to the hiring panel that she was his close friend and that he "was providing her preferential treatment based on his relationship"

He had already written her a recommendation letter and wasn't supposed to be involved in her hiring process at all.


Aside from the specific individuals the article names, the OIG report says the use of code words to rate attractiveness was so widely known, one person said she had heard it from "enough people that I can't even remember."
SOCIETY
Matthew Hoppock
Matthew Hoppock
@MatthewHoppock
On Jan 4 the Eighth Circuit issued a pretty awful opinion on eligibility for a fraud waiver after a person is denaturalized for fraud, essentially endorsing gamesmanship by the DHS without notice. The case is Herrera Gonzalez v. Rosen.

Petitioner admitted she had gotten her permanent residence through fraud (which led to a criminal conviction and later denaturalization). The government charged her with removability for the fraud, and she applied for the waiver that is allowed under that section.


After the judge had sustained the fraud charge, the DHS added a new charge that the marriage fraud conviction was a "crime involving moral turpitude." Then, at trial, the DHS withdrew the fraud charge, leaving only the CIMT charge, and argued there was no waiver for just the CIMT

Citing Matter of Tima, the Eighth Circuit agreed that the "fraud waiver" couldn't be used if the DHS plays this game of charging the same conduct under a different section, and that not doing that until the moment of trial didn't violate her right to due process.

There are problems with this. One is that Matter of Tima largely erases part of the fraud waiver statute - the part that says a fraud waiver under that section does waive other related grouns of removability. I wrote about it here when Tima was issued.
GOVERNMENT
Matthew Hoppock
Matthew Hoppock
@MatthewHoppock
Last week the @DOJ_EOIR quietly updated its list of "Myths vs. Fact." I haven't factchecked the new one, but it's much longer and at first glance appears to even more misleading than the previous one.

Also, EOIR uploaded the new one at the same URL as the prior one, which effectively removes the prior one from the internet. I've saved a copy of the old one here:

The first one, which McHenry seems to have unilaterally issued in May 2019, was met with confusion and disbelief by others in the agency, including the union representing immigration judges. They have since been decertified, so

A FOIA request for any email messages to the ACIJs (who manage the nation's immigration judges) giving guidance about the "Myths vs Fact" document turned up nothing.

Retired Immigration Judges and former BIA members also spoke out in May, 2019 about how wildly inaccurate the document was.
ALL