Recently in the news, we’ve been seeing more and more coming out about the immigration courts practices in El Paso, Texas. Violations of due process and a culture of hostility have been levied against the immigration courts in El Paso.
Violations of due process can occur from the moment of detainment up until the deportation of an immigrant. The claim brought against the immigration court in El Paso is that one of the courts is limiting evidence over 100 pages long. Most importantly, the court is limiting the evidence for asylum applications. “Coincidentally”, El Paso has the lowest rate for the granting of asylums in the United States. Nowhere else in our judicial system is evidence limited by the page amount. This is particularly worrisome when you consider more complex cases. Naturally, more complex cases require more detailed evidence. Because of the blatant violation of due process rights an advocate group has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, yesterday.
Moreover, the immigration courts in El Paso have repeatedly engaged in practices that foster a culture of hostility. A culture of hostility can be created by a court in a variety of ways. One of them, is by limiting the evidence an attorney can submit to the court. Hopefully, this practice will be reviewed and overturned. Sometimes, but not always, the hostility of the court system is created by the immigration judge. If you ask any attorney practicing in immigration, they’ll tell you flat-out which judges they wish they could stay clear of, and not just because they’re results are better in other courts, but because some judges feel it is their duty to litigate against the attorney. To put it more simply, there is a clear bias coming from the bench. Of course, that’s not to say that all immigration courts are the same. They’re not. There is, however, a lack of oversight of the judicial court system.
The due process violations reported in El Paso is exactly why the Presti Law Firm recommends that any person facing an immigration issue seeks out help from an attorney. It is in your best interest to seek help, because you never know if you’ll find yourself in a court where your due process rights are being violated or where you’re going to experience an unusual level of hostility from the court.