On February 15, the Justice Department issued a gag order requiring immigration judges to seek Justice Department approval before speaking publicly. Associated Press report.
The National Association of Immigration Judges has been outspoken about the country’s growing backlog of immigration cases. There is currently a backlog of approximately 3 million cases.by Transaction Record Access Clearing House At Syracuse University, each immigration judge was assigned 4,500 cases as of December. Judges can typically handle about 750 cases a year. new york post report.
Chief Immigration Judge Sheila McNulty February orders The law requires approval from the Department of Justice for union members to participate in “writing activities (e.g., articles, blogs) and speaking activities (e.g., speeches, panel discussions, interviews).” McNulty cited a November 2020 decision by the federal Labor Relations Board to strip unions of collective bargaining rights. This decision revoked NAIJ’s union status and stripped it of its protections.
“While the authorities understand that this is an issue for you, any negotiating agreement in this regard that may have existed previously is null and void at this time,” McNulty told NAIJ leadership last month. wrote in an email to. government executives report. “Please consider this email to be a formal notification that you are subject to the same policies as all companies. [Executive Office of Immigration Review] employee. “
Matt Biggs, president of NAIJ’s parent union, the International Federation of Professional Engineers, said the gag order was “unprecedented.”
“This is a pretty strict directive,” he added.
Biggs told the Post that union members “have never been muzzled before.”
“They are speaking on behalf of the country’s immigration judges and have very important and important perspectives to share with the press, Congress and the public,” he continued. “Now, all of a sudden, out of the blue, the administrator of the Office of Immigration Review has a gun pointed at them.”
Biggs called the order “outrageous” and “un-American,” according to the Associated Press.
“Why would they try to silence the judges?” he asked.
Biggs speculated that the recent gag order may have been in response to Judge Mimi Tsankoff’s testimony before a Senate committee in October, in which she said the number of immigration cases was increasing. It blamed the increase on a “lack of effective leadership” at the Justice Department.
Matt O’Brien, a former immigration judge and current director of research at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, told the Post:[T]His administration wants a workforce of obedient immigration judges who will find a reason to approve every case assigned to them. As a result, the Justice Department has a vested interest in barring Capitol Hill from drawing public attention to the flaws in its approach. ”
Tsankov declined the Post’s request for comment, saying, “After receiving the email,… [from] Chief Immigration Judge Sheila McNulty said on February 15 that in her capacity as president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, she is not permitted to participate in writing or speaking engagements, including interviews, without the approval of the director.
The Office of Immigration Review did not respond to requests for comment from the Post, government officials or The Associated Press.
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