Alina Hernandez, Tulane University, Dec. 5, 2023 "A new report co-authored by Tulane Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic shows that more than 100,000 abused or abandoned immigrant youths are in...
Bipartisan Policy Center, Dec. 5, 2023 "In this week’s episode, BPC host Jack Malde chats with four distinguished immigration scholars at Cornell Law School on their new white paper “Immigration...
ABA "Immigration Enforcement Mechanisms at the U.S. Southwest Border: The Only Constant is Change 2 PM EST ... Register HERE This webinar is designed to offer up-to-date information on enforcement...
William H. Frey, Nov. 29, 2023 "Immigration has become one of the nation’s most contentious political issues. Yet there has been less public attention paid to broader immigration policy than...
The current federal Immigration and Nationality Act is based on a bill passed by Congress in 1952. But did you know that President Harry Truman vetoed the bill? Congress overrode his veto. Here is his...
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Dec. 6, 2019
"More immigration judges will begin conducting hearings over video conferencing at tent courts along the US-Mexico border, raising concerns among lawyers about transparency in the immigration process.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration erected facilities in Laredo and Brownsville, Texas, to serve as makeshift courts for migrants seeking asylum in the United States who have been returned to Mexico until their court date. The judges in these cases are not at the tent facility but preside by teleconference from other immigration courts several miles away.
As of mid-September, there were 19 judges from three separate immigration courts in Texas hearing cases. But the latest expansion includes the use of immigration judges assigned to a center in Fort Worth, Texas, that is closed to the public, leaving little opportunity for people to observe hearings.
"I'm just very concerned that there will be no public access to these hearings. And hearings will be operating in secret, without any transparency and notice to the public," said Laura Lynch, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
US court proceedings are generally open to the public.
Adjudication centers serve as a hub for immigration judges who beam into courtrooms remotely to hear cases. There are two -- one in Fort Worth and another in Falls Church, Virginia. Neither is open to the public.
Immigration judges assigned to the Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center are expected to begin hearing cases of migrants who fall under the administration's "Migrant Protection Protocols" program via video teleconference in January 2020, according to the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation's immigration courts."