Everyone deserves a fair and transparent court process. But that is simply not the case in an El Paso Immigration Court in Texas. At this court, thousands of detained immigrants face obstacles to a fair day in court each year.
Alarmingly, judges in this court granted about 3 percent of all asylum applications in FY 2016 and 2017. This is the lowest rate in the country.
After weeks of investigation, we filed a complaint with the Department of Justice demanding immediate oversight and action.
This complaint highlights systemic due process violations that are undermining justice for detained immigrants called before judges at the El Paso Service Processing Center (SPC) Immigration Court. The complaint draws from court observations of hundreds of immigration hearings, several sworn statements from legal practitioners appearing before the El Paso SPC Immigration Court, standing orders used by the Immigration Judges, and more. Read the evidence here.
The complaint details egregious immigration judge conduct and court rules, such as:
