23 New Immigration Judges Appointed
by Ivan Ariza, Legal Intern with Beach-Oswald Immigration Law Associates, PC
The US Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed 23 new immigration judges to immigration courts throughout the US. The judges were sworn in by Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler at the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) headquarters on November 5, 2010. The newly appointed judges are: Silvia R. Arellano, Jerry A. Beatmann Sr., Jesse B. Christensen, Steven J. Connelly, Philip J. Costa, V. Stuart Couch, Thomas G. Crossan Jr., Leo A. Finston, Saul Greenstein, Amy C. Hoogasian, Stuart F. Karden, F. James Loprest Jr., Lisa Luis, Joren Lyons, H. Kevin Mart, Sheila McNulty, Maureen S. O’Sullivan, Daniel J. Santander, Alice Segal, Andrea H. Sloan, Dan Trimble, Eileen R. Trujillo, Clarence M. Wagner Jr., and Virna A. Wright.
They will serve in immigration courts in the following cities: Florence, Ariz., Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif., Denver, Colo., Miami and Orlando, Fla., Lumpkin, Ga., Honolulu, Hawaii, Chicago, Ill., Oakdale, La., Charlotte, N.C., Newark, N.J., Batavia and New York, N.Y., Portland, Ore., and Houston and Pearsall, Texas.
The addition of 23 immigration judges is an almost 10% increase in national immigration judges in just one day. There are now 262 immigration judges nationwide. The recent addition will help reduce the backlog of immigration cases throughout the US.
The judges considered go through a rigorous vetting process. First, EOIR HR department referred 1,782 eligible applicants to the Office of Chief Immigration Judge. Four panels of assistant chief immigration judges then screen the applicants. Those selected, are interviewed by a panel of senior DOJ officials before the Attorney General makes his final choices.
To learn more about this new class of immigration judges, read their full biographies on the EOIR website:
http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1055
More sources:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/ijinvestiturenov5.pdf