AILA Policy Brief: Imposing Numeric Quotas on Judges Threatens the Independence and Integrity of Courts
On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, Chief Immigration Judge Tracy Short sent the following message to all immigration judges, ending numerical quotas:
From Judge Short:
Judges,
Good afternoon. Effective immediately, the performance metrics instituted in 2018 for individual immigration judges are hereby suspended. The Office of the Director and the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge are conducting a comprehensive review of the immigration judge performance work plan and performance measures. The Agency is in the process of developing new performance measures, drawing from past successful measures and appropriate input, that will accurately reflect the workload of an immigration judge. These new performance measures will focus on balance and equity for the various types of docket assignments, and we look forward to sharing them with you shortly.
Thank you for your dedicated service and commitment to EOIR’s critical mission.
Tracy Short
Chief Immigration Judge
On October 12, 2017, the Washington Post reported that the DOJ plans to impose numeric quotas on immigration judges as part of their performance evaluations. The judges' union and DOJ are still in negotiations; however, the judges are speaking out.
- Listen to NPR interview: Immigration Judges Warn Against Trump Administration Benchmarks (10/16/17)
AILA strongly opposes this proposal and issued a policy brief on DOJ's plans and why this unprecedented effort to compel judges to complete cases under stricter deadlines threatens the integrity of the immigration court system, the independence of the judicial branch, and the due process rights of AILA members' clients.
For additional information, see the following resources:
- AILA Press Release: Trump Administration Erodes Integrity and Fairness in Immigration Courts (10/12/17)
- NAIJ Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing on DOJ (10/17/2017)
- NAIJ States that Performance Quotas on Immigration Judges are a Threat to Due Process (10/1/2017)
Related Resources
- Biden Administration Rightly Removes Artificial Quotas for Immigration Judges (10/21/21)
- AILA: Trump Administration Erodes Integrity and Fairness in Immigration Courts (10/12/17)
- Washington Post: Immigration judges say proposed quotas from Justice Dept. threaten independence (10/12/17)
- AILA Resolution on Immigration Court Reform and Funding (9/16/17)