Sessions takes aim at judges' handling of immigration cases

LA Times ^ | Jan 5 2017 | AP

[smileyface]

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on Friday launched a review of a little-known but widely used practice of immigration judges closing cases without decisions, potentially putting hundreds of thousands of people in greater legal limbo.

Sessions posed detailed questions challenging the use of “administrative closures,” an increasingly common outcome that allows people to stay in the country without legal status. The attorney general invited feedback from advocates and others, after which time he may issue new instructions for immigration judges nationwide.

Administrative closures have been a lifeline to immigrants who apply for citizenship, permanent residency or other visas, shielding them from deportation while their petitions are vetted. But critics say judges too often let people stay in the country longer than they should in a sort of legal purgatory.

About 350,000 cases are administratively closed, and the Justice Department said 180,000 cases were closed in four years of the Obama administration, more than in the previous 22 years. In 2012, the department's Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that neither Homeland Security Department attorneys seeking to deport someone nor the immigrant trying to stay could stop a judge from closing a case, paving the way for the increase.

[smileyface]

posted previously from ABC source, but I missed it...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3619742/posts

[ptsal]

PAYWALL - LA Times

[JayGalt]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/sessions-takes-aim-judges-handling-immigration-cases-52158205 No pay wall

[laweeks]

Sessions is an ass . . . how’s ‘bout getting angry over the lack of putting the Clinton family in prison?

[The Right wing Infidel]

Jeff is all bark no bite

[ptsal]

thanks for the link

[dadfly]

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