Senior DOJ Officials tell Fox News Attorney General Sessions is initiating a “Certification and Review” of a docket practice used by immigration judges called “Administrative Closure.”
When an immigration judge employs administrative closure, that case is set aside indefinitely. In effect giving the alien in question permission to remain in the US and keep any benefit they have been given, such as a work authorization.
Attorney General Sessions has certified one such case for his personal review. This allows Sessions to consider the factors of this case for his own interpretation and, according to Senior DOJ Officials, “Render a decision that is binding on immigration courts, and everyone across the federal government writ large.” Thus, Sessions could possibly end the practice of administrative closures.
The authority Sessions’ is employing is specifically spelled out in the statute of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Senior DOJ Officials point out that the same authority has been used multiple times by many previous Attorneys General, including Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Michael Mukasey, Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft.
Attorney General Sessions is initiating a “Certification and Review” of a docket practice used by immigration judges called “Administrative Closure.”
(AP)
There are currently 350,000 immigration cases that are administratively closed. The Obama administration closed more than 180,000 pending immigration court cases without a final decision in just four years, more than were closed in the previous 22 years combined.
Sessions has sent a letter to the parties of the case in question, the Department of Homeland Security, and the alien involved in the case, asking them e number of questions. Senior DOJ Officials tell Fox news, the Attorney General plans to use the answers to help inform his decision.
In the letter Sessions asks if Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals, “have the authority, under any statute, or regulation, or delegation of authority from the Attorney General, to order administrative closure in a case?”
Sessions also asks if he were to determine that, “Immigration Judges and the Board do not have the authority to order administrative closure, and that such a power is unwarranted or unavailable, what actions should be taken regarding cases that are already administratively closed?”
The Attorney General has given the parties until February 2 to file their responses, and interested amici have until February 9 to submit briefs.
There is currently a backlog of roughly 650,000 immigration cases, meaning it’s possible an additional 350,000 cases that are currently administratively closed could be added to that stockpile.
