3/8/2007
Professor Stacy Caplow’s op-ed, “Bullies on the Bench,” was published on March 5, 2007 in The National Law Journal. In the article, she describes a tarnished system of justice for immigrants, particularly asylum seekers, where abusive and disrespectful behavior by judges is too often tolerated. For example, it took three investigating bodies and over seven years to fire an immigration judge in Fishkill, NY, for egregious professional misconduct. Federal courts have repeatedly criticized immigration judges’ decisions. Last year, Attorney General Gonzalez pledged certain reforms, but none have been implemented. Professor Caplow called for a “zero tolerance policy” for abusive and incompetent judges, and sincere reform efforts for entrenched problems of the immigration courts.