A federal judge ruled late on Sunday that the Trump administration could not immediately overhaul the process through which migrants can appeal rulings by immigration judges, pausing major changes that were set to take effect on Monday.
The changes proposed by the Trump administration would dramatically streamline the process, clearing the way for more deportations. Under the new policy, all appeals would be automatically dismissed unless a majority of the Board of Immigration Appeals, the body that reviews decisions by immigration judges, voted to reconsider the case within 10 days.
Unlike the federal courts, the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals are part of the Justice Department, existing within the executive branch.
In a 73-page opinion released two days after lawyers presented their case in court, Judge Randolph D. Moss called the proposed change “a fast-track mechanism for disposing of the vast majority” of immigration court appeals. He ruled that the government had violated a “notice-and-comment” legal requirement that mandates the government to give the public an opportunity to weigh in before major changes to federal rules. Judge Moss’s order appeared to leave the door open for the administration to try again, following the correct procedures.
The ruling by Judge Moss, who was appointed to Washington’s Federal District Court by President Barack Obama, is part of a larger dispute over how far the White House can leverage its control of the immigration courts to further President Trump’s promise of mass deportations without running afoul of federal law.
Last month, Judge Sunshine S. Sykes of California rebuked the chief immigration judge for telling other judges within the system that they were not bound by one of Judge Sykes’s orders. Judge Sykes required that immigrants arrested while living in the United States after entering the country illegally be given a bond hearing. (The government has appealed her ruling, and on Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a temporary pause known as an administrative stay.)
In a statement, Democracy Forward, a legal nonprofit that represented the plaintiffs in the case before Judge Moss, hailed his ruling. The decision means that the administration “cannot play games with the immigration appeals system to eliminate basic due process and fast-track deportations,” said Erez Reuveni, a former Justice Department official who argued the case on Friday.
A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
In his first year, Mr. Trump has fired dozens of immigration judges and Mr. Trump has replaced several top officials who oversee the court system.
Last year, the Trump administration successfully cut the number of permanent members of the Board of Immigration Appeals to 15, from 28. In his ruling, Judge Moss noted the expanding backlog of cases before the board, which stands at more than 200,000. Immigrants can appeal board rulings to the federal system but only after the agency has completed its review.
During a hearing on Friday, lawyers urged Judge Moss to consider statements from immigration advocacy groups who said the changes would wreak havoc on their organizations’ ability to provide legal services.
During sworn testimony, Laura St. John, the legal director of the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, said it frequently takes at least a week for her organization to go through all the steps to prepare material and file an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. She testified that under the proposed rule to only allow appeals if the board acts within 10 days, many people who had fallen through the cracks previously in the process would be denied the opportunity to have any “meaningful review” of their case.
“People can see when the deck is stacked against them, and when they’re not getting a fair shake, and that can lead to a real sense of desperation,” she said.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration’s agenda.
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