More Shocking News! Bush Immigration Judges Tough on Asylum Claims!

We have reported extensively on the partisan litmus test employed by the Bush administration in selecting immigration judges.  The N.Y. Times reports that immigrants seeking asylum in the United States have been disproportionately rejected by judges whom the Bush administration chose using the conservative litmus test. This conclusion is vased on data focusing on 16 judges who were vetted for political affiliation before being hired and have since ruled on at least 100 cases each. Comparison of their records to others in the same cities shows that as a group they ruled against asylum-seekers significantly more often than colleagues appointed under neutral rules.

The immigration court “is now the seat of individuals who were appointed illegally, and that means that in the minds of many people the court symbolizes illegality,” said Bruce Einhorn, a Pepperdine law professorm a retired immigration judge. 

KJ