Hearing Wrap Up: Oversight of the Executive Office for Immigration Review

Washington, D.C. – Today, Director Juan Osuna testified before the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee on the issues facing the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is responsible for administering the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. These two administrative tribunals decide cases involving the removal of aliens and the application of immigration and nationality laws. Here are some key takeaways and videos from today’s oversight hearing.

Takeaways:

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday finding that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and EOIR have failed to develop agency-wide policies and procedures to identify and prevent asylum fraud. The total number of asylum applications, including affirmative and defensive applications, increased from 47,118 in fiscal year 2010 to 108,152 in fiscal year 2014, an increase of 130%. Additionally, the report found that immigration judges granted asylum to 3,709 aliens who were connected to attorneys and preparers convicted in federal court for submitting fraudulent asylum claims.
• The backlog of immigration cases has increased more than 100% over the last five years. Currently, there are approximately 460,000 cases waiting for an immigration judge to make a decision. Director Osuna testified that in some cases, the wait can be as long as five years. A 2012 Inspector General report found that over 6,000 cases were pending ten years or more.
• Between 2010 and 2014, immigration judges released on bond and into American communities over 30 aliens who were convicted of homicide-related offenses. Director Osuna testified that he had no reason to think that the immigration judges made the wrong decision.

Key Videos:Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.): “The lack of focus on rooting out fraud in the asylum program, coupled with a backlog that allows people to stay in the country unlawfully through the long backlog of cases until their court date, is a gap in our national security.”

  As the number of asylum applications has skyrocketed in recent years, especially among those coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) asks Director Osuna, “What is the percentage of asylum applicants that are granted asylum that are coming across our Southern border?”   Congressman John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) questions Director Osuna on the immigration court backlog and the release of dangerous criminal aliens by immigration judges: “121 convicted criminal aliens released by the Obama Administration between 2010 and 2014 have been charged with homicide-related crimes. Were you aware of the fact that 33 of those individuals were released on bond at the discretion of your office after committing the original crime? Does that concern you?”