NEW GONZALES SCANDAL-Immigration Judges Seated Based SOLELY On Political Views (WAPO)

[kpete]

Immigration Judges Often Picked Based On GOP Ties
Law Forbids Practice; Courts Being Reshaped

By Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A01

At least one-third of the immigration judges appointed by the Justice Department since 2004 have had Republican connections or have been administration insiders, and half lacked experience in immigration law, Justice Department, immigration court and other records show.

Two newly appointed immigration judges were failed candidates for the U.S. Tax Court nominated by President Bush; one fudged his taxes and the other was deemed unqualified to be a tax judge by the nation's largest association of lawyers. Both were Republican loyalists.

Justice officials also gave immigration judgeships to a New Jersey election law specialist who represented GOP candidates, a former treasurer of the Louisiana Republican Party, a White House domestic policy adviser and a conservative crusader against pornography.
Some of these hires are particularly egregious. One of the appointed judges, immigration judge Glen Bower, is a suspected criminal who took inappropriate tax deductions. Bower also formerly worked as a revenue director for former Illinois Governor Ryan, who we all know had his own problems with ethics.

These appointments, all made by the attorney general, have begun to reshape a system of courts in which judges, ruling alone, exercise broad powers -- deporting each year nearly a quarter-million immigrants, who have limited rights to appeal and no right to an attorney. The judges do not serve fixed terms.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061001229.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

[UTUSN]

1. K&R #4 n/t

[originalpckelly]

2. Those assholes.

They're trying to put their little cronies in every government position to take over the government.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Now, I'm really confused here.

I thought that the high on highs in the Republicans party WANTED illegal immigrants to come in unchecked because the illegals "do the jobs that no one else will do"...at debasing wages. It was a concession for the corporations that wanted cheap labor.

Now you're telling me that it's the opposite? That the grand plan was to follow the law and deport them?

Can someone break this down for me?

[IndyOp]

11. I think they want frequent deportations to keep the immigrants in terror.

They want the immigrants to whom they can pay debasing wages -- and the more often there are mass round-ups and deportations, the less likely any will ever earn citizenship. They don't want new citizens, they want a permanent under-under-underclass.

Also, the more afraid the immigrants are of the courts - the more likely they will work for less $ and complain to no one about abuses at work.

The more they have to live "underground" to escape detection, the less likely they take actions that will embarrass the powers that be -- like those terrible demonstrations they held last year demanding amnesty. :sarcasm:

Frequent deportations also keep the citizen population in fear - convinced that outsiders will hurt us and must be rounded up and shipped out by our big strong government.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Wow. Since you put it that way, it sounds like a Republican wet dream.

[treestar]

14. An immigration judge can only apply the immigration law

If someone is deportable, they are deportable, regardless of whether they want illegal labor or not.

Their main influence would be in asylum cases. They can choose not to believe the alien's story of persecution. They thus keep refugees out.

They don't have much influence, because many decisions have been taken out of their hands and given to the bureaucrat at the border who can apply his own feelings without oversight based on the law.

[L. Coyote]

4. And there goes the proverbial camel's back.

[librechik]

5. dja think? Cuz that camel has a shopping mall made out of straw up there

from where I sit...

This should get everyone furious at the WaHoPo, even Broder

[spanone]

6. The pile of shit just gets steamier and higher.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. This needs more scrutiny. K & R.

[WiseButAngrySara]

8. Reversal on Immigration and reversal on attorney hiring and firing

based on qualifications. Oh well, just another day in this deceitful WH.

[L. Coyote]

9. It is time to say it: Download Epoch 2000!

[indepat]

10. A blasphemy on America, the Constitution, the rule of law and we the people, yet tens of millions

of Amurikkkans still eat up the 'pukes every ruinous move, policy, war.

[seafan]

13. Meet new immigration judge Garry Malphrus, former member of Brooks Brothers Miami Riot team

Garry Malphrus, Monica's new immigration judge. He's Number 2 in the Brooks Brothers Miami Riot:






Story links here

Monica Goodling says she was given the green light to hire immigration judges based on their political qualifications. So how'd that happen? And who's been getting the gig?

.....

The last year profiled one of those judges, Garry Malphrus.

A former Republican aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Malphrus also worked on the White House's Domestic Policy Council before becoming a judge. But he really showed his stripes in 2000, when Malphrus joined other Republicans in making a ruckus (chanting, pounding on windows and doors) outside the Miami-Dade Elections Department -- the so-called "Brooks Brothers Riot" -- during the Bush-Gore recount.

Malphrus, of course, had no immigration experience when he got the job, McLure reports. He had that in common with a number of his peers, who had similar backgrounds...

[AzDar]

15. Kick!!

[BrklynLiberal]

16. It is disgusting and horrible, a disgrace to this country..but surprises me not.

the Neo-Cons and BushCo are so arrogant that they feel they can do ANYTHING and get away with it...and if something does not happen soon, they will have been proven right...

[WillyT]

17. K & R !!!

:kick:

[opihimoimoi]

18. Excellent Thread>>>> :o) K and R

:bounce: :toast: :beer:

Come, we go Anu....resecure...