Immigrant ARC Statement on the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022
Albany, NY; February 4, 2022 - Immigrant ARC (I-ARC) commends Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Hank Johnson (D-GA) for introducing the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022. This law would create an independent immigration court system under Article I of the Constitution, removing the influence of the Executive Branch. Currently, immigration courts are housed within the Executive Office of Immigration Review, under the Department of Justice. This structure leaves the immigration system vulnerable to partisan political calculations, undermining fairness and justice and causing process issues such as the years-long backlog in cases. With the introduction of this law, Congress has taken an important step towards addressing these systemic issues.
“Every four years immigrants are faced with the prospect of a drastically altered immigration system under a new President. They face partisan judges, a court system marred by process delays, and judgements that vary vastly between individual immigration courts. This law is an opportunity for the legislature to create an immigration system grounded in fundamental fairness by freeing immigration courts from political influence. We thank the legislature for taking up this issue and are ready to lend our support.”
Camille Mackler, Executive Director of Immigrant ARC
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Immigrant ARC is a collaborative of over 80 organizations and professional associations providing legal services to New York’s immigrant communities throughout the State. Born out of the legal effort at JFK Airport during the Muslim Travel Ban in 2017, our mission is clear: to mobilize New York State’s legal service providers by facilitating communication and information sharing to better support our immigrant communities; to organize and respond to issues as they arise by coordinating resources and fostering best practices among providers; and to resist and challenge anti-immigrant policies by shining a light on injustices and confronting inequalities faced by our communities in the legal system.
