House Democrats on Thursday introduced a bill that would move the nation’s immigration courts out from under the Justice Department and into the federal judiciary, a reform that immigration judges say will help protect them from political interference.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., introduced the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act (H.R. 6577) to move the functions currently performed by the Executive Office of Immigration Review into a new court system in the judicial branch, akin to the U.S. Tax Court. The president would be responsible for appointing appeals judges subject to Senate confirmation to 15-year terms within the new court system, and those appeals judges would in turn appoint trial judges.
