IJs & the Second Trump Administration
Scrolling the interwebs, I came across this article from The Guardian: ‘Everyone has a breaking point’: the immigration judges at the sharp end of Trump’s deportation drive. To be honest, it was the first words of the piece that really caught my attention: "David Koelsch, a former immigration judge based in Maryland..." What? That's immprof royalty right there. For new to the immprof world, David was a clinician at Detroit Mercy for over a decade (one of his many cool jobs, like asylum officer) before becoming an IJ. He also happens to be the partner of the fabulous Liz Keyes (U Balt).
The Guardian covers how David happened to be in Minneapolis on the day that Alex Pretti was killed by immigration agents. How David went to the scene to "bear witness" where he came upon a hefty show of force by the government and ended up tear gassed.
David told The Guardian:
“I was proud to do my part in protecting the country. But then to see these officers out in the streets, basically harassing civilians, I just felt kind of sad,” he said. “It just really repulsed me because they and I took the same oath. And I didn’t think they were living up to it.”
The remainder of the article covers the firing of IJs, their replacement by JAGs, the shipping of noncitizens to third countries. It considers how all of these things play a role in decisions made by those IJs still on the bench today.
