Bush Loyalists Hand-Picked As EOIR Immigration Judges
[Also by
Juan Mann:
09/20/04 – Fire Michael J. Creppy —DOJ`s $11.5 Million
Man!
03/09/04 – The EOIR`s other directive — White males
need not apply
05/04/04 – The Enemy Within [II]: A Treason Lobby Pro
Bono PR Office Inside EOIR!]
The
selection process for immigration judges at the
Department of Justice`s Executive Office for Immigration
Review (EOIR) has gone from one non-competitive extreme
to another over the past ten years – from "white
males need not apply"
to patronage appointments of
Bush Administration loyalists.
In the wake of an $11.5 million
class action lawsuit settlement against the DOJ/EOIR
for anti-white male discrimination in September, 2004,
it seems that immigration judge positions are now being
awarded without
public job announcement by the DOJ`s
Office of Attorney Recruiting and Management.
Perhaps to avoid further charges of
discrimination, the entire immigration judge selection
process has gone behind closed doors under the federal
government`s "Schedule A" hiring process.
The whole mess started because of
the DOJ/EOIR`s apparent multi-cultural zeal during the
Clinton Administration years—hire anyone but white
males.
But some of the bypassed candidates
refused to follow the "diversity"
script and sued.
In September, 2004, the DOJ
announced that, pending final approval by an
administrative judge of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), it would pay up to $11.5 million to
settle a class action
discrimination law suit filed by
white males who were bypassed for
immigration judge positions during 1994 and 1995.
Although the DOJ paid $11.5 million
of
taxpayer dollars to make the
discrimination lawsuit go away, it did not
specifically admit liability for discrimination. And
the man in charge of the hiring at the time—Chief
Immigration Judge
Michael J. Creppy, a 1994 Clinton
appointee—remains on the job today.
But Creppy`s hiring wings have
apparently been clipped. Republican forces higher up in
the food chain are now picking the immigration judge
candidates.
And, judging from the resumes of
the new hires, the candidates chosen are short on
down-in-the-trenches immigration experience—but long on
Bush Administration/ Republican Party loyalty.
Let`s meet three of the
EOIR`s newest immigration
judges:
-
Gary D.
Malphrus – EOIR immigration judge in
Arlington, Virginia.
According to his
biography in an EOIR
press release,
"[p]rior to
becoming an immigration judge, from 2001 to 2004, Judge
Malphrus served as associate director of the White House
Domestic Policy Council" . . . and "[f]rom
1997 to 2001, Judge Malphrus served as staff on the U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee and was chief counsel and
staff director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
on Criminal Justice Oversight."
But
Malphrus also just happened to have popped up in the
eye of the storm during the
2000 presidential election.
"Three members of the window-pounding crowd that on
Thanksgiving Eve helped persuade the Miami-Dade County
canvassing board to abandon the recount are now members
of the White House staff: Matt Schlapp, now a special
assistant to the president; Garry Malphrus, deputy
director of the president`s Domestic Policy Council; and
Joel Kaplan, also a special assistant to the President.
"Schlapp
and Malphrus, both of whom declined to talk to The
Herald, were first identified in 2000 in The
Washington Post as part of the Miami-Dade
demonstration. Kaplan described his role in a lecture
at the Harvard University Institute of Politics, calling
the demonstration the `Brooks
Brothers Protest,` a reference to the way the
demonstrators were dressed." ["Bush
Recount Troops Land Plum D.C. Jobs," by Carol
Rosenberg, July 14, 2002,
Miami Herald [pay archive].
-
James
A. Nugent – EOIR Immigration Judge in
Oakdale, Louisiana.
According to his
biography from an EOIR
press release,
"[f]rom July
2003 to February 2005, Judge Nugent was an examining
attorney for the Delta Title Corporation in New
Orleans. He was in private practice from December 2000
to July 2003 with the Law Offices of James A. Nugent and
was a special partner with
Deutsch, Kerrigan and Stiles, L.L. P., from June
1997 to December 2003, both in New Orleans."
Here`s the kicker. Nugent also
happens to be a member of the
Republican National Lawyers Association, which lists
him as
Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana.
-
Chris
A. Brisack – EOIR Immigration Judge in
Houston, Texas.
Strangely enough, Brisack`s
appointment has yet to be heralded with a
press release by the EOIR. But he does have a
biography on
Yahoo Finance & Reuters and a profile on
Forbes.com for his service on the
Board of Directors of
ATP Oil and Gas Corporation.
Brisack was also
appointed to the
Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission in
March, 2000, by then-Governor George W. Bush.
Former Governor Bush twice
named Brisack to his Honorary Inaugural Committee.
Brisack worked as an attorney and partner in the
law firm
Norquest and
Brisack, LLP in McAllen, Texas. He previously
served as legal counsel, "Candidate Recruitment
Committee Chair" and as elected chairman of the
Hidalgo County (Texas) Republican Party.
Well
there you have it. The spoils system is in effect for
Republican lawyers.
A
VDARE.com reader sent me these comments on the
non-competitive EOIR hiring situation via e-mail:
"I guess the [immigration judge] jobs are not
important enough to EOIR to insist on hiring attorneys
with experience in immigration law. How disheartening
it must be to ICE [Immigration and Customs
Enforcement]
Assistant Chief Counsels [the Department of
Homeland Security attorneys serving as prosecutors in
immigration court] to be in the position, after many
years of experience in Immigration Court, to be forced
to `train` the new political appointees."
Another VDARE.com reader e-mailed
me these insightful comments on the specter of Bush
Administration screening to make sure the candidates are
amnesty-friendly:
"Perhaps this is a move to get
[immigration
judges] who are
loyal to the party line and who will implement `compassionate
conservatism` and `family
values don`t stop at the Rio Grande.` Who knows if
they even have a plan?"
There`s
another unanswered question here: Why would a Republican
Party attorney or oil company executive want to make a
career change and do EOIR Immigration Court hearings all
day anyhow?
Being an EOIR immigration
judge isn`t exactly the most
prestigious federal government job in the world though.
And sorry, folks, working as a
black-robed attorney for the DOJ/EOIR—an executive
branch agency—is definitely not a "federal
judgeship."
As
always, it`s probably the money. EOIR immigration judge
salaries were listed over the past few years as $109,587
to $142,500 per year.
They`ll
probably find out what they`ve gotten into sooner or
later.
Now that the EOIR immigration
judges are being picked by stealth, we at VDARE.com are
going to keep an eye out for the new hires.
So to all of our readers: Be on
the lookout for stealth immigration judge appointments!
Be vigilant!
E-mail
Juan Mann to report any new politically-connected
judge sightings in an EOIR immigration court near you.
Juan Mann [send him
email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of
DeportAliens.com.


