Matthew Hoppock

FOIA and immigration law and dumb jokes

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

@DOJ_EOIR Jeez, EOIR used to be subtle about it. “Immigration Judge” quietly became “deportation judge.”
Now the hood is off. Mercado-Martinez. Lopez-Orellana.
IJs aren't allowed to apply the statute anymore. The appearance of due process is just theatre.

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

ICE has been lying for a year?

To their own attorneys?

And a federal judge?

About whether they can kidnap people at immigration court?

And now they’re just like “my bad”?

How do you not abolish this whole agency and start over?

[Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw]

Jaw-dropping DOJ admissions to court

DOJ admits repeatedly made "material mistaken" representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses!

DOJ admits court "relied on...prior misrepresentations"

DOJ blames ICE

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

The ABC settlement (American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh, 1991) was one of the largest immigration settlements in U.S. history. And it’s still binding: https://t.co/Gy0EjC2Zlq

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

This is real. Every Somali client I have in immigration court has now had their hearings cancelled and been transferred to the Somali docket. It's highly unconstitutional. But it's not the first time our government has tried. Here are two examples where courts rejected it. 🧵

[Ximena @Ximena_Bustillo]

SCOOP: Immigration courts rapidly scheduled and rescheduled Somali asylum seekers to have hearings suddenly within the next four weeks.
The move could fast-track their deportation and limit due process, multiple lawyers with over 100 cases affected tell me
https://t.co/CNgywMFXFq

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

Rather than litigate the case to a final judgment, the government settled in 1991.
The ABC settlement required:
- Reopening hundreds of thousands of asylum cases
- New, fairer asylum interviews
- Special procedural protections

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

@ReichlinMelnick I've got 8 of them. Every Somali I represent in immigration court. All had their hearings cancelled on the same day. All switched to the Louisiana ACIJ and have court now all on the same day in March.

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

@NicoletteGlazer That's not a picture from Kansas City USCIS btw.

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

TL;DR: EOIR is barely functioning. Almost every major leadership role is vacant or Acting: no regional chiefs, shrinking ACIJ corps, less judges, no OGC, no Policy director, no visible CIO, and OCAHO appears leaderless. Millions of cases, almost no one steering the ship.

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

There hasn't been much reporting on the absolute mess at EOIR (so much else going on), but it's genuinely frightening how hobbled this agency is. I've seen reporting on the judge firings and subtly racist IJ recruiting, but here's where we stand on the leadership vacuum at EOIR🧵

[Matthew Hoppock @MatthewHoppock]

Federal courts will feel this next. As IJs deny more cases without supervision and no OGC, as the BIA handles 200k+ appeals with 1/2 its members & leadership missing, the volume of defective decisions sent to the Circuits is going to explode.