Thread: Decision to Close Reno Immigration Court Reversed

RENO IMMIGRATION COURT WILL REMAIN OPEN AFTER ALL

The Associated Press

Article Launched: 10/30/2008 02:08:06 PM PDT


RENO, Nev.—Responding to an outcry from immigration lawyers in northern Nevada, the agency in charge of operating the country's immigration courts reversed its decision Thursday to close the one in Reno.

Instead, the Reno court will remain open while officials try to set a system to conduct video teleconferences from the immigration court in Las Vegas as a way to cut costs.

"We are working with the Department of Homeland Security to implement video teleconferencing for cases located in Reno, a hearing location within a DHS facility," said Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, said, adding that teleconferences are "a cost-effective and efficient alternative to conducting hearings in person."

"In the interim, EOIR will continue the current practice of detailing immigration judges and staff to Reno to hear cases in person," she told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The change, made by top officials at the agency, was based on a review of the situation in Nevada, she said.

On Wednesday, the agency said it would no longer send Nevada's three immigration judges to Reno, and would conduct all hearings in Las Vegas instead. Komis said "ongoing budgetary limitations" had forced the change and said it was occurring at immigration courts across the country.

The news prompted an outcry from many of the region's immigration lawyers, who said that forcing their clients to travel to Las Vegas for deportatiion relief hearings would be difficult, costly, and time-consuming.
Woody Wright, a Reno lawyer who handles a large number of Reno's cases through Nevada Hispanic Services, said he was pleased with the change.

"It's very good news for all the people and their families in Northern Nevada," Wright said. "It would have been a major hardship for pretty much everyone involved in the court."

Jim Kelly, another busy Reno immigration lawyer, said "it was the right thing to do."

"I'm glad the Department of Justice recognized that this is a very serious matter and they are thinking about what needs to be done to ensure people can attend their hearings," he said, adding that the Reno court is busy enough to warrant having its own judge.

In Nevada, the immigration court is based in Las Vegas, but the agency in charge uses an office at the Department of Homeland Security in Reno to hear cases for Northern Nevada. Three immigration judges take turns traveling to Reno for a week at a time, about three weeks out of each month.

Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com

related at http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-136698-0.html

I only wished our government acted as swiftly and decisively for American citizens, as it does for illegal invaders and their lawyers!

Whatever!