Immigration Judges Accuse DOJ of Undermining Independence

Immigration judges are accusing the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions of undermining a Philadelphia judge’s independence by having cases removed from his court, apparently because he was too slow to issue deportation orders.

The judge’s union filed the grievance Wednesday.

The grievance stems from a case of a Guatemalan immigrant who had come to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor and had missed several court hearings.

Judge Steven A. Morley had suspended the case to examine whether proper notice had been sent to the man. The agency then reassigned the case to a supervisory judge who traveled from Virginia to hear the matter and issued a deportation order.

The union says dozens of additional cases were also removed from Morley.

The Justice Department wasn’t immediately available to comment.