Bush admin hires hacks as immigration judges

[Spence]

Next time you see someone in the Bush admin going on about how important the immigration issue is, remember this article:

The Bush administration increasingly emphasized partisan political ties over expertise in recent years in selecting the judges who decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, despite laws that preclude such considerations, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.

At least one-third of the immigration judges appointed by the Justice Department since 2004 have had Republican connections or have been administration insiders, and half lacked experience in immigration law, according to Justice Department, immigration-court and other records.

Two newly appointed immigration judges were failed candidates for the U.S. Tax Court nominated by President Bush; one fudged his taxes and the other was deemed unqualified to be a tax judge by the nation's largest association of lawyers. Both were Republican loyalists.

Justice officials also gave immigration judgeships to a New Jersey election-law specialist who represented GOP candidates, a former treasurer of the Louisiana Republican Party, a White House domestic-policy adviser and a conservative crusader against pornography.
...
The Post analysis is the first systematic examination of the people appointed to immigration courts, the relationships that led to their selection and the experience they brought to their positions. The review, based on Justice records and research into the judges' backgrounds, encompassed the 37 current judges approved by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or his predecessor, John Ashcroft, starting in 2004.

That year is when the Justice Department began to jettison the civil-service process that traditionally guided the selections in favor of political considerations, according to sworn congressional testimony by one senior department official and a statement by the lawyer for another official.

Those two officials, Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling, have said they were told the practice was legal. But Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said immigration judges are considered civil-service employees who may not be chosen based on political factors.

Source

[BurgundyNGold]

Originally Posted by Spence

Next time you see someone in the Bush admin going on about how important the immigration issue is, remember this article:Source

Bush is a crony machine, man. Dems appoint "favorable" judges too (Clinton did, at least) but Bush is just over the top. I think he'd appoint a pez dispenser to the bench if it gave him $25K in 2004.

[WarEagle]

[quote=BurgundyNGold;968242]Bush is a crony machine, man. Dems appoint "favorable" judges too (Clinton did, at least) but Bush is just over the top. I think he'd appoint a pez dispenser to the bench if it gave him $25K in 2004.[/QUOTE]

LOL! Asked about the appointment of Judge Pez Dispenser, Bush replied "I know his heart."

[RedskinsDave]