The Biden administration’s interim pick to run the nation’s immigration court system started her new job Sunday.
A Justice Department biography for Jean King says she began working at the Executive Office for Immigration Review about 25 years ago.
King becoming acting director sparks optimism for good relations with leadership, said Dana Leigh Marks, executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.
“We believe that that past experience has given her a perspective into the challenges that face judges,” she said.
The Trump administration fought to strip collective bargaining rights from the immigration judges union.
Marks said judges were pressured to value quantity over quality in deciding cases. King’s experience level gives her hope that the agency will start to change.
King replaces James McHenry, who took over the Executive Office for Immigration Review in 2017. He’ll be remembered for putting limits on immigration judges to make them rule on cases as quickly as possible, said Sarah Pierce, policy analyst with the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
“And he accomplished his goal. The speed of immigration court proceedings increased significantly during the Trump administration, as did the number of removal orders issued,” she said.
Pierce said the agency’s focus on speeding up the system raised major concerns that it had sacrificed fair treatment of migrants.
