Videoconferencing in Removal Hearings: A Case Study of the ...

The results from these monitoring sheets were analyzed using SPSS statistical
software. Chi-square tests were used to compare outcomes of different groups, and
differences were considered statistically significant if they had a p-value of .05 or less. 52
Interviews with Attorneys
Observers recorded the names of the attorneys representing immigrants, and of
these, we randomly selected seventeen to contact for interviews. Volunteers contacted
these attorneys and explained that we were conducting a study identifying the strengths
and weaknesses of videoconferencing in detained Master Calendar hearings. Fourteen
attorneys consented to give interviews, each of which lasted between 15 and 40 minutes.
Ten of these attorneys worked at private firms, and four worked at nonprofit legal
organizations. All attorneys interviewed had represented immigrants in two or more
videoconference hearings.
We used a semi-structured interview technique: that is, interviewers asked all of
the listed questions and encouraged attorneys to elaborate on responses during the
interview. 53 Interviewers asked attorneys for their general impressions about the use of
videoconferencing in immigration court. Interviewers then asked about the occurrence
and severity of technical, interpretation, access to counsel, and evidentiary/testimonial
complications. After approximately half of these interviews were completed, we revised
the interview schedule to include specific questions about the potential strengths of
52 Statistical significance means that the differences observed between two categories are sufficiently
substantial and consistent so that it is highly unlikely that the observed differences are random. For
example, there is a statistically significant difference in the likelihood of removal between represented
detainees and unrepresented detainees at the .05 level. This means that there is at least a 95% probability
that the different rates in removal that we observed in our study reflect a real difference in rates of removal
for unrepresented detainees compared to represented detainees in general.
53 See Appendix H for the interview schedules.
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