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

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of problem. 63 Some of these stemmed from poor use of technology. On several occasions, when the document projector was broken, the judge just held documents up to the camera. Observers reported that immigrants squinted to see documents, but could not tell whether the immigrant could actually read the text. Likewise, immigrants had difficulties presenting paperwork to the judge: in one case, “the immigrant tried to show [the] judge documents, such as [a] newspaper article of him being tortured in Ghana and [a] letter requesting him in Hong Kong, but the Judge could not see.” Not having documents in court was the evidentiary problem most commonly noted by observers. Several attorneys likewise mentioned the inability to share important legal documents between the court in Chicago and the client at Broadview. If the immigrant needed an application or form, for example, the court could not simply hand it to him. One attorney explained: An efficient system of communication between Broadview and the court would improve things. Often times not everything will reach the detainee. We’ll say, ‘I’ll fax you later.’ The detainee will get 10 out of 15 pages and they are usually not complete. Some way to make all this simultaneous would help. Echoing a concern found in the literature on videoconferencing, the attorneys we interviewed worried that videoconferencing undermined the judge’s ability to assess the immigrant’s credibility. One attorney pointed out that split-second delays in the video transmission made the image “choppier” in a subtle way and made the immigrant appear less truthful. Others commented that emotions were less clearly communicated over videoconferencing. One attorney said, “Recently my client was nervous and his testimony came across as unreliable.” Other attorneys expressed the sense that judges 63 In seventeen, or 15.5%, of 110 hearings, immigrants experienced one or more evidentiary/testimonial problems. 45
were likely to feel more emotionally distant from and apathetic to an immigrant on a television screen. 64 This sense was seconded by at least one of our observers, who was alarmed by the degree of indifference displayed by judges and attorneys in videoconference hearings: 46 [The immigrant] was sobbing. She looked like she was a teenager. No one even noticed how stressed out she was. Everyone was stapling exhibits and passing papers, and then it was over. [The immigrant] was sobbing. She looked like she was a teenager. No one even noticed how stressed out she was. Everyone was stapling exhibits and passing papers, and then it was over. . . . No one explained why [the case] was being continued. Her usual attorney wasn’t there. It seems like her condition might have had more of an impact had she been in the courtroom, but no one even noticed her. The Role of Representation Over half of the immigrants observed were represented, 65 and we saw that whether an immigrant had an attorney or not had a statistically significant effect on the outcome of the hearing. Only 18% of represented immigrants received orders of removal, as opposed to 44% of those without representation. 66 Attorneys tended to perceive the plight of unrepresented immigrants in videoconference hearings as especially precarious. One lawyer explained, “Masters are mostly for attorneys, but if there is any interaction [between the court and the immigrant], the videoconferencing 64 For a discussion of the role of emotion in judging, see Martha C. Nussbaum, Emotion in the Language of Judging, 70 St. John’s L. Rev. 23, 27-28 (1996) (construing ADAM SMITH, THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS 21 (1976)). 65 The immigrants were represented in about 58% of the hearings that we observed; in 42% of the hearings, the immigrants did not have attorneys. 66 This difference is statistically significant at the .005 level
Page 1 and 2: Videoconferencing in Removal Hearin
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Organizations 3 Acknowledg
Page 5 and 6: Lisa Colpoys Executive Director Ill
Page 7 and 8: informed of what had happened only
Page 9 and 10: • Nearly 30% of those who had an
Page 11 and 12: Videoconferencing is increasingly b
Page 13 and 14: observations with respect to catego
Page 15 and 16: PART ONE An Overview of Court Video
Page 17 and 18: does not consider to be “punishme
Page 19 and 20: angles or screen size will distort
Page 21 and 22: PART TWO The Chicago Immigration Co
Page 23 and 24: Immigration law is arcane, often de
Page 25 and 26: At the Master Calendar hearing, the
Page 27 and 28: judge, printing and delivering noti
Page 29 and 30: conclusion of the hearing, when the
Page 31 and 32: Observed Hearings Staff at the Lega
Page 33 and 34: The results from these monitoring s
Page 35 and 36: In total, we conducted two intervie
Page 37 and 38: Observers witnessed problems caused
Page 39 and 40: Technical Problems at the Detention
Page 41 and 42: egularly witnessed attorneys and cl
Page 43 and 44: Table 4.2: Use of Interpreter and F
Page 45: The interpreter was located in the
Page 49 and 50: Graph 4.1: Rate of Removal among de
Page 51 and 52: PART FIVE Recommendations Downtown
Page 53 and 54: held in one jurisdiction and the co
Page 55 and 56: • EOIR should issue regulations b
Page 57 and 58: listens to the judge and non-Englis
Page 59 and 60: In other administrative hearings, s
Page 61 and 62: CONCLUSION Mandatory detention and
Page 63 and 64: Inadmissibility Grounds: The provis
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