Immigration Law
Fired By Ashcroft, Hired By Holder: Guendelsberger Again Tapped for BIA
In a symbolic move, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made his first appointment to the nation’s highest immigration appeals panel.
His selection: John Guendelsberger, a former immigration law professor and eight-year veteran of the Board of Immigration Appeals who lost his seat in 2003 when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft fired him as part of an effort to streamline the panel and eliminate a sizable chunk of its membership, the Blog of Legal Times reports.
“Ashcroft said at the time he wanted to make the board more efficient, while immigration lawyers suspected an effort to increase deportations,” the legal publication writes.
Additional details are provided in a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
