Survey Finds Immigration Judges Test High for Psychological Stress
A study has found immigration judges face the same degree of psychological strain as hospital physicians and prison wardens.
Judges told researchers that they were stressed by a huge volume of cases, a shortage of law clerks and interpreters, failing computers and faulty reporting equipment, the New York Times reports.
The study said some immigration judges, stressed from hearing the cases of asylum seekers with post-traumatic stress, may have “compassion fatigue,” according to a press release.
Fifty-nine of the 96 immigration judges who participated in the survey took the time to write comments explaining the reasons they were discouraged. The study used a psychological scale for testing professional stress and exhaustion; nearly half the total number of immigration judges participated in the survey. The results, published in the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, are available for purchase at this link.
One judge wrote of the “drip-drip-drip of Chinese water torture” from court administrators demanding more and faster decisions. Another spoke of being so busy that “there is not enough time to think.”
The immigration system is run by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The department recently hired four new immigration judges and has plans to hire 24 more this year, the Times story says.
