One would wonder about the legality of these 'hearings' with the judges remotely logging in from other states?? Generally, a judge cannot rule on cases or hearings outside their state's jurisdiction/territory.

Lynda

************************

Snip

MINNEAPOLIS — The Fort Snelling Immigration Court is holding expedited online hearings, largely in secret, for Somali nationals with asylum claims.

Nicknamed the “rocket docket” by attorneys and court observers, the only public notice of these hearings is a sheet of paper pinned to a board each day in the lobby of immigration court in the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. The dockets are often incomplete or inaccurate.

Everyone appears for the hearings remotely and observers are rarely allowed. While the immigrants who are the subject of the proceedings are in Minnesota, the judges and government attorneys are in other states.

The practice is the latest example of the diminishing transparency in courts operated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review since President Donald Trump returned to office promising mass deportations. At Fort Snelling, courtrooms are often locked, dockets are redacted and observers are restricted, contrary to federal law stipulating most hearings be open to the public.

Suleiman Adan, deputy executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said immigration officials have not provide an explanation about fast-tracked online hearings for Somali refugees. He noted that family members are unable to observe the hearings.

“When hearings are expedited, families lose the ability to hire counsel and gather evidence,” Adan said. “It is a due process issue.”

The Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday, March 12, challenging the “increasingly restrictive limitations on public access to immigration court proceedings” at the Whipple Federal Building. It names Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Executive Office for Immigration Review — part of the Department of Justice — and the chief immigration judge.

“Federal law is clear: Immigration court hearings are open to the public,” Michele Garnett McKenzie, executive director of the Advocates for Human Rights, said in a statement. “When the government closes the courthouse doors without a valid basis, it undermines the transparency that is essential to the rule of law.”

more on link below