March 09, 2004

The EOIR’s other directive -- White males need not apply

A 1995 civil rights class action lawsuit on behalf of white males against the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and its Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy has been settled for an undisclosed sum of taxpayer dollars, potentially in the millions.

An announcement that “the parties have reached an agreement in principle on a monetary settlement of this claim” appeared recently on the web site of the plaintiff’s law firm.

The suit alleges that Creppy – an employee of the U.S. Department of Justice who is black – systematically discriminated against over 150 white male applicants in the appointment of EOIR immigration judges nationwide. The suit was filed in 1995 on behalf of “white male applicants for employment not selected as Immigration Judges during 1994 and 1995.”

Having made headlines shortly after September 11, 2001, as author of the “Creppy directive,” the Chief Immigration Judge gained notoriety as a nemesis of the Treason Lobby for closing the Immigration Court removal hearings of terrorism suspects.

But ironically, Creppy’s public flogging by the Treason Lobby came to pass in spite of Creppy’s years of hiring an alien-friendly assortment of immigration judges, and apparently following another “Creppy directive,” that is – white males need not apply.

The discrimination case against Creppy was filed before the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) in Washington, D.C. The class action complainant, Lawrence D. Durnford is represented by attorney Mike Milligan of El Paso, Texas.

Durnford originally brought suit against Attorney General John Ashcroft because Creppy works as an agent of the U.S. Department of Justice. Because of the conduct of Creppy and his henchmen at the EOIR, the settlement of the suit could cost the taxpayers millions.

With the Department of Justice settlement now in the works, it’s high time for all the EOIR bureaucrats responsible for this travesty to be fired!

It’s also time for the Attorney General to investigate Creppy’s own conduct surrounding the entire employment discrimination claim . . . and to clean house at the EOIR starting at the top. As a holdover from the Clinton Administration, Creppy’s time at the EOIR has come and gone long ago.

As I’ve already written at length, for a multitude of policy reasons, the entire EOIR system deserves to be abolished. But now the admitted liability for employment discrimination – as well as the veil of mystery surrounding this most obscure of all Justice Department agencies – screams out that the EOIR desperately needs new management.

Please get well soon, Mr. Ashcroft!

Juan Mann [send him email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.