Kaine and Durbin Slam Vote Allowing the Obliteration of Federal Immigration Appeals Process

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a former civil rights attorney, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, slammed the Senate's vote to allow the Trump-Vance Administration to make major changes to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) that would weaken due process and eliminate meaningful review of life-or-death decisions by immigration judges at the BIA:

"Due process is a cornerstone of the Constitution and American democracy. But today, the Trump-Vance Administration's allies in the Senate chose to toss it overboard in favor of siding with the Administration's brutal, inhumane immigration agenda that is tearing families apart and hurting our economy," said Kaine. "The final rule from the Justice Department will make it harder for asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution, families fighting separation, and hardworking immigrants who have been the victims of administrative errors to receive justice. Today, too many of my colleagues made the cynical calculation that avoiding getting on the Trump-Vance Administration's bad side was worth letting a major threat to our Constitution slide."

"Although framed as an efficiency measure, this rule makes dramatic changes to the Board of Immigration Appeals within the Department of Justice, severely limiting access to appellate review and making summary dismissal the default outcome in most cases, instead of the exception," said Durbin. "While I'm disappointed the vote to overturn this rule failed, we must continue to push back against the Administration's attacks on due process rights for immigrants."

###