WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday finalized a rule giving Attorney General Pam Bondi sweeping new authority to appoint virtually any attorney to serve as a temporary immigration judge — a sharp break from longstanding requirements designed to ensure expertise on the immigration bench.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the DOJ agency that oversees the nation’s immigration courts, announced the change on Wednesday in a final rule scheduled for publication in the Federal Register the following day.