Immigration Courts: Actions Needed to Address Workforce, Performance, and Data Management Challenges
Fast Facts
Immigration judges at the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review hold hearings to decide whether foreign nationals may be removed from the U.S.
Despite our 2017 recommendation to develop a strategic workforce plan to address current and future staffing needs, EOIR hasn't done so—even though it had a significant and growing backlog of 1.8 million pending cases at the start of FY 2023, more than triple the number that it had in FY 2017.
The office also doesn't have assigned roles and responsibilities to guide its workforce planning efforts.
We recommended that EOIR improve workforce planning and other management practices.
Pending Cases in Immigration Courts, FYs 2017–2022
Highlights
What GAO Found
Within the Department of Justice, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is responsible for conducting immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and other hearings to interpret and administer U.S. immigration laws and regulations. EOIR has taken steps to improve its management practices since GAO's 2017 report but continues to face several challenges. Specifically:
- Workforce planning. EOIR has taken some steps to improve its workforce planning—a systematic process to align an agency's human capital with its mission needs and goals—but its practices do not fully align with GAO-identified key principles for strategic workforce planning.
- As of January 2023, EOIR had not yet developed a strategic workforce plan or set workforce planning goals. In 2017, GAO recommended that EOIR develop and implement a strategic workforce plan that addresses the key principles of workforce planning—such as identifying critical skills, developing strategies to address skills gaps, and monitoring progress—to better position EOIR to address current and future staffing needs. GAO maintains that developing and implementing a strategic workforce plan would better position EOIR to address current and future staffing needs.
- In June 2022, EOIR signed a contract with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to help develop workforce planning processes. However, EOIR does not have a governance structure—consisting of assigned and documented roles and responsibilities—to guide its workforce planning efforts and hold leadership accountable for progress on workforce goals. Given its longstanding challenges in this area, EOIR does not have reasonable assurance that it will make the investments necessary to implement the results of the contract. Establishing a documented governance structure for workforce planning would better position EOIR to institutionalize improvements moving forward.
- Immigration judge performance appraisal program. EOIR evaluates how immigration judges perform their duties but has not evaluated its overall judge performance appraisal program. For example, in recent years, EOIR has revised the criteria against which it evaluates judges. But, it has not assessed whether they or their supervisors are satisfied with the program's equity, utility, and accuracy, consistent with OPM guidance. Implementing a process to periodically evaluate its performance appraisal program for judges can better position EOIR to determine the program's effectiveness.
- Data quality. EOIR reports various immigration case data to the public and takes some steps to ensure such data are accurate and reliable, such as running regular reports on the data to identify and address any anomalies. However, EOIR does not have updated guidelines for reporting quality information—information that is secure, objective, and useful—to the public. Developing such guidelines could further ensure that EOIR consistently provides the public with accurate, reliable immigration data.
Why GAO Did This Study
Each year, EOIR issues decisions for hundreds of thousands of cases of foreign nationals charged as removable under U.S. immigration law. EOIR is facing a significant and growing backlog of cases pending before the immigration courts. At the start of fiscal year 2023, EOIR's backlog was about 1.8 million pending cases—more than triple the number of pending cases at the start of fiscal year 2017. In 2017, GAO reported on EOIR's management practices, including how it manages and oversees workforce planning and immigration judge hiring.
GAO was asked to review various EOIR management functions, including actions taken since GAO's 2017 report. This report assesses, among other things, EOIR's (1) workforce planning practices; (2) judge performance appraisal program; and (3) policies and procedures for reporting quality data to the public. GAO analyzed EOIR staffing data from fiscal years 2017 through 2022—the most current data available. GAO reviewed EOIR documentation and interviewed officials from headquarters and four immigration courts selected to include different caseloads, among other factors.
Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations to improve, among other things, EOIR's workforce planning, judge performance appraisal program management, and data quality practices. EOIR identified ongoing and planned steps to address these recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should develop a schedule, including target time frames, for completing EOIR's strategic plan. (Recommendation 1) |
Open
EOIR reported to GAO that it planned to finalize a draft of its 2024-2028 Strategic Plan in October 2023, after which the draft will enter the departmental clearance process. EOIR noted it does not control the clearance of the strategic plan at the department level but will provide GAO with updates on its progress. To fully address this recommendation, EOIR should create a schedule, including target time frames, for completing EOIR's strategic plan.
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| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should involve key leadership and stakeholders in establishing a documented governance structure for workforce planning that includes:
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Open
In October 2023, EOIR reported to GAO that it expects deliverables from its contract with the Office of Personnel Management by December 2023. As we reported, OPM was to assess EOIR's current workforce and develop a vision for the future of its workforce; conduct workshops with EOIR leadership on workforce principles and best practices; and work with EOIR to design policies and procedures for a regular and repeatable workforce planning process. According to EOIR, its Office of Administration is managing the contract, with the Human Resource Office serving as the program coordinator. EOIR anticipates using this partnership as the operational foundation for a permanent workforce planning framework. To fully address this recommendation, EOIR leadership should document a governance structure for workforce planning that includes assigned and documented roles and responsibilities and measurable and observable targets and metrics.
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| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should take additional steps to communicate clear information to Congress as a part of its annual budget justification regarding EOIR's workforce needs and the extent to which its existing appropriations support its total reported positions. (Recommendation 3) |
Open
In October 2023, EOIR reported to GAO that it is taking steps to clarify its workforce needs. For example, EOIR reported it is seeking to realign its reported positions in its fiscal year 2025 budget submission to a more realistic portrait of what additional resources the agency needs to execute its mission. GAO will continue to monitor EOIR's steps to communicate clear information to Congress as a part of its annual budget justification.
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| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should implement a process to evaluate, on a periodic basis, the performance appraisal program for adjudicative staff (immigration judges, assistant chief immigration judges, and appellate immigration judges), consistent with OPM guidance. (Recommendation 4) |
Open
In October 2023, EOIR reported to GAO that it plans to conduct a periodic review of the performance appraisal program. To do this, EOIR will charge an Office of Administration advisory board with responsibility for reviewing and updating the efficacy of performance plans and evaluating if the core competencies in the performance plans continue to be relevant and consistent with agency priorities. Further, EOIR plans to incorporate this periodic evaluation into EOIR's strategic plan. To fully implement this recommendation, EOIR should document the process by which it will conduct a review of the performance appraisal program, whether in the strategic plan or elsewhere, and carry out its first review.
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| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should develop guidelines for disseminating quality information to the public, including documenting EOIR's standards and procedures for information quality, consistent with DOJ and OMB guidance. (Recommendation 5) |
Open
In October 2023, EOIR reported to GAO that it will work to create a publicly available repository to hold and organize the standards and procedures for information quality. EOIR noted it is evaluating current information quality standards and procedures to inform the agency's ultimate guidelines. To fully address this recommendation, EOIR should develop guidelines for disseminating quality information to the public, including documenting EOIR's standards and procedures for information quality, consistent with DOJ and OMB guidance.
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| Executive Office for Immigration Review | The Director of EOIR should develop and implement a process to regularly reassess, using quantitative and qualitative methods, whether Judicial Tools is meeting the needs of its users. (Recommendation 6) |
Open
In October 2023, EOIR reported to GAO that it plans to assess the user experience with Judicial Tools and has taken steps in this regard. For example, EOIR stated it regularly engages with the user community in the form of a Judicial Tools Working Group, which includes immigration judges and court staff. EOIR also monitors critical infrastructure components such as networking, servers, and other equipment to make sure that anticipated increases in the Judicial Tools workload can scale without performance degradation. To fully address this recommendation, EOIR should develop and implement a process to regularly reassess whether Judicial Tools is meeting the needs of its users.
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