Government attorneys representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement are now operating anonymously in immigration court cases, violating traditional legal transparency norms. In New York City, immigration judges have declined to identify these government lawyers, raising concerns among defense attorneys about the implications for justice. The practice has been described as bizarre and a lack of transparency. There is no formal policy mandating this anonymity, leaving the decision to individual judges, some of whom believe their safety may be compromised by public identification.
In the first case Judge ShaSha Xu said, "We're not really doing names publicly." But that's not really true. Because she *did* ID the immigrants before her in court and their lawyers.
Okun called it "bizarre" and Gonzalez Venegas said it was "a terrible lack of transparency on the part of officers of the court."
Judge James McCarthy was also spotted declining to identify government ICE attorneys on the record, instead using the dystopian moniker "Department" in open court.
Kowalski stated, "This is a very new and very disturbing turn of events. Where does it stop? Are the immigration judges going to be unnamed? Behind a screen?"
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