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Government lawyers are hiding their names and faces in immigration court and judges are letting them
(The comments are from a social media lawyer. I didn’t post the link because my links are often removed by the algorithms I believe due to traffic upticks ... but there’re plenty of articles about the important issue. I have one link from Salon below.)
Court will call a case, take appearances but skip the government lawyer. They get to stay silent and faceless. This is a total double standard.
I represent human beings. For each case I have to file a form that has my full name, bar number, address, e-mail and phone and then I have to stand up in court and own every word that I say under my name. If I were to refuse to state my name for a case, the judge would toss me out. Yet, the attorney asking to deport a mother or send children to a concentration camp can just lurk anonymously.
Names matter. Accountability matters. Keeping a record matters. If I can't name the lawyer who is across from me then I can't hold anyone accountable for what they do or say. An unnamed prosecutor can misstate facts, stall a case, threaten consequences and then just disappear back into the bureaucracy. That's how power slips free of review and why are they doing this. They're ashamed. They aren't going after dangerous criminals. They're locking up gardeners and farmers, moms and college kids.
If you were truly proud to enforce Trump's mass deportation machine you would say your name for the record. And you can spare me the privacy or safety excuses. Immigration hearings are not open public galleries. Most people can't just walk in. You have to have an ID to even get into the courtroom. You have to sit in a virtual waiting room and you have to identify yourself before you're admitted. Respondents’ families, interpreters, observers, they all have to give names. And we also have privacy and safety concerns. But the only person who is shielded is the government official.
Authoritarian systems start in small dark rooms where the State punishes people and no one is accountable. Don't let them surprise you with this tactic.
Here's what to say: Your Honor I object to moving forward because the government has not identified this council on the record. I am required to identify myself fully and I have done so. The government must be held to the same standard. Without a named government attorney, we cannot serve filings to an individual, confer about evidence or preserve an accurate record for appeal proceedings. An anonymous prosecutor denies my client the full and fair hearing that due process requires. It also guts the basic confrontation principle at the heart of any adversarial proceeding. We can't test statements. We can't seek sanctions or build a clean record against an attorney who has no name. The court should direct government council to state their name for the record. If the government claims legitimate safety concerns, then the respondent requests that the court take the name on camera or under seal and ensure prompt service on respondents counsel.
Secret prosecutors are completely unacceptable.
I represent human beings. For each case I have to file a form that has my full name, bar number, address, e-mail and phone and then I have to stand up in court and own every word that I say under my name. If I were to refuse to state my name for a case, the judge would toss me out. Yet, the attorney asking to deport a mother or send children to a concentration camp can just lurk anonymously.
Names matter. Accountability matters. Keeping a record matters. If I can't name the lawyer who is across from me then I can't hold anyone accountable for what they do or say. An unnamed prosecutor can misstate facts, stall a case, threaten consequences and then just disappear back into the bureaucracy. That's how power slips free of review and why are they doing this. They're ashamed. They aren't going after dangerous criminals. They're locking up gardeners and farmers, moms and college kids.
If you were truly proud to enforce Trump's mass deportation machine you would say your name for the record. And you can spare me the privacy or safety excuses. Immigration hearings are not open public galleries. Most people can't just walk in. You have to have an ID to even get into the courtroom. You have to sit in a virtual waiting room and you have to identify yourself before you're admitted. Respondents’ families, interpreters, observers, they all have to give names. And we also have privacy and safety concerns. But the only person who is shielded is the government official.
Authoritarian systems start in small dark rooms where the State punishes people and no one is accountable. Don't let them surprise you with this tactic.
Here's what to say: Your Honor I object to moving forward because the government has not identified this council on the record. I am required to identify myself fully and I have done so. The government must be held to the same standard. Without a named government attorney, we cannot serve filings to an individual, confer about evidence or preserve an accurate record for appeal proceedings. An anonymous prosecutor denies my client the full and fair hearing that due process requires. It also guts the basic confrontation principle at the heart of any adversarial proceeding. We can't test statements. We can't seek sanctions or build a clean record against an attorney who has no name. The court should direct government council to state their name for the record. If the government claims legitimate safety concerns, then the respondent requests that the court take the name on camera or under seal and ensure prompt service on respondents counsel.
Secret prosecutors are completely unacceptable.
https://www.salon.com/2025/07/15/spineless-creeps-ice-lawyers-are-hiding-their-names-in-court/