There will be some relief for the backlogged immigration courts of Houston in October when a new supervisor arrives in the form of Atlanta’s John R Doolittle II. He will take the post of Houston Immigration Court’s new assistant chief immigration judge.
Last week, Doolittle was sworn in with 45 other new immigration judges in what was the Department of Justice’s biggest investiture in immigration judges, a press release states. Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General of the US, appointed Doolittle, who will begin hearing cases next month. Sessions told the new judges at the ceremony that their work was particularly important at this moment in history, requiring great effort to ease the backlog of cases, which is now more than 760,000.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has added 30% more immigration judges since the beginning of last year. They expect a further two graduating classes of new judges later in the year, the press release adds. Over new 100 judges will have been recruited by the end of this year.
In 2017, Doolittle retired from his position as a Colonel and judge advocate in the US Army, having worked in several places, including Fort Knox in Kentucky, Florida’s Naval Air Station Pensacola, Parwan in Afghanistan, and Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson, both of which are in the state of Georgia.