General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsICE lawyers seeking anonymity in Immigration Courts
Article from The Intercept here: https://theintercept.com/2025/07/15/ice-lawyers-hiding-names-court/
......
Immigration courts, which are run by the Executive Office for Immigration Review- part of the executive branch, not the judiciary- are far less transparent than most courts. Their prosecutors work for ICE and DHS; they have no obligation to provide defense lawyers; and their judges are appointed and fired by the president.
On a Tuesday morning in late June, [Judge ShaSha Xu]... was running through several brief, preliminary hearings known as master calendars. Nationwide, these proceedings always start out the same way. An immigrant will appear with their attorney if they have the good fortune to retain one often on Webex. A judge presides at a big desk in an actual courtroom, in this case in lower Manhattan. An ICE lawyer represents the government in its attempts to deport the immigrant.
As each case commences, the judge recites their own name, followed by the immigrants name, the name of the immigrants attorney (if they have one), and finally, the name of the ICE lawyer. Its an on-the-record census that enables due process.
.....
Xu attributed the change to privacy because things lately have changed. Xu told Okun that he could use Webexs direct messaging function to send the ICE lawyer his email, and the ICE lawyer would probably respond with her own name and address. Okun accepted the arrangement.
Immigrants ,who often have been detained by unidentified masked men but are fortunate enough to get a smidgen of virtual due process via Webex, face cases brought by attorneys remaining anonymous to hide their shame in front of judges tolerated by the Trump administration as long as they meet high deportation-friendly goals.

no_hypocrisy
(52,349 posts)e.g., Complaint, Answer, Motions, Answers to Motions, Depositions, etc., should be rejected if they don't have the representing counsel's name on it for any reason.
Civil Procedure Rule 11. Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers; Representations to the Court; Sanctions
(a) Signature. Every pleading, written motion, and other paper must be signed by at least one attorney of record in the attorney's nameor by a party personally if the party is unrepresented. The paper must state the signer's address, e-mail address, and telephone number. Unless a rule or statute specifically states otherwise, a pleading need not be verified or accompanied by an affidavit. The court must strike an unsigned paper unless the omission is promptly corrected after being called to the attorney's or party's attention.
(b) Representations to the Court. By presenting to the court a pleading, written motion, or other paperwhether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating itan attorney or unrepresented party certifies that to the best of the person's knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances:
(1) it is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation;
(2) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law;
(3) the factual contentions have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, will likely have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; and
(4) the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on belief or a lack of information.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11
Without a name, how can a so-called attorney certify the veracity of the statements made?
hay rick
(8,895 posts)I expect that they have looser standards, and if they don't, they are in the process of rewriting, reinterpreting, or simply ignoring documentation standards.
SCantiGOP
(14,547 posts)The only step left is to have court proceedings held in closed settings with no public awareness.
hay rick
(8,895 posts)Also from the article:
As the Trump administration orders ICE to ramp up its removal operations, hundreds of immigrants to the United States are being arrested and beaten by people with their faces covered and no proof of who they are. Now, they may not know the names of the attorneys making the case to deport them, either.