It’s an accusation a spokesperson for the office vehemently denied. But the conflict is no longer being kept in the DOJ family; the president of that union recently filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, saying management requires too many people to come into the office, putting workers at risk of contracting Covid-19, the sickness caused by the novel coronavirus. Concerns in the office about worker safety were first reported by Government Executive.
Politico reports that Board of Immigration Appeals workers are complaining about their work conditions and potential exposure to the coronavirus including filing a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
At issue are working conditions in DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The office oversees America’s immigration courts — which are part of the Justice Department — and lawyers there handle appeals from immigrants fighting deportation orders. Those courts face a mammoth backlog of more than 1 million cases, by Syracuse University’s count. Despite hiring more immigration judges, the backlog has doubled under the Trump administration.