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Oh look, it's another unhinged speech by Beauregard on immigration—this time telling immigration judges that they must bend to his will rather than independently follow the rule of law. 1/ justice.gov/opa/speech/att… 
In the make-believe world of Beauregard, immigration law should be a Trump-like wall but instead is an "earthen dam," with dubious legal claims from crafty immigration lawyers "seeping" through. 2/
Obviously, this is nonsense. Immigration law does not block all people from seeking entry and admission to the United States in a wall-like fashion—to the contrary, many people have valid and perfectly legal claims to entry, admission, and relief from removal. By design. 3/
Immigration lawyers are not seeking "to get around" the law when they make claims on behalf of their clients. Rather, they are seeking to ensure that the government *follows* the law, that valid legal claims are heard and recognized. 4/
Sessions's swipe at immigration lawyers is just a milder, updated version of his previous assertion that asylum-seekers routinely make "false claims" at the behest of "dirty immigration lawyers"—which earned him three Pinocchios 🤥🤥🤥 5/ washingtonpost.com/news/fact-chec…
Beauregard's new assertion here isn't more true. He obviously would prefer that the immigration law provide no avenues for individuals to enter or remain in the United States if he thinks they should be deported, or to have fair hearings—but that's not how it works. 6/
He's now calling immigration lawyers "good," and describing them as acting with "talents and skill"—but clearly he doesn't mean any of that as a compliment. To the contrary, In his eyes, immigration lawyers are just "water seeping through an earthen dam." 7/
Which brings us to Sessions's view of immigration judges, the audience to which he is speaking. Far from valuing or even recognizing their roles as independent adjudicators, he sees them merely as subordinate flunkies who exist to do his bidding. 8/
In the make-believe world of Beauregard, he *is* the immigration law. 9/
The analogy Sessions makes here is a false but especially revealing one: he thinks the relationship between the Attorney General and immigration judges is akin to the relationship between a US Attorney and line AUSAs and other staff. No, no, and no. It doesn't work that way. 10/
Oh, and apparently if an immigration judge adheres to due process and procedural regularity, and gives time-intensive cases the time that they require, they're just lazy and insufficiently "professional," failing to remember that their job is "not a 9-to-5 one." 11/
You know what's not "professional," Beauregard? Interfering with the independence and integrity of immigration courts. Immigration judges are not your "mass deportation agents," to borrow @AvidehNILC's characterization of your actions and attitude. 12/
https://twitter.com/AvidehNILC/status/1025409194986483712
"Cases must be moved to conclusion"—Translation: be "imaginative and "inventive" in finding ways to put people on a deportation conveyor belt as quickly as possible, without regard to the strength and merit of their legal claims or the need for full and fair hearings. 13/
None of what Sessions says in this speech is surprising or even particularly new from him at this point—his commitment to lawlessness in immigration enforcement and agency adjudication has been pretty clear for a long while. 14/
https://twitter.com/kalhan/status/980953768996024320
Still, it is particularly jarring and troubling to see Sessions engage in his Immigration Judge Dredd shtick in front of an audience of brand new immigration judges themselves. Imagine the chilling effect on their decision-making. 15/
As @steve_vladeck noted last month, a key question remains whether federal judges will eventually push back when challenges to what is happening in immigration courts under Sessions make their way into Article III courts. 16/
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1024654870035554305
When the rule of law in immigration adjudication was severely tested under Bush, a number of federal judges did push back. This time, Republicans are rapidly cramming the courts with #TrumpJudges who may well end up faithfully supporting Trump's anti-immigration agenda. 17/
Also from Sessions's speech to new IJs: "The American people are good and just. They rightly want a lawful system they can be proud of." Pretty sure that a system in which refugee kids are abducted from their parents and thrown in baby jail doesn't fit the bill. 18/
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