EOIR Selects Four New Assistant Chief Immigration Judges

Introduction

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) selected four new assistant chief immigration judges on August 23, 2019. Assistant chief immigration judges oversee the operations of the immigration courts to which they're assigned. additionally to those oversight responsibilities, assistant chief immigration judges also hear cases.

Below, we'll provide biographical information about each of the new assistant chief immigration judges courtesy of the EOIR notice [PDF version]. Please see our topic index for all of our posts on new immigration judges, administrative immigration judges, and members of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) [see index].

New Assistant Chief Immigration Judges

The four new assistant chief immigration judges will each serve on one immigration court.

Theresa Holmes-Simmons, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Charlotte Immigration Court
2008-2019: Immigration judge at the Charlotte Immigration Court
1998-2008: Immigration judge at the ny City Immigration Court
1996-1998: Assistant district counsel for the previous Immigration and Naturalization Service in ny
1994-1996: Special prosecutor and assistant attorney general, ny state's attorney General's Office
1988-1994: Assistant DA with the ny County District Attorney's Office

Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University School of Law in 1988

Judge Holmes-Simmons served as an immigration judge on the ny City and Charlotte Immigration Courts for 21 years. before serving as an immigration judge and dealing as an attorney for the previous Immigration and Naturalization Service, Judge Holmes-Simmons worked for eight years as a prosecutor with the ny state's attorney General and therefore the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. She has an undergraduate degree from CUNY Brooklyn College.

Christopher R. Seppanen, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Detroit Immigration Court

2017-2019: Immigration judge at the Cleveland Immigration Court
2002-2017: law judge for the State of Michigan in Lansing, Michigan (2014-17 Chief law judge; 2012-2014 Deputy chief law judge; 2002-2012 Supervisory law judge)
1997-2002: law judge for the State of Michigan, in Manistee, Michigan
1996-1997: trial lawyer for the Office of Public Advocacy, in Alpena, Michigan

Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky School of Law in 1993

Before his two-year stint as an immigration judge on the Cleveland Immigration Court, Judge Seppanen served as an law judge in Michigan for 2 decades, giving him extensive experience during a sort of administrative judicial settings. he's the sole one among the new class of assistant chief immigration judges to be appointed to serve at a special immigration court than the one he had been serving on as a daily immigration judge. We covered his appointment as an immigration judge in an earlier post [see blog].

Hugo R. Martinez, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center
2018-2019: Immigration https://www.mislegal.org/ judge at the Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center
2010-2018: Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas
2005-2010: Assistant DA for the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office in Fort Worth , Texas
2004-2004: Private practice

Juris Doctor from Texas A&M School of Law in 2004

Judge Martinez served as a prosecutor at the Federal and State levels for 13 years before taking the immigration bench in November 2018. We covered his initial appointment as an immigration judge at the Fort Work Immigration Adjudication Center during a separate post [see blog].

Grady A. Crooks, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, LaSalle Immigration Court

2018-2019: Immigration judge at the LaSalle Immigration Court
2017-2017: Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana
2005-2016: Attorney for the U.S. Air Force during a number of locations
Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law in 2004

Save for one year as a Federal prosecutor, Judge Crooks' experience came as an attorney for the U.S. Air Force before taking the immigration bench at the LaSalle Immigration Court in late 2018. He was a part of an equivalent class of immigration judges as Judge Martinez (see above), and that we covered his initial appointment within the same post [see blog].