A Tribute to Juan Osuna | Access to Justice, Due Process and the Rule of Law in the US Immigration System – Present Realities and a Vision for the Future

The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) hosted all-day event honoring the legacy of Juan P. Osuna, an exemplary public servant, lawyer, scholar and friend. As Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) at the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Juan oversaw the agency that houses the US immigration court system. Prior to joining EOIR, he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the DOJ. He also served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in DOJ’s Civil Division, where he was in charge of immigration-related civil litigation in the federal courts. Juan also served as Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the highest administrative tribunal on immigration law in the United States. Prior to his government service, Juan worked as a highly respected editor and partnered with a variety of agencies in the immigration community on many important projects.

The event included expert panels on a series of themes and issues of great importance to Juan, including: the rule of law in the immigration system; political asylum and protection of survivors of violence; due process; immigration court reform and management; and responding to large-scale migrant and refugee flows. The panels analyzed current policies and set forth a vision for the future. The event also included reflections by Juan’s former government colleagues on his contributions, legacy, and priority issues.

As a follow-up to this gathering, CMS will be posting and publishing a series of blogs, essays, talks, and papers in its Journal on Migration and Human Security on the issues of particular concern to Juan. These articles will ultimately be compiled in a special collection in his memory.

This program was approved for New York Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit for a maximum of 4.5 credit hours, of which 3.0 credit hours can be applied to the Professional Practice requirement and 1.5 credit hours can be applied to the Diversity, Inclusions and Elimination of Bias requirement. See agenda for specific CLE credits.