Access to Justice, the Rule of Law, and Due Process in the US Immigration System: A Tribute to Juan Osuna

This paper introduces a special collection of papers on access to justice, the rule of law, and due process in the US immigration system. The collection honors Juan Osuna, a devoted public servant and former director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which is the agency in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that administers the Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and legal orientation, assistance, and representation programs. The collection consists of five articles published in the Journal on Migration and Human Security and six CMS essays, written by some of Osuna’s close colleagues and friends.

Section I provides a brief biography of Juan Osuna’s life, recites his titles and professional accomplishments, and outlines his views on some of the topics covered in the papers. The section draws heavily from two events that book-ended Osuna’s tenure as EOIR Director, which were organized by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). The first took place on February 16, 2012 and the second on July 18, 2017, just before Osuna’s untimely death at the age of 54 on August 15, 2017. This section also includes remembrances and reflections from Osuna’s colleagues at a November 15, 2018 event in Washington, DC, devoted to honoring his legacy.

Section II summarizes the 11 papers in this collection, which reflect Juan Osuna’s commitment to humanizing the law and its fair application to all. The papers examine and propose ways to strengthen:

• The nation’s response to large-scale migration.
• The US asylum system.
• The removal adjudication system.
• Immigration Court backlog reduction efforts.
• The treatment of survivors of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
• Due process for immigrants through legal representation.

Section III offers a concluding reflection on the rule of law, and Juan Osuna’s legacy in a time of political division and discord.

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