Earlier this week, the National Association of Immigration Judges, a union representing immigration judges nationwide, said it had sent an email recommending courthouses post bilingual CDC-issued signs on coronavirus. The union was shocked when the acting chief immigration judge for the Executive Office for Immigration Review then sent an email directing that those posters come down, tweeting “EOIR has ordered immigration court staff to remove CDC posters designed to slow spread of coronavirus. No, this is not a parody account.”

“After the NAIJ tweet,” Warren and Markey write in their letter to the EOIR, “and hours after the Miami Herald reported on the directive to remove the posters, the Department of Justice contacted the newspaper and reportedly said ‘the signs shouldn't have been removed. It's now being rectified.’ But ‘[o]fficials declined to discuss why the email was sent in the first place, and who told the chief immigration judge to issue the directive.” While CNN had reported that Judge Ashley Tabaddor, the union’s president, “explained that generally judges are not supposed to post any personal items in the courtroom without approval,” the posters weren’t personal items—they were issued by a federal agency.

The union has also called on EOIR to suspend large immigration court hearings as a matter of public safety, saying “These master calendar dockets bring hundreds of people into close and extended contact with each other and with the Immigration Judges, interpreters, and court staff. This is exactly the type of situation the White House, CDC and other public health authorities urge us to avoid, and we trust that you will agree that it is untenable and irresponsible in light of the current spread of COVID-19 infections across the country.” The recommendations are there for the administration to take, but the continued stalling continues to show how little the administration values the lives of immigrants.

“It is past time for Executive Branch departments to prioritize public health considerations and make their decisions on the basis of recommendations from qualified authorities, such as the CDC, rather than restricting information and creating needless controversy,” Warren and Markey continue. “We therefore urge EOIR to require the posting of the CDC signage, in English and Spanish, as well as any other relevant languages, in courtrooms and waiting areas to raise awareness of COVID-19 and how to avoid transmitting and contracting it.”