Immigration Newsmaker: A Conversation with EOIR Director James McHenry

Tackling the Immigration Court Backlog

By CIS on April 19, 2018

Contact: Marguerite Telford
202-466-8185, [email protected]

James McHenry, Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), was featured in an Immigration Newsmaker conversation hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies on Tuesday, May 1 at the National Press Club.

Video: https://cis.org/Video/Immigration-Newsmaker-Conversation-EOIR-Director-…

Transcript: https://cis.org/Transcript/Immigration-Newsmaker-Conversation-EOIR-Dire…

Edited video and a transcript will be available by Friday, May 4.

EOIR is part of the Department of Justice and home to the nation's immigration courts. McHenry, a Justice Department veteran who was appointed permanent EOIR director in January, is the point man for the effort to restore timely and efficient adjudication of immigration cases in the face of a tremendous case backlog, which more than doubled from 2006 to 2015. The administration's goal is to cut the pending caseload in half by 2020.

The conversation was be moderated by Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current Resident Fellow in Law & Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.


The Immigration Newsmaker series provides an opportunity for government agency heads, members of Congress, and other policymakers to discuss their priorities and explore the challenges they face. The events, held at the National Press Club, are seated, on-the-record conversations between the guest and a member of the CIS staff.