by
Michael
M.
Santiago/Getty
Images)
Masked
ICE
agents
are
only
the
start
of
the
assault
on
government
transparency.
Now,
government
attorneys
that
are
arguing
to
deport
immigrants
are
doing
so
in
secret.
The
Intercept
reports
on
two
separate
instances
immigration
judges
in
New
York
City
declined
to
identify
the
government
attorneys
for
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement.
In
the
first
case
Judge
ShaSha
Xu
said,
“We’re
not
really
doing
names
publicly.”
But
that’s
not
really
true.
Because
she
*did*
ID
the
immigrants
before
her
in
court
and
their
lawyers.
It
was
only
the
government
attorney
that
operated
anonymously
—
in
contravention
of
every
custom
of
the
legal
profession.
The
attorneys
arguing
against
the
nameless
agent
of
the
government,
Jeffrey
Okun
and
Hugo
Gonzalez
Venegas
in
separate
cases,
were
shocked
by
the
development.
Okun
called
it
“bizarre”
and
Gonzalez
Venegas
said
it
was
“a
terrible
lack
of
transparency
on
the
part
of
officers
of
the
court.”
The
identity
of
the
government
attorney
was
revealed
to
the
attorneys
through
private
messaging.
And
Gonzalez
Venegas
identified
her
as
Cosette
Shachno.
Judge
James
McCarthy
was
also
spotted
declining
to
identify
government
ICE
attorneys
on
the
record,
instead
using
the
dystopian
moniker
“Department”
in
open
court.
And
it
could
even
get
worse:
“This
is
a
very
new
and
very
disturbing
turn
of
events,”
said
Daniel
Kowalski,
a
former
longtime
immigration
attorney
who
now
edits
the
legal
journal
Bender’s
Immigration
Bulletin
for
LexisNexis.“Where
does
it
stop?”
asked
Kowalski.
“Are
the
immigration
judges
going
to
be
unnamed?
Behind
a
screen?”
According
to
another
immigration
judge,
Shirley
Lazare-Raphael,
there
is
no
formal
policy
directing
judges
to
anonymize
ICE
attorneys
on
the
record.
“It’s
up
to
the
judges
whether
or
not
they
want
to
do
it,”
she
said.
She
also
noted
some
ICE
attorneys
believe
it’s
“dangerous
to
state
their
names
publicly.”
Cue
the
eye
rolls.
That’s
the
same
tired
excuse
ICE
agents
are
using
to
conduct
masked
raids,
when
really
it’s
being
identified
with
the
controversial
and
harmful
“mass
deportations”
of
the
Trump
administration
that’s
the
issue.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].