Legal group files complaint about Georgia immigration judges

ATLANTA – A legal advocacy group says immigration judges at a Georgia detention centre are breaking rules of professional conduct and violating the constitutional rights of detainees.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says it sent a letter Tuesday to the Executive Office of Immigration Review, a part of the U.S. Department of Justice that oversees immigration courts. The Department of Justice declined to comment.

The letter says immigration judges at the Stewart Detention Center routinely violate due process rights, have made comments that indicate prejudice against immigrant detainees and failed to show the necessary patience, dignity and courtesy.

Despite a previous complaint last year and the agency saying it had spoken to the judges, the law centre says its attorneys continue to observe due process concerns.