[8] EOIR adjudicates cases under a patchwork of immigration laws and regulations, including: In addition to these statutes, other federal statutes, agency regulations, and executive orders, federal courts also play an important role in immigration law.

Instead, the Department of Homeland Security initiates removal proceeding against a litigant; the immigration judge is employed by EOIR.

[23] The general counsel primarily provides legal guidance regarding precedential Board of Immigration Appeals and federal courts decisions and disseminates that information across EOIR.

[24] EOIR's Office of Policy (OP), created in 2017, is responsible for communications, data collection, and regulatory review.

[27] Some commentators have argued that the use of the power, instead of settling doctrine, has departed from agency procedures and practices, adjudicated issues not relevant to a particular case, and disrupted the development of circuit law by adopting the minority view.

[30] The president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, stated that the policy was an "unprecedented act which compromises the integrity of the court.

"[31] In February 2024 Bloomberg Law News reports the Department of Justice paid 1.2 million dollars to resolve a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge.

[32] This follows findings by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General in March 2022, September 2023 and January 2024 of Immigration Judges who violated the Departments zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment and the ethical rules applicable to Immigration Judges.

In January 2021, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Executive Office for Immigration Review had failed to prevent or appropriately respond to multiple instances of sexual harassment by judges and supervisors.

[34] A November 2019 report by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found that "senior managers" involved in the hiring of Immigration Judges had used a system of "code words" to rate "the attractiveness" of female candidates.