EOIR Swears in Six New Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals

Introduction

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) held an investiture ceremony on August 23, 2019, to swear in six new members of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). All six new Board members were appointed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. In this post, we will list the new Board members and include biographical information on each from their profiles in the EOIR notice [PDF version].

Please see our index article for all of our posts on new immigration judges and BIA members [see index]. One of our posts includes the investiture of new Board Members Goodwin and Gorman as immigration judges in 2017 [see blog].

New BIA Members

The following are profiles on the six new BIA members.

William A Cassidy, Board Member

• 1993-2019: Immigration Judge appointed by former Attorney General Janet Reno (New York, New York 1993-96; Atlanta, Georgia 1996-2019)
• 1992-1993: Private practice
• 1987-1992: General attorney and director of training at the former Immigration and Naturalization Service
• 1981-1987: Local prosecutor
• Juris Doctorate from John Marshall/Cleveland State University in 1980

Board Member William Cassidy served as an immigration judge for 26 years, giving him the most experience on the immigration bench of the six new Board members. He had previously worked as a lawyer for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service for five years.

V. Stuart Couch, Board Member

• 2010-2019: Immigration Judge appointed by former Attorney General Eric Holder (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• 2009-2010: Private practice
• 2006-2009: Senior appellate judge on the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in the District of Columbia
• 2003-2006: Assigned to the Department of Defense, Office of Military Commissions as a senior prosecutor for select detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
• 2001-2003: Chief trial counsel and military justice officer for Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
• 1999-2001: Local prosecutor
• 1996-1999: Chief trial counsel and special assistant U.S. attorney at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point North Carolina
• 1989-1993: Marine Corps pilot
• Juris Doctor from Campbell University in 1996

Board Member V. Stuart Couch spent the previous nine years as an immigration judge at the Charlotte Immigration Court. Most of his prior experience came as a military judge and lawyer, including stints as a military appellate judge and as a prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay.

Deborah K. Goodwin, Board Member

• 2017-2019: Immigration judge appointed by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch (Miami, Florida)
• 2015-2017: Associate legal advisor for the District Court Litigation Division, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in the District of Columbia
• 2007-2015: Associate counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, in San Francisco
• 2002-2007: Assistant chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security (and former Immigration and Naturalization Service) in San Francisco
• Juris Doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 2000

Board Member Deborah K. Goodwin's experience comes primarily from her work as an attorney for several immigration components of the Department of Homeland Security from 2002-2017. Prior to being selected as a Board Member, she served a two-year stint as an immigration judge at the Miami Immigration Court.

Stephane E. Gorman, Board Member

• 2017-2019: Immigration judge appointed by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch (Houston, Texas)
• 2014-2017: Attorney and legal instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, for the Office of Chief Counsel, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security
• 2008-2014: Assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security
• 2009-2012: Special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, Department of Justice, in Orlando, Florida
• 2007-2008: Judicial law clerk for Judge M. James Lorenz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, San Diego
• 2007-2007: Judicial law clerk for Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, San Diego
• 2006-2007: Local prosecutor
• 2003-2006: Various capacities at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law
• Juris Doctor from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2002, Master of Laws from the University of San Diego School of Law

Board Member Gorman worked as an attorney in various capacities for the immigration components of the Department of Homeland Security for nearly a decade before beginning her short stint as an immigration judge on the Houston Immigration Court. In addition to her experience with immigration agencies, she has worked briefly as a prosecutor, Federal judicial law clerk, and law professor.

Keith E. Hunsucker, Board Member

• 2010-2019: Immigration judge appointed by former Attorney General Eric Holder (2017-2019 Cleveland, Ohio; 2010-2017 Port Isabel, Texas)
• 2000-2010: Senior instructor for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Legal Division, Department of Homeland Security, in Glynco, Georgia
• 1992-2000: Attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in Atlanta
• 1989-1992: Attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in Harlingen, Texas
• 1989-1989: Judicial law clerk for the Ohio Court of Appeals, 9th Judicial District
• 1988-1989: Private practice
• 1987-1988: Attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Attorney General's Honors Program, in San Francisco
• Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law in 1987

Board Member Hunsucker has over three decades of experience as an immigration judge and lawyer in various capacities in the Department of Homeland Security and former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Earle B. Wilson, Board Member

• 2005-2019: Immigration judge appointed by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Atlanta, Georgia 2010-2019; Orlando, Florida 2007-2010; Miami, Florida 2005-2007)
• 1998-2004: Senior litigation counsel and trial attorney with the Office of Immigration Litigation, Department of Justice, in the District of Columbia
• 1996-1998: Assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland
• 1992-1996: Senior counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission in the District of Columbia
• 1990-1992: Private practice
• 1989-1990: Judicial law clerk to Judge Joseph W. Hatchett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Tallahassee, Florida
• Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law in 1989

Prior to his 14-year stint as an immigration judge, Board Member Wilson had a variety of experience in legal capacities, including serving as a Federal prosecutor and attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is the only new Board Member to have clerked for a Federal appellate judge.

Conclusion

The BIA hears appeals from immigration courts across the country and issues a number of important precedential decisions every year [see index]. For this reason, the new Board Members will be important to the interpretation of the immigration laws for years to come. All six have served previously as immigration judges, and most have extensive prior experience with the various immigration components of the Federal government.

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