Immigration courts chief dinged for faulty budget projections

The Justice Department’s inspector general dinged the head of the immigration court system Tuesday for sending two warning emails to staff last year about looming budget cuts, saying he got it wrong and didn’t “effectively” communicate with his own budget folks.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said they found “weaknesses” in budget planning for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, and said EOIR Director James McHenry unnecessarily agitated both his staff and government budget personnel with his emails.

But the audit did clear EOIR of budget mischief regarding renovations at its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia.

Mr. Horowitz said Mr. McHenry warned interpreter costs would reach $110 million in 2019, and that would delaying computer upgrades and slowing hiring because it was so much more than they’d anticipated.

The inspector general said EOIR, when it began the budget process in 2017, should have known it would need more for interpreters in 2019. But the $110 million figure was inflated.

By March 2019, Mr. McHenry acknowledged that number was too high — but didn’t send a follow-up email to tamp down concerns, saying he got so much pushback from his first two messages.

EOIR, in its official response, said it has already begun to fix the budget planning process.

“We also expect that future budget requests will more accurately reflect EOIR’s needs,” wrote Kathryn Sheehey, EOIR’s chief management officer.