U.S. Department of Justice

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Office of the Director
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2400
Falls Church, Virginia 22041

Contact: Office of Public Affairs

(703)305-0289, Fax: (703) 605-0365

Internet: www.usdoj.gov/eoir

IMMIGRATION JUDGE TAKES OATH OF OFFICE

IN BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTABLOOMINGTON, MN -- Kristin W. Olmanson will be sworn in today as an Immigration Judge during an investiture ceremony at 2:00 p.m., at the Immigration Court, 7850 Metro Parkway, Suite 320, Bloomington. Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy, from the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Falls Church, Virginia, will administer the oath of office.

Judge Olmanson joins the ranks of more than 200 Immigration Judges located in 52 Immigration Courts throughout the Nation. They are responsible for conducting formal administrative proceedings to determine whether foreign-born individuals who are charged with violations of Federal immigration law should be removed from the United States or granted relief from removal. Immigration Judges decide each case independently and their decisions are final unless appealed or certified to the Board of Immigration Appeals. In the past year, Immigration Judges completed more than 265,000 such proceedings. They are also authorized to administer oaths of citizenship to candidates for naturalization.

Judge Olmanson was appointed Immigration Judge in July 1999. She received a B.A. in 1985 from Gustavus Adolphus College, in St.Peter, Minnesota, and a J.D. in 1988 from William Mitchell College of Law, in St.Paul, Minnesota. Judge Olmanson served as an Assistant District Counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1996 to 1999. She worked as an Assistant Regional Counsel for INS in its regional office in the Twin Cities from 1991 to 1996. From 1990 to 1991, Judge Olmanson worked as an Assistant County Attorney for Dakota County in Hastings, Minnesota. She served as a Trial Attorney for INS in Seattle, Washington, from 1989 to 1990, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 1988 to 1989. Judge Olmanson is a member of the Minnesota Bar.

-EOIR-