Attorney General Holder Announces Appointment of Juan Osuna as Director for the Executive Office for Immigration Review

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of Juan Osuna as the permanent Director for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) at the Department of Justice.

“Having served with the department for over a decade, Juan has developed an extensive knowledge of immigration litigation and issues, and demonstrated himself to be a diligent and thoughtful advocate and manager,” said Attorney General Holder. “I am confident he will lead this office with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and dedication.”

EOIR was created on Jan. 9, 1983, through an internal department reorganization which combined the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) with the Immigration Judge function previously performed by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (now part of the Department of Homeland Security). The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer was added in 1987.

EOIR is headed by a director who is responsible for the supervision of the Chairman of BIA, the Chief Immigration Judge, the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer and all agency personnel. EOIR has more than 1,300 employees in its 59 immigration courts nationwide, at the BIA and at EOIR headquarters in Falls Church, Va.

“I am honored by the Attorney General’s appointment and look forward to continuing to serve the department and the American people on these important issues,” Osuna said. 

Osuna has served as Acting Director of EOIR since December 2010.   Prior to that, he worked as an Associate Deputy Attorney General focusing on immigration policy, Indian country matters, pardons and commutations and other issues. Before joining the Deputy Attorney General’s office, he worked as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the department’s Civil Division, where, in addition to handling immigration policy, he also oversaw civil immigration-related litigation in the federal courts.  Previously he served as chairman of the BIA.  He was first appointed to the BIA in 2000 and became chairman in 2008.

While at the BIA, Osuna put in place a number of reforms and oversaw the attorney general’s 2006 reform plan, which increased the quality and transparency of the board’s decisions, and he adjudicated hundreds of appeals from decisions of immigration judges made in removal proceedings. 

Osuna also teaches immigration policy at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Va. 

Osuna received a B.A. from George Washington University, a law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law and a master’s degree in law and international affairs from American University’s School of International Service.