A student asked me about clerking for an immigration judge. Since the INS no longer exists and a number of federal agencies are being reorganized in the wake of the establishment of the department of homeland security, are such clerkships still available and, if so, where would one look for them?

I looked into this question and here's what I found:

On March 1, Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement and service functions and responsibilities (including its legal activities) transitioned into the Department of Homeland Security. It is now called the Bureau for Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS). See http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/ and http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/index.htm.

Previously, the Immigration Court fell under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, which was a component of the Executive Office for Immigration Review under the Department of Justice. Judicial Law Clerks were hired through the Department of Justice's Attorney General's Honors Program (Honors Program) -- the Department's attorney recruitment program for third-year law students, graduate law students and judicial law clerks (for all Department organizations except the 94 U.S. Attorneys' Offices, which generally do not hire entry-level attorneys). See http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/ for application information.

Presumably the hiring of Judicial Law Clerks for the new BCIS will now be done through the Department of Homeland Security. Consult the websites listed above. In the alternative, you can check the DHS listings through the general government job site: http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/a9dhs.htm.

See also Strauss, Debra M., Behind the Bench: The Guide to Judicial Clerkships (BarBri Group 2002), pp. 68-70 (for more information on clerking for Administrative Agencies).

As a follow-up, here is the most recent information on this issue. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) participates in the Honors Program and offers 1 to 2 year judicial clerkships in the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer and the Board of Immigration Appeals, located in Falls Church, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.). EOIR also hires Honors Program applicants for one-year clerkships in Immigration Courts located nationwide.

The information was under section E question 1 of the frequently asked questions link of http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/arm/hp/hp.htm.

Thank you to tstephen for sending me this update!