U.S. Department of Justice

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Office of the Director

5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2400

Falls Church, Virginia 22041

NEWS RELEASE Contact: Public Affairs, (703)305-0289 or 305-1188

Fax: (703) 605-0365

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February 20, 1998

IMMIGRATION JUDGE TAKES OATH OF OFFICE

IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

LAS VEGAS, NV -- Ronald L. Mullins will be sworn in today as an Immigration Judge during an investiture ceremony at 2:00 p.m., in the Foley Federal Building, 300 Las Vegas Boulevard, South, Second Floor, Bankruptcy Courtroom No. 1, Las Vegas, Nevada. Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy, from the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Falls Church, Virginia, will administer the oath of office.

Judge Mullins joins the ranks of some 200 Immigration Judges located in more than 40 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 may be 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 260,000 such proceedings. They are also authorized to administer oaths of citizenship to candidates for naturalization.

Judge Mullins was appointed Immigration Judge in April 1997 and is currently assigned to the Immigration Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in 1974, and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas Law School in 1977. From 1987 to 1997, Judge Mullins served as Assistant District Counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Dallas, Texas. He worked as a Trial and Staff Attorney for the Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Kingsport, Tennessee, from 1977 to 1987. Judge Mullins is a member of the Arkansas Bar.

-EOIR-