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

Internet: www.usdoj.gov/eoir

IMMIGRATION JUDGE TAKES OATH OF OFFICE IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- John D. Carté will be sworn in today as an Immigration Judge during an investiture ceremony at 5:00 p.m., at the Alamo, Alamo Hall, 300 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas . Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy, from the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Falls Church, Virginia, will administer the oath of office.

Judge Carté 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 Carté was appointed as an Immigration Judge in April 1998 and is assigned to the Immigration Court in Hartford, Connecticut. He received his B.S. in 1971 from the University of Oregon, and his J.D. in 1976 from Lewis and Clark College, Northwestern School of Law. Judge Carté served as Assistant District Counsel with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1995 until April 1998. From 1990 to 1995, he worked as Assistant District Counsel for INS in Harlingen, Texas. During this time, from 1993 to 1995, he served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Harlingen. Judge Carté worked as an Attorney Coordinator for the Immigration Law Project, Bexar County Legal Aid, in San Antonio, Texas, from 1988 to 1990. He is a member of the Oregon and Texas Bars.

-EOIR-