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: Office of Public Affairs

(703)305-0289, Fax: (703) 605-0365 Internet: www.usdoj.gov/eoir

______________________________________________________________________________

March 19, 1999

IMMIGRATION JUDGE TAKES OATH OF OFFICE

IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK

BUFFALO, NY -- John B. Reid will be sworn in today as an Immigration Judge during an investiture ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in the United States District Court, Part I, 6th Floor, 68 Court Street, Buffalo, New York. Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy from the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Falls Church, Virginia, will administer the oath of office.

Judge Reid joins the ranks of some 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 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 265,000 such proceedings. They are also authorized to administer oaths of citizenship to candidates for naturalization.

Judge Reid was appointed Immigration Judge in October 1998 and is assigned to the Immigration Court in Batavia, New York. He received his B.S. in 1966 from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his J.D. in 1969 from the University of Notre Dame. Judge Reid served as an Assistant District Counsel with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Buffalo from 1976 to 1998. He also worked as an attorney in private practice in Buffalo with the firms of Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blaine & Huber from 1974 to 1976, and Lesher, Howitt & Jenkins from 1969 to 1974. Judge Reid is a member of the New York Bar.

-EOIR-