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2.0

EOIR Acting Director issues disparaging guidance on stakeholder engagement

  1. Original Date Announced

    September 12, 2025

    EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 25-48, "EOIR Stakeholder Engagement," to set guidelines for stakeholder engagement. The memo states that stakeholder engagement has “generally become less meaningful” since 2010, and outlines general considerations for both EOIR employees and stakeholders to “ensure that stakeholder engagement providers the most value to both sides.”

    The memo directs EOIR employees to be aware of challenges with stakeholders, warning that many stakeholders do not share the same definitions for relevant terminology (like "due process," which stakeholders use in an "outcome-determinative" way), bring biased perspectives (driven by respondents' interests and attorneys' "financial benefit"), and take inconsistent positions on issues (which may reflect "hollowness or insincerity").

    The PM also provides considerations for stakeholders, suggesting that their input is more helpful when it is “rooted in facts,” “lawful and ethical,” and consistent with the policies of the Executive branch. The PM attributes the recent lack of productivity to stakeholder efforts in the past to use EOIR to effectuate specific policy outcomes, which it claims eroded the agency's integrity.

    Trump 2.0 [ID #2017]

    2025.09.12 EOIR PM 25-48 - EOIR Stakeholder Engagement
  2. Effective Date

    September 12, 2025

Current Status

None

Original Trump Policy Status

Status: Final/Actual
Trump Administration Action: Agency Directive
Subject Matter: Hearings and Adjudications
Agencies Affected: EOIR

Documents

Trump-Era Policy Documents

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To provide information, corrections, or feedback, please email IPTP.feedback@gmail.com