The fact that immigration courts are embedded within the Executive Branch of our government has always been problematic.  The Attorney General (AG) - whose legitimate and stated purpose in any removal hearing is to remove the foreign national, controls the judges, the prosecutors, and the executioner (ICE) in a removal  case.  The respondent or foreign national on the other hand may or may not have an attorney for his/her defense since there is no public defender system.  At the conclusion of proceedings, if there is an appeal by either party, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is charged with reviewing the decision; that body is also controlled by the Attorney General.

Against this backdrop and over the years there has always been this covenant among all parties that judicial fairness in immigration courts would apply.  https://www.americanvisas.net/Obtaining-Asylum/  The covenant - ever so tenuous at its best - is now broken beyond repair.

First, AG Sessions upended settled law regarding victims of domestic abuse, and tore away the reminisce of judicial independence, due process, and the very idea of administration of justice.  See 

Matter of A-B- https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1070866/download,

Matter of Castro Tum https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1064086/download, 

Matter of L-A-B-R https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1087781/download.

On the heels of Sessions' departure comes Acting AG Whittaker - who is not remotely qualified for the job and not even confirmed by the Senate.  He has also been accused of fraud https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-investigators-scrutinized-whitakers-role-in-patent-company-accused-of-fraud-according-to-people-with-knowledge-of-case/2018/11/09/e826a404-e456-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html?utm_term=.8a3ab80f8a95.  

At the start of his questionable tenure Whittaker is trying to again change the result of a case that's already been decided by a judge; Matter of L-E-A https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1116866/download.  

The Acting AG is insulting our intelligence by seeking briefs in support and opposition of his action.  This is a farce as is AG Whittaker himself.  What is real are the millions of lives within the immigrant communities and beyond which are literally shattered, lost, and forever marginalized by the activities of the criminal cabal that is the Trump regime.