"It is crucial for immigration judges to have every tool available—including the authority to impose civil money penalties—to control the proceedings before them," the Justice Department wrote in its proposal. Instead, this rule is another effort to target immigration attorneys that falls in line with the President's intimidation tactics," said Gregory Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. At the Executive Office for Immigration Review, hundreds of longtime federal immigration judges have left since last year, many of whom were fired abruptly without warning or cause. Many former immigration judges have spoken publicly about pressures they faced to expedite deportations or detain people without bond. The new proposal that would allow immigration judges to hold noncitizens or their lawyers in contempt "ties into the culture of fear," said Karen Donoso Stevens, a former longtime immigration judge.