Attorney General William French Smith creates the EOIR under the Justice Department

Attorney General William French Smith signed the order establishing the Executive Office for Immigration Review on January 9, 1983, placing all immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals under direct Department of Justice control. The reorganization consolidated adjudication functions previously split between INS and the BIA into a single DOJ component. Immigration judges became DOJ employees subject to the Attorney General's supervisory authority, embedding judicial independence tensions from the start.