 |
|
An overlooked element in the immigration debate is the nation’s Immigration Court system, where many of the newly arrived migrants will have their cases resolved. Here are key facts about the court system and its struggles:
Overflowing caseload: The number of immigrants with cases before the immigration courts has jumped 7 percent since October to more than 375,000, the agency’s highest caseload to date. The number of cases before the immigration courts rose by 23,000 during the previous fiscal year.
Wait times: The average time a pending case has been before the immigration courts is now 587 days, which is about 19 months, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Immigration lawyers say getting a hearing can take much longer than that. For example, in Los Angeles, the average time a case has been before the immigration court is more than two years, data show.
|
|
|
|
