 |
|
The surge of unaccompanied minors and families from Central America that began last year has increased the backlog to nearly half a million cases in immigration court. To receive asylum in the United States, applicants must prove they have well-founded fears of persecution because of “race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”
Which applicants are most likely to prevail often depends on judges’ backgrounds, where in the country the cases are heard in whether they have lawyers, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Judges at the immigration court in Miami near the Krome detention center denied over 92 percent of asylum requests from 2009 to 2014, while half of the judges at the New York immigration court granted 80 percent of asylum requests, according to TRAC.
|
|
|
|
