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ICE Director John Morton issued a memorandum this year instructing all ICE employees to follow these principles in enforcing immigration laws. Priority one would be to focus enforcement efforts on deporting undocumented immigrants who pose a danger to national security, or a risk to public safety. And where cases did not merit prosecution, the director instructed his agents to dismiss them promptly.
It was a great directive - if only it had been followed. Now, more than six months later, the statistics show that the backlog of cases has only gotten worse, and the focus of prosecution even less rational.
A study by a research center based at Syracuse University discloses that by the end of July, the backlog of pending cases before our immigration courts had reached an all-time high - more than a quarter of a million cases, an increase of 3.7% over the backlog just three months earlier. The average length that a pending case has been awaiting review is now a staggering 490 days. For no sane reason I can imagine, Armenians face even bleaker odds: Their cases have been pending, on average, nearly twice as long - 923 days.
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