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Data obtained through open records requests filed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows that almost 324,000 immigration cases are currently awaiting a resolution. The caseload in Texas courts is the third-largest in the country, with about 41,760 outstanding.
That translates into an average wait time of 393 days before detainees in Texas immigration courts see a judge, an increase of 24 days from fiscal year 2012. In Houston, El Paso and Dallas immigration courts, however, wait times are significantly higher than the state average. Detainees in Houston and El Paso wait an average of 490 and 472 days, respectively. In Dallas they wait approximately 396 days, according to the TRAC.
Citing data from TRAC, Amelia Ruiz Fischer, an attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told reporters that 77 percent of the immigrants apprehended under immigration enforcement programs like Operation Streamline or Secure Communities, which uses fingerprint matches to identify deportable aliens, had no previous criminal records.
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