Thread: 540K Illegal Alien Court Cases Pending Nationwide

by JOHN BINDER
14 Mar 2017
Washington, D.C.

There are more than 500,000 pending immigration court cases for illegal aliens which will decide whether or not they are eligible to remain in the U.S., according to new data released.

In data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, released by Fox News, a tally of pending immigration cases show that there are approximately 542,411 that have yet to be decided by an immigration judge.

That number means American taxpayers pay for illegal aliens to sometimes be held in detention centers for 673 days before their case even hits an immigration judge’s courtroom.

In states with much larger migrant populations–like Texas and California–the wait period is even longer, running roughly three years. In sanctuary San Francisco, there are 38,428 pending cases.

U.S. Immigration Judge Dana Leigh Marks told Fox News that the massive backlog in immigration courts has been made worse, as administration after administration has done hardly nothing to remedy the problem.

“We have been a neglected part of the immigration enforcement world for so long,” Marks said in the interview. “There are legitimate concerns about how long cases pend in the immigration court.”

The neglect could soon change with President Donald Trump’s administration, which is committing new plans and procedures to handle the immigration court backlog.

In a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the administration is expected to move 50 immigration judges to detention facilities in areas like Adelanto and San Diego, California, as well as Chicago, Illinois, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Judges will hear cases from 6am to 6pm with two rotating shifts.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose task it is to help remedy the problem, has long been a critic of the nation’s immigration system, arguing that lack of border security, a slow court process and influxes in low-skilled workers all put strain on social safety nets and American taxpayers.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...ng-nationwide/

What exactly is the decision to be made?

If they are here illegally, they can and should be deported. That shouldn't take long and actually, the decision and deportation should be done immediately.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

What exactly is the decision to be made?

If they are here illegally, they can and should be deported. That shouldn't take long and actually, the decision and deportation should be done immediately.

Unfortunately the immigration courts are also required to deal with asylum cases and other forms of relief that could adjust ones immigration status. It would be nice if these were all slam-dunk cases, but unfortunately there not.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

. . . the decision and deportation should be done immediately.

With the current backlog it takes 2 to 3 years to get into a courtroom.

The judges and courtrooms are already scheduled until then.
-----------------------

"That number means American taxpayers pay for illegal aliens to sometimes be held in detention centers for 673 days before their case even hits an immigration judge’s courtroom."

"In states with much larger migrant populations–like Texas and California–the wait period is even longer, running roughly three years. In sanctuary San Francisco, there are 38,428 pending cases . . . "

I understand our courts are full - but my question is why?

These people do not deserve due process since they did not observe 'due process' in coming here.

As to asylum, do we have to grant asylum? It would seem to me if a person is here already or has been here a while, they should have already requested asylum. To wait until they are caught and then request it, just seems a little fishy.

I understand our courts are full - but my question is why?

These people do not deserve due process since they did not observe 'due process' in coming here.

As to asylum, do we have to grant asylum? It would seem to me if a person is here already or has been here a while, they should have already requested asylum. To wait until they are caught and then request it, just seems a little fishy.
In fact, if they came here illegally, they should have made their case for asylum immediately.

They have known at least since the election that Pres. Trump was going to enforce immigration laws, why hadn't they made their request before?

They didn't request asylum because they know they aren't eligible. They request it at the end on their way out the door as means to buy a little more time hoping Congress will pass another Shamnesty.

Our courts are full because we don't have enough Judges and they pander and coddle, delay for this and delay for that, and waste time with multiple hearings on one person. The number of Judges was set years ago when we had a few million. Now we have tens of millions. Trump is going to hire a lot more Judges, and cut out a lot of the nonsense that goes on in these hearings. The tools to secure our nation are already in our laws, we just need to enforce them under a policy of America First, it's not the needs, wants or desires of the illegal alien that matters, it's the will of the American People that matters, and this is clearly laid out in existing US immigration law.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

I understand our courts are full - but my question is why?

These people do not deserve due process since they did not observe 'due process' in coming here.

As to asylum, do we have to grant asylum? It would seem to me if a person is here already or has been here a while, they should have already requested asylum. To wait until they are caught and then request it, just seems a little fishy.
In fact, if they came here illegally, they should have made their case for asylum immediately.

They have known at least since the election that Pres. Trump was going to enforce immigration laws, why hadn't they made their request before?

Timing of the Affirmative Asylum Application Process

If you have filed an affirmative application for asylum in the U.S. (meaning one where you are in the U.S. but not in removal or deportation proceedings), you may find yourself waiting for years for an interview date and decision. Here's an overview of how affirmative asylum timing usually works.

USCIS Rarely Meets Its Statutory Deadlines for Affirmative Asylum Application Processing

According to Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.) § 208(d)(5), the asylum interview should take place within 45 days after the date the application is filed and a decision should be made on the asylum application within 180 days after the date the application is filed, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

However, the reality is that the U.S. government decides very few affirmative asylum applications within this timeline. In 2012 and 2013, a large influx of Central American and South American migrants fleeing violence led to a surge of of new asylum applications, and a massive backlog at USCIS has persisted since that time.

USCIS responded by creating a three-tier prioritization system for asylum cases:

1. applications that were scheduled for an interview, but either the applicant or USCIS requested a new interview date
2. applications filed by children, and
3. all other pending affirmative asylum applications in the order they were received, with oldest cases scheduled first.

So unless you were already scheduled for an interview that was rescheduled or filed an application as an unaccompanied child migrant, your asylum application will be placed in a long wait queue.

Check the Affirmative Asylum Scheduling Bulletin for Actual Interview Wait Times

Within 21 days after USCIS receives your complete asylum application, you should receive a receipt notice (confirming that USCIS received your application).

In about one to two months after USCIS received your application, you will receive a biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment notice for you and any children included in your asylum application who are older than 14. This is normally completed at a USCIS application support center, which is likely to be closer to your home location than the asylum office.

FEATURED LISTINGS FROM NOLO

Eventually, you will be interviewed at one of the eight U.S. asylum offices if you live close to one of them, or an asylum officer will travel to your local office to meet you. Currently, the asylum offices are located in the following cities: Arlington (VA), Chicago, Houston, Miami, Newark, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

In December 2014, in response to the large backlog of third priority asylum cases, USCIS created the Affirmative Asylum Scheduling Bulletin, which is updated monthly. As of early 2017, you can expect a wait of between two years and more than five years for an interview.

After USCIS receives your complete asylum application, and has held an interview with you, you will be asked to return to the asylum office to receive the decision of the asylum officer; or the decision will be mailed to you. Although you should receive a decision within two to three months, there have been reported wait times of more than a year, in a minority of cases. The asylum officer will either grant your asylum application or refer your application to the Immigration Court.

How Long It Will Take the Immigration Court to Decide Your Asylum Case

If the asylum officer refers your asylum application to the Immigration Court, the Immigration Judge will ask you whether you accept an expedited hearing. This will not affect how your case is processed or how likely it will be for you to obtain asylum. Instead, it will shorten all of your court deadlines.

Under the expedited removal timeline, the judge will issue a decision on your application within approximately 120 days after your case was referred to the Immigration Court. Even if you accept the expedited schedule, the judge will usually schedule the individual merits hearing (at which you will present your case) at least 14 days after your master calendar hearing (your first appearance before the judge).

Also, sometimes the judge or the government attorney will need to reschedule hearing dates. Moreover, if you will be presenting lot of facts and witnesses, the judge will likely schedule several merits hearings. Hence, it is likely that your asylum case will be pending before the Immigration Court for more than 120 days.

Remember that it is extremely important that you are fully prepared for your merits hearing. Therefore, an expedited hearing date might not give you enough time to present your asylum case as well as possible. If you feel that you will need more time to prepare your case, you can decline the expedited hearing. If you waive your right to an expedited hearing, your merits hearing might be scheduled more than two to three years after your case was referred to the Immigration Court.

How the Timing of Your Asylum Application Affects Your Eligibility for Employment Authorization

If your asylum case has been pending for more than 150 days (since you filed your complete asylum application with USCIS), you will be eligible to apply for employment authorization while awaiting the decision on your case. You cannot receive authorization to work unless your asylum case has been pending for 180 days or more. The government works very hard to make sure this doesn't happen, however.

The 180-day “asylum clock” will be stopped when your actions interrupt or cause any delays in the processing of your case. So, if you request a continuance (a later asylum interview date than that scheduled by an asylum office, or a non-expedited hearing schedule before the Immigration Judge), that extra delay time will not count toward the 150-day period required before you can apply for work authorization.

If delays are requested or caused by the government or the Judge, however, then your clock is supposed to continue to add days. Your attorney may have to monitor the situation to make sure this actually happens, however. The asylum clock can be difficult to track, and has been the subject of much discussion and concern among immigration advocates.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/timing-the-affirmative-asylum-application-process.html