Bill Calls for More Federal Judges

April 25, 2007 09:04 AM PDT




WASHINGTON - With growing evidence that federal courts serving Southwest Border States are being overwhelmed with immigration cases, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) have embarked on a bipartisan effort to beef up the federal judiciary in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.
Domenici and Cuellar have introduced companion bills authorizing the creation of 10 new permanent and temporary federal judgeships for districts whose immigration caseloads exceed 50 percent of all criminal filings.

The bill would implement the recommendations of the 2007 Judicial Conference for U.S. Districts, which calls for 4 permanent judges and 1 temporary judge in Arizona, 2 permanent judges in the Southern District of Texas, 1 permanent and 1 temporary judge in New Mexico, and 1 permanent judge for the Western District of Texas.

"The U.S. District Courts that border Mexico are overwhelmed with immigration cases. This is a crisis that needs to be addressed now. As we put more Border Patrol agents and immigration personnel on the border, criminal immigration caseloads are rising. Failure to address this crisis means we will create an even more unworkable situation that already involves mass arraignments and sentencing proceedings," Domenici said.


"Sen. Domenici and I worked together to ensure that the immigration caseload crisis in U.S. District Courts will be resolved in a timely manner. The American people overwhelmingly are calling for comprehensive immigration reform, and HR.1909 and Sen. Domenici's companion bill will contribute to that reform. It is our responsibility in Congress to make sure that we pass good, workable legislation to address the problems at our nation's international borders," said Cuellar.


The new Judicial Conference review shows an 11 percent increase in the number of criminal immigration cases in the District Court of New Mexico in less than three years. The District had 1,940 immigration cases in FY2006, or 71 percent of its caseload. In FY2004, these cases made up 60 percent of the docket.


Similar immigration-related increases were marked in the Southern District of Texas (3,668 cases, 70 percent), the Western District of Texas (2,324 cases, 50 percent) and the District of Arizona (1,924 cases, 59 percent.) These and other Federal court management statistics can be viewed at http://www.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/cmsd2006.pl

Domenici's bill (S.1192) is cosponsored by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn (both R-Texas) and Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). The Cuellar bill (HR.1909) is cosponsored by Representatives John Carter (R-Texas), Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Charles Gonzales (D-Texas), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), Ted Poe (R-Texas), Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas), and Heather Wilson (R-N.M.).




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