Thread: NC: Immigration Court To Be Established In Charlotte

Friday, March 16, 2007
Immigration court to be established in Charlotte


Print Email this Article By MIKE BAKER
Associated Press Writer

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RALEIGH (AP) — The Department of Justice announced Friday it will open three new immigration courts, including one in Charlotte, to help manage a burgeoning caseload of deportations.

Officials estimate North Carolina has the nation's eighth-largest population of illegal immigrants, ranging between 300,000 and 600,000 foreigners. Of the 10 states with the highest population of illegal immigrations, North Carolina is the only one without an immigration court.

The state's cases are currently handled at a court in Atlanta.

"It's way overdue, but it's exciting," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who has worked for eight years to bring an immigration court to the state. "It will help expedite the cases of criminals, to get those who have committed a crime out of the country and out of the state quicker."

She also said the court will help legal residents who will no longer have to travel to Atlanta to deal with immigration matters.

Courts also will be established in Omaha, Neb. and Kansas City, Mo., by late 2007. The courts handle several types of immigration proceedings, but deportation accounts for about 80 percent of the caseload, according to the justice department.

"It's a step in the right direction. It should help," said William Gheen, president of Raleigh-based Americans for Legal Immigration, which advocates against illegal immigrants. "But the immigration authorities in this state, and the local law enforcement, need to do a better job of picking up and detaining illegal immigrants."

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, a division of the justice department, has 54 immigration courts nationwide and about 220 immigration judges.

http://link.toolbot.com/news-record.com/69324

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Immigration Court To Be Established In Charlotte

POSTED: 12:28 pm EDT March 16, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Department of Justice announced Friday that it will open three new immigration courts, including one in Charlotte, to help manage a swath of possible deportations.

Officials estimate North Carolina has the nation's eighth-largest population of illegal immigrants estimated between 300,000 and 600,000. Of the 10 states with the highest population of illegal immigrations, North Carolina is the only one without an immigration court.

The state's cases are currently handled at the immigration court in Atlanta.

"An immigration court will speed up illegal alien deportations," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who has worked for eight years to bring an immigration court to the state. "It will also help legal immigrants playing by the rules because they will no longer have to travel to Atlanta to deal with immigration matters."

Other immigration courts will be established in Omaha, Neb. and Kansas City, Mo., by late 2007. The courts handle several types of immigration proceedings, but deportation accounts for about 80 percent of the caseload, according to the justice department.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thank you, Rep. Sue Myrick!

Why waste time with immigration courts, Mexico doesn't. They should be removed without the benefit of judicial process.

Originally Posted by jonhaloi

Why waste time with immigration coursts, Mexico doesn't. They should be removed without the benefit of judicial process.

Exactly. There should be no immigration courts. What a waste of taxpayers money.
Mexico doesn't give their illegals this fair chance so why should we?
IF YOU ARE HERE ILLEGALLY, YOU GET DEPORTED. Plain and simple.

Thank you to all of our NC activists and members of the NC General Assembly that pushed for this court!

W

Hooray! This is awesome news.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... id=2348836

Omaha to get immigration court
BY LESLIE REED
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER



Omaha will get an immigration court before the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

It will be among three new courts established to deal with growing immigration caseloads. The other two will be in Kansas City, Mo., and Charlotte, N.C.

Currently there are 54 immigration courts in 25 states, but the closest one to Nebraska is in Bloomington, Minn.

Immigration courts handle a number of proceedings, but deportations constitute about 80 percent of their caseloads.

Such courts also handle requests for political asylum and other U.S. residency status reviews.

"The establishment of this court will provide better access to due process for those who have come to the U.S. legally and improve efficiency in the enforcement of our immigration laws," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said in a statement.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the new courts are still in the early planning stages. Details about exactly where they will be located, budgets and personnel have yet to be worked out.

The Justice Department said previously that an immigration court would come with at least one judge and that judge's staff.

Omaha's court will serve a multi-state region, not only Nebraska, Miller said.

Nebraska and Iowa immigration cases typically are heard now by judges in Chicago via video conferences from local county jails or the Homeland Security Department building in Omaha.

Nebraska's illegal immigrant population has been estimated at between 35,000 and 66,000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Up to 85,000 undocumented immigrants live in Iowa.