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Congresswoman vows to push for meeting to explain state's need
TIM FUNK
tfunk@charlotteobserver.com

WASHINGTON - Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte said Thursday that she'll push for a meeting with Justice Department officials -- including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, if necessary -- to explain why it's time for North Carolina to get its own immigration court.

Though North Carolina has the nation's seventh highest number of illegal immigrants, the state's deportation cases -- the main business of immigration courts -- are still decided in Atlanta.

And, Myrick said at a news conference with four other House Republicans from North Carolina, 16 other states with fewer numbers of illegal immigrants have one or more immigration courts within their borders.

"As we speak, (N.C.) law enforcement agencies are releasing illegal aliens and saying, `Here's a piece of paper that says you have to go to our big court in Atlanta, Georgia,' " said Myrick. "Now, I think you can imagine how many people are going to travel four hours to go to court in Atlanta, Georgia. It just doesn't happen."

Though Myrick had no cost estimate for creating an N.C. immigration court, she said there's already space for one in Charlotte at the local office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Myrick promised in an August 2005 column in the Observer that she would fight for an immigration court for North Carolina as part of a broader plan to deal with the influx of an estimated 390,000 undocumented immigrants into the state.

What are the chances that North Carolina will get such a court?

A few hours after Myrick's news conference, a spokesman for the Justice Department told the Observer that North Carolina "is currently a leading candidate for a new immigration court."

"That doesn't mean it's a definite," added Justice spokesman Charles Miller. "Missouri also has a great number of cases."

Those rosy prospects for North Carolina appeared to contradict letters the Justice Department sent to Myrick last December and last month.

The congresswoman had written Kevin Rooney, director of the department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), making the case for such a court in North Carolina. The responses from Assistant Attorney General William Moschella were not encouraging, saying North Carolina was not at the front of the line for a new immigration court.

"Although the number of removal proceedings involving aliens from North Carolina has increased during recent years, other cities without immigration courts currently have larger caseloads," Moschella wrote last December. "As limited resources become available, the (EOIR) allocates funding to those areas with the most cases. Please be assured that we will continue to evaluate the North Carolina caseload to determine whether an immigration court is needed in Charlotte sometime in the future."

Moschella made some of the same points, in response to another Myrick letter, as recently as Feb. 28 of this year.

So is North Carolina a leading candidate or a long shot?

Myrick took the letters to mean that her request for an N.C. court had been denied, and that she'd need to do more lobbying.

Miller said he was told in the last few days that North Carolina is a leading candidate.

Asked if the Justice Department was perhaps bowing to pressure from the six-term Myrick, Miller said, "I don't think we knew she was having a news conference. I pass on what's passed on to me by much-higher-ups. It didn't sound (from Moschella's letters) like it was closed. It didn't sound like a definitive `no.' "

Miller said North Carolina had 3,400 immigration cases in 2005. The N.C. cases account for an estimated 40 percent of the Atlanta court's caseload, Myrick said in a November 2005 letter to the Justice Department.

Though caseload now determines where the new courts go, Myrick passed out Justice Department planning documents Thursday that suggested predictions of future caseloads -- especially in states with fast-growing illegal immigrant populations -- should also be considered.

"Courts need to be where the action is," Myrick said.

Joining her at the news conference were Reps. Patrick McHenry of Cherryville, Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk, Walter Jones of Farmville and Charles Taylor of Brevard. Taylor, who chairs a House Appropriations subcommittee, said he'd help find the federal money for an N.C. immigration court.