Giving Compass' Take:

· As U.S. immigration policy continues to rapidly change, the immigration court system has had trouble keeping up with the growing backlog of cases. Here, the author explores the different factors contributing to this growing backlog.

· What can be done to assist U.S. immigration courts with their backlogged cases? What factors have contributed to the growing backlog? 

· Check out this article to read more about this topic. 

As major transformations to U.S. immigration policy and practice are advanced by the Trump administration at an unprecedented pace, one key yet little heralded part of the system has reached a breaking point: the immigration courts. With a backlog of slightly more than 1 million removal cases as of August 2019—a number that has quadrupled over the past decade—the courts have been unable to keep pace with enforcement and policy shifts funneling more noncitizens into the system and the changing nature of migration at the Southwest border.

Indeed, the number of unauthorized arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2019 marked the highest monthly total since March 2006, with nearly 133,000 apprehensions. Amid a major uptick in asylum seekers and other migrants from Central America, the country has witnessed a remarkable turnaround from 2017, when the lowest levels of illegal immigration were recorded since 1971, to rates not seen in more than a decade.

Limited in design and resources, the U.S. immigration court system is where many of the new arrivals’ cases will languish: wait times have skyrocketed in recent years, surpassing 700 days on average that a currently open case has been pending. A decision in immigration court can mean the difference between life and death for those fleeing violence and persecution. But the growing backlog and pushes to expedite decisions, combined with pre-existing disparities in asylum grant rates, could result in insufficient due process for those who need it most.

Based on analysis of data from the immigration court system, known as the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), as well as data obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this article explores the many challenges facing the U.S. immigration courts. It examines the overall backlog of cases and metrics including country of origin, funding levels for immigration enforcement agencies, and asylum grant disparities by court and representation status. It also examines the renewed campaign by immigration lawyers and other advocates to set the court system on a more independent course.

Read the full article about immigration courts by Marissa Esthimer at Migration Policy Institute.