United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions has come up with some new rules for immigration courts that the President of the National Association of Immigration Judges says will compromise the integrity of our country’s immigration judges and “undermine the decisional independence of our immigration judges, all in the name of addressing the backlog of 750,000 cases which continue to grow with every action of this administration.” Judge Ashley Tabaddor is an immigration judge in Los Angeles, but she spoke about Sessions’ requirements as the head of the union.
Immigration Case Backlog
Beginning October 1, 2018, immigration judges will now be required to complete 700 cases a year. The new requirement came about due to a backlog which, the Department of Justice says, is partly a result of immigrants who face deportation being able to remain in the United States while their cases are pending. Holding judges to the number of 700 cases per year will allow these cases to move through the court system more quickly. However, Judge Tabbador asks what is the cost of the new rules.
In addition to placing added pressure on immigration judges to close their cases quickly to meet the quota of 700 cases every year, the new requirement could endanger due process rights of the immigrants as these cases move through the judicial process.
There are other ways to make the judicial system for immigrants more efficient, Tabbador says. She points out that the Department of Justice could shore up resources, additional training and support staff for immigration judges. Tabbador also said she would welcome the opportunity to speak directory with AG Sessions about how to ensure immigration judges handle their cases in a timely, efficient, and just manner.
The National Association of Immigration Judges is a voluntary organization that promotes the independence of immigration courts and after the Sessions announcement, it called for “the Immigration Court to be removed from the Department of Justice (a prosecutorial agency) into an independent court.” The NAIJ also called for bipartisan congressional support for an immigration court system independent from the DOJ.
Are More Immigration Judges Needed?
Sessions said in early September 2018 that the Trump Administration plans to increase the total number of immigration judges by 50% from what it had been at the start of the President’s term. The word is that the administration intends to bring on about 100 more judges to handle the growing backlog of cases. However, the number of immigration cases is only going to continue to grow with President’s zero tolerance policy regarding immigration into the United States.
From January 2017 to July 2018, there was a 38% increase in unheard immigration court cases nationwide, according to a report by a Syracuse University non-profit data research center known as “Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.” California led the way with a court backlog of 140,676 cases awaiting a decision, and Maryland saw a staggering 96 percent increase in its backlog, which was at 33,000 cases at the end of July 2018.
