Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans Increase in Immigration Court Backlog
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The fastest growing segments of the Immigration Court backlog are now Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans. Between September 2018, when fiscal year 2018 drew to a close, and December 2019, Cubans in the backlog increased by 374 percent, Venezuela increased by 277 percent, and Nicaraguans increased by 190 percent. These rates of increase stand out when compared to the overall growth of 42 percent across all nationalities during this same period.
Despite the many actions by the Trump Administration designed to stem the growth in the Immigration Court backlog, the court’s backlog continues to climb. In just the three-month period from October through December 2019 the backlog has grown by 65,929 new cases. The court ended December 2019 with 1,089,696 in its active backlog.
To put this recent 65,929-case growth in the backlog in perspective, assuming the pace of new filings continues at the existing rate and each judge met their administration-imposed quota of closing 700 cases a year, it would still require the court to hire almost 400 new judges – while stemming resignations and retirements among current judges – to stop the backlog from growing further. And a much larger round of judge hirings than this would be required in order to begin to reduce the backlog.
To read the full report, go to:
https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/591/To examine the court’s backlog in more detail, now updated through December 2019, use TRAC’s free backlog app:
https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/Additional free web query tools which track Immigration Court proceedings have also been updated through December 2019. For an index to the full list of TRAC’s immigration tools and their latest update go to:
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AS IMMIGRATION COURT BACKLOGS CONTINUE TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL, TRUMP REGIME TURNS TOWARD PUNISHING MIGRANTS FLEEING LEFT-WING AUTHORITARIAN STATES — Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan Dissidents Now Squarely In Sights Of Regime’s White Nationalist Enforcement Agenda! — “To put this recent 65,929-case growth in the backlog in perspective, assuming the pace of new filings continues at the existing rate and each judge met their administration-imposed quota of closing 700 cases a year, it would still require the court to hire almost 400 new judges – while stemming resignations and retirements among current judges – to stop the backlog from growing further. And a much larger round of judge hirings than this would be required in order to begin to reduce the backlog.”
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The awful, unconstitutional mess in our Immigration Courts is a direct result of the regime’s “malicious incompetence” leading to round after round of “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” (“ADR”). Contrary to the regime’s false narratives and distortions these backlogs are NOT primarily the result of either a) systematic use of dilatory tactics by migrants and their attorneys, or b) lack of work ethic on the part of Immigration Judges and court staff.
Those of us “in my age group” can remember when a concerted attack on those fleeing from Communist countries or other leftist dictatorships would have earned more immediate “pushback” from the GOP both from Congress and from those within GOP Administrations.
Indeed, the Reagan Administration famously just stopped enforcing deportation orders against Nicaraguans in South Florida, even if they had been denied asylum, without ever announcing a formal policy of “deferred action.” This eventually led to creation of “Temporary Protected Status” by Congress and the “Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act” (“NACARA”) to grant lawful permanent resident status to nationals of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as some former Soviet-Bloc nationals who were in the U.S. without status.
As a former Immigraton Judge who saw the many positive effects of NACARA, it was one of the “smartest ever” bipartisan immigration programs enacted by Congress. It gave many deserving and hard-working families a chance to become permanent residents and eventually citizens. At the same time, it was easy to administer — so easy in fact that many asylum cases could be sent from the the Immigration Courts to the Asylum Offices for adjudication under NACARA, thereby freeing time and space on overcrowded court dockets. Moreover, the NACARA program was self-supporting, being financed from the filing fees charged by USCIS.
Basically, it was a win-win for everyone.
Similarly, the Bush I Administration declined to deport Chinese resistors to the “one-child” policy even where they had been denied asylum under the standards then in effect. This eventually led to a bipartisan amendment to the “refugee” definition to include those opposed to “coercive population control.”
A wiser Administration would draw on the many favorable lessons learned from TPS and NACARA to propose a large-scale legalization program to Congress. In the meantime, those with long residence and no serious crimes could be taken off Immigration Court dockets and granted work authorization pending Congressional action.
With dockets thus cleared of those with substantial equities whose removal actually would harm our national interests, the Immigration Courts could once again begin working “in the present tense” on cases of more recent arrivals who have not yet established equities. And it wouldn’t take another 400 Immigration Judges to put non-detained cases on a more reasonable and achievable 6-18 month completion schedule.
As it is, unless and until the Article III courts do their constitutional duty, or we have regime change and an independent Article I Immigration Court, the backlogs and injustices will continue to grow.
PWS
01-22-20