Litigation

New Record Backlog Set for Immigration Cases

By Peter Hardin

The growing backlog of cases awaiting resolution in our immigration courts keeps  shattering old records.

The backlog reached the highest level in history in March, at 242,776 cases, according to new information from a Syracuse University-based data research institute and a New York Times blog post relying on that data.

On average, the cases have been awaiting resolution for 443 days. The states with the longest average waits were California, Massachusetts and Nebraska.

A lot of the explanation for the growing backlog lies in a combination of more new cases combined with judicial hiring that hasn’t kept pace with judicial turnover. In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security stepped up enforcement.

You can read a broader discussion of the backlog trend, and proposals to address it, in this earlier Gavel Grab post. To learn more about issues facing the immigration courts, turn to Justice at Stake’s issues page on the topic.

Full post as published by The Gavel on May 26, 2010 (boomark / email).