Litigation

Immigration Caseload Strains Judges

By Lissette Villarruel

Immigration judges are struggling to handle the sudden influx of cases, an NPR article reports.

As the Bush administration made a concentrated effort to reduce illegal immigration, the subsequent increase in arrests and prosecutions has become a challenging task for the immigration judges that oversee those cases. Dana Leigh Marks, the head of the National Association of Immigration Judges, admitted that the overwhelming caseload has resulted in frantic judicial proceedings: ??For some people, these are the equivalent of death penalty cases, and we are conducting these cases in a traffic court setting.??

Julie Myers-Wood, who formerly led Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said increasing the number of judges and encouraging pro bono counsel would improve legal proceedings. Myers-Wood is also an advocate of stipulated removal, which consists of immigrants waiving their rights and consenting to deportation. But immigration lawyers contend that most immigrants do not seek legal help before signing the documents and may be needlessly deported.

As immigration cases  increase exponentially, the pressure on immigration judges continues to intensify. ??I think the immigration judges across the United States do an admirable job,?? declared Marks. ??But the lack of resources and the persistent inability to spend more time on cases is wearing me and my colleagues down.??

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).