Immigration Courts
Immigration courts play a crucial role in ensuring that immigration laws are applied fairly and consistently, providing due process to those facing removal. Learn more about issues facing the courts today and explore the actions we're taking to ensure the rights of immigrants are upheld and legal integrity is maintained.
Immigration Courts’ Computer Malfunction Slows an Already Crowded System
For more than a month, the computer system that manages federal immigration court cases has been down due to a massive malfunction. According to a notice on the website for the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees immigration courts, “A hardware failure has resulted in the… Read More
Unaccompanied Children Deserve Fair Representation in Immigration Courts
News stories and NGO reports continue to document the plight of “unaccompanied children,” and their complex legal issues were brought to the attention of Congress when Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee last month that the Department of Justice needs to do more to address… Read More
Courts Should Hold Border Patrol Agents Accountable for Fourth Amendment Abuses
In October 2010, while Alejandro Garcia de la Paz was returning to San Antonio from his work outside of Vanderpool, Texas, two agents from the United States Border Patrol pulled the truck he was riding in over to the side of the road. Although the driver, Alejandro and… Read More
Righting a Historical Wrong in Same-Sex Marriage Case
Anthony Sullivan, a native of Australia, fell in love with Richard Adams, an American, in 1971. A few years later, the couple traveled to Colorado when they learned the county clerk in Boulder was issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Soon after, they filed a green-card petition based on… Read More
Drop in Court-Ordered Deportations Means Little to Overall Deportation Numbers
Last week, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)—the division within the Department of Justice that runs that immigration court system—released its FY2013 Statistics Yearbook detailing the number of deportation cases begun and completed in the immigration courts nationwide. The Yearbook showed a decrease in the number of… Read More
Nuevo Informe Examina Peso de Casos de Inmigración en Tribunales Federales
Mientras que el gobierno de Obama afirma que sus esfuerzos en la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración se centran en la aprehensión de delincuentes y terroristas peligrosos, las estadísticas federales indican que una gran cantidad de tiempo, esfuerzo y dinero se dedica a detener y deportar inmigrantes… Read More
New Report Analyzes Immigration Cases Clogging Federal Courts
While the Obama administration claims that its immigration-enforcement efforts are focused on the apprehension of dangerous criminals and terrorists, federal statistics indicate that a great deal of time, effort, and money are devoted to locking up and deporting immigrants who aren’t a threat to anyone. In fact, a… Read More
Circuit Court Ruling Affirms Detainers Not Mandatory
As communities continue to debate the harmful impact of large scale immigration enforcement programs such as Secure Communities, the 287(g) Program and the Criminal Alien Program, much of the discussion has centered on the use of “detainers… Read More
Recent Report on Deportation Misses the Big Picture
The Obama administration has deported nearly 2 million people so far, and it still has two years left to go. This would seem to indicate that the U.S. immigration enforcement machine is running at top speed. However, a report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)—as well… Read More
The Washington Post Exposes Sorry State of Immigration Courts
This week, the Washington Post ran a front page article drawing attention to the fact that our nation’s immigration courts are operating in crisis mode. The immigration courts are so overcrowded that judges are forced to make split-second decisions regarding complex legal issues, calling into question whether the court system is fairly administering justice. The article featured a morning in the life of one immigration judge who had 26 cases to hear before lunchtime. That equates to an average of just seven minutes per case. Given the high stakes involved in deportation cases—which can range from permanent separation from family in the United States to being returned to a country where a person fears for his or her life—a system that is overburdened and under-resourced is simply unacceptable. Read More
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