ABA Tells Congress the Immigration System Is in Crisis, Needs More Resources
Immigration enforcement has “increased exponentially” in the last 10 years, creating burdens for courts straining to keep up with the caseloads, an ABA representative told Congress on Wednesday.
Karen Grisez, chair of the ABA Commission on Immigration, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the number of noncitizens removed from the United States increased more than 450 percent from 1996 to 2009, and the numbers are expected to continue to climb. But there has been no commensurate increase in resources for immigration courts.
“Our immigration system is in crisis, overburdened and under-resourced, leading to the frustration of those responsible for its administration and endangering due process for those who appear before it,” Grisez said in written testimony (PDF).
An ABA report recommends restructuring the system to create an independent body to decide immigration cases outside the U.S. Justice Department. The ABA recognizes that such changes would take several years, but the association has other suggestions that could be implemented more quickly, Grisez said. The need for more resources is the most serious issue facing the immigration courts, she told the committee.
Grisez recommended hiring more immigration judges and law clerks, so that each judge has one law clerk and handles about 700 cases in a year. Currently, if all the immigration judge positions were filled, the caseload would be about 1,145 cases a year. There is currently one law clerk for every four judges, on average.
With additional time and resources, judges could be required to issue more formal, reasoned written decisions so as to permit meaningful appellate review, she said.
Grisez also recommended expanding access to legal counsel and information for immigrants facing deportation, and increasing the use of prosecutorial discretion to cut the number of cases against immigrants unlikely to be removed from the country.
A press release summarizes additional recommendations.
Prior coverage:
ABA Journal: “ABA Commission Proposes Independent Court to Help Fix ‘Broken Immigration System’ ”
